Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 1945. - book review

Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 194S. Richard Overy. Allen Lane: The Penguin Press. [pounds sterling]25.00. 650 pages. ISBN 0-713-90093-502. In what amounts to an extended introduction, the author examines what he calls the 'transition period' between the capture of Hitler's ruling elite, in May and June 1945, and their trials which began in the following November.

This period has often been ignored by historians but Professor Overy argues that the interrogations not only helped to educate the British and Americans but gave the captured elite a chance to examine their own part in the great Nazi evil. While few became contrite their answers gave historians a rich vein of information. The bulk of this book is devoted to the transcripts of the Allied interrogations of the captured Nazi elite, published here as a whole for the first time. Those reproduced are, of course, only a tiny portion of the total but they are historically significant. They concern men such as Albert Speer, Goering, von Ribb entrop, Hess, von Papen and Robert Ley. They are placed in ten groups: perspectives on the Fuhrer, Goering's role, waging war, genocide, Hess, von Papen, Speer, Ley, 'obeying orders: complicity and denial' and, finally, Germany's future. This volume is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Second World War and of man's capacity for evil and self-delusion.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Contemporary Review Company Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group