Sönke Neitzel

Most oral history is tainted by two biases. Firstly, the time elapsed between the retelling and the action told may change the narrative. Secondly, the interviewer subtly influences how and what the interviewee tells. The sources for this book do not suffer from these problems. These are secretly recorded conversations among German WWII POW in Allied prison camps. Some of the conversations were triggered by agents provocateurs, but mostly it is soldiers and officers talking amongst show more themselves. The authors have sifted through 150.000 protocol pages and arranged the material into topical bundles. I wish the authors had included more statistical data about their process, offering some quantitative measures to their qualitative method, It remains unclear to me how typical or atypical some of the topics of discussion were.

Another element of their source deserves to be mentioned: The composition of German POW in Allied camps is highly skewed torwards Luftwaffe and navy personnel. Only in 1943/1944 did the Allies capture German infantry in sizable numbers. The soldier's experience between these groups is very different. The impersonal (almost video game-like) killing done by pilots and submariners is not comparable to the gritty hands-on butcher's work of the infantry.

The authors' main message is that soldiering is a trade like any other, with a bloody twist. Like other tradesmen, the soldiers like to discuss the tools of the trade, boast about their successes and lament about their failures. Like a butcher killing hogs, the soldiers express admiration for a job well done or dismay for a botched action. The casual acceptance and perpetration of war crimes is shocking but well explained by the author's use of different "frames of reference". What I didn't know about was the high level of sexual violence and forced prostitution perpetrated by the Wehrmacht. A topic that seldom reaches the history books but was a favorite topic among the POWs - to the frustration of the note takers interested in military secrets not sexual peccadillos.

One interesting finding is that offering the perpetrators wide leeway in choosing their role facilitates war crimes, as opponents and bystanders can rationalize their guilt by performing tangential jobs. A high level division of labor dilutes overall responsibility - a fact used today by the corporate use of Chinese factories with atrocious working conditions.

Overall, a very interesting book that did not quite live up to its potential. show less

I had to abandon this book after reading about 20% of it,

I read some of the German prisoners' remarks about killing sorties and decided I didn't want to read more of their philosphical views about those they killed. Their opinions seem to be a result of a culture of bigotry and bias, much of it through military and cultural brain washing. Sometimes I just cannot read about the filth and evil in this world, past or present. I wanted to try to better understand the mindsets of those murderous show more Nazis recorded in prison, but cannot proceed as what I read angered me too much.

Congratulations to the writers & editors of this book which I hope will provide a permanent record of how extreme power can corrupt. show less

Very thought-provoking and gruesome read. Almost all of us surrender ourselves to a worldview generated by a job. What is the result?

I had to abandon this book after reading about 20% of it,

I read some of the German prisoners' remarks about killing sorties and decided I didn't want to read more of their philosphical views about those they killed. Their opinions seem to be a result of a culture of bigotry and bias, much of it through military and cultural brain washing. Sometimes I just cannot read about the filth and evil in this world, past or present. I wanted to try to better understand the mindsets of those murderous show more Nazis recorded in prison, but cannot proceed as what I read angered me too much.

Congratulations to the writers & editors of this book which I hope will provide a permanent record of how extreme power can corrupt. show less