Customer Reviews

a balanced in-depth study - By: K. van Amelorde, 24 Aug 2006
The recent controversy about the Nazi past of Nobel Price Winner Günter Grass only proves how difficult & controversial this issue still is. Aristocratic involvement with the Nazis was for a long time mainly seen under the aspect of the resistance against the Nazi regime by Claus Graf Stauffenberg, even though one knows that this was not the full story.

Jonathan Petropolis's excellent book is the first in-depth study of the high aristocratic involvement by taken two main examples: the brothers Philipp & Christopher Princes of Hessen. However, this study is not limited to them but is broader & involves other princes as well. Mr Petropolis shows how these two brothers became involved with the Nazi, explains the reasons & shows their careerin the Nazi-regime. He shows as well how they turnin part from the regime & how Prince Philipp ended upin the Nazi concentration camps. It proves that such kind of regimes will at some point turn against its own supporters. Mr. Petropolis managed to explain without justifying the un-justifiable; this is neither a mere accusation nor a white-wash. It is a balanced study, a study which helps the reader to understand better what happenedin the past & helps to determine now what need to be done to avoid such developmentsin the future.

For me this very book it is a very valuable contribution to the understanding of specific segment of the German society & its role before,in & after the Nazi-dictatorship. I believe it is good that aristocracy might play a rolein society events or gossip magazine but not any longerin politics.

This will be properly not the final study on aristocratic involvement with the Nazis, but it is the first & the groundwork it done. It is a shame that it did not happen earlier. One can only hope that more German aristocratic families will face the past, unpleasant as it might be, but like for a whole society or any individual ignoring the past, not coming clean will lead to nothing good.

Allin all, it is a book I highly recommend!