Hanns and Rudolph: The True Story Of The German Jew Who Tracked Down And Caught The Commandant Of Auschwitz, Harding - B +

                 "This is a story pieced together from histories, biographies, archives, family letters, old tape recordings and interviews with survivors. "

                  Rudolf Hoss was born in 1901 in Baden-Baden. He was raised a devout Catholic by his dad, who died when he was twelve. Two years later, he lied his way into the army. He fought bravely against the British in Mesopotamia and Palestine. He came home a decorated veteran who was wounded three times. He joined the Freikorps, fought for a few years in Latvia, and joined the nascent Nazi Party in 1923. He worked in Silesia, where he and his friend Martin Bormann were convicted of killing a man they considered a traitor. He served four years of a ten year sentence.

                   Howard Alexander was born in Berlin in 1917. His father was a doctor. Hanns lived a very privileged life as an upper-class Jew in one of the finest neighborhoods in the city. His home was a center of social activity and it wasn't unusual for celebrities such as Richard Strauss, Marlene Dietrich, and Albert Einstein to dine at his home. Hanns and his twin, Paul, were bar mitzvahed at the Neue Synagogue, the largest in the city in 1930. 

                   Hoss went to work on a farm in Pomerania, where he met and married Hedwig Hencel. They proceeded to work the land and build a family. He joined the SS and was recruited by his former Freikorps colleague, Heinrich Himmler, to work at Dachau. In 1938, he was promoted and transferred to Sachsenhausen. Although he felt uncomfortable with the brutality, he followed orders.

                  Although Dr. Alexander, a decorated war veteran, was intent on persevering when the Nazi's took over, it readily became apparent he and his family had to leave. Over a few years, the entire family relocated to England. The Alexanders were part of a 70,000 person Jewish diaspora that had fled central Europe for the United Kingdom. When the war began, Hanns and Paul sought to enlist.

                  After the war broke out, Hoss was sent to Auschwitz Poland to construct a camp.  Upon its completion, Himmler ordered an immediate expansion, and a year later ordered the construction of Birkenau three miles away. The first murders at the camp were by injection of those deemed unable to work. In Himmler's office in 1941, Hoss was told that his camp would be the principal venue for the extermination of Europe's Jews. His adjutant stumbled upon the ultimate method of mass killing when he discovered the toxicity of Zyklon-B. The first Jews were gassed in the summer of 1942. Hoss created the selection process, built much bigger gas chambers, established nearby crematoria, and in essence, personally built the greatest killing machine of all time. In late 1943, Hoss was assigned to the Concentration Camp Inspectorate in Berlin. The following spring he was sent back to Auschwitz to supervise the murder of 400,000 Hungarian Jews.

                 The twins were accepted in the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps, an entity created to use the skills of Europe's refugees.  They attended Officer's Cadet Training, and on July 20 1944, Lt. Hanns Alexander arrived in France. The following April, Hanns was assigned to the UK's first war crimes investigation team. His task was to interview the staff at Bergen-Belsen. He was "gripped by a barely controllable rage." He flung himself into his duties. He was denied permission to pursue criminals, such as Hoss, but ignored his superiors and began his search on his off days. The first war crimes trial began in September and focused on Bergen-Belsen. After the successful prosecution, Hanns was given a travel permit, a driver, and a pistol and was sent off to find war criminals.

                 As the Reich was collapsing, Hoss and other SS men fled north with their families. He was able to drop off Hedwig and the children at her brother's home near the Baltic. He adopted a false identity, was released because he was a farm worker, and soon was working on a farm. Hanns was assigned to find the Gauleiter of Luxembourg, Gustav Simon, and accomplished his mission in seventeen days. He was then charged with finding the senior members of the Concentration Camp Group, known as Amstgrupppe D. After investigating the group in Berlin, Hanns learned that Hoss was believed to have fled towards Denmark. He began questioning Hedwig, whom the British were observing. When he threatened to send her son to Siberia, she provided her husband's whereabouts. The arrest was made and within a few days, Rudolph Hoss was telling the British all that had happened at Auschwitz. Within a month, Hanns was back in London, and along with his discharge papers was his new British passport.

                The Allies decided they needed Hoss to bolster their case against the senior defendants at Nuremberg.  He testified that two and a half million people were gassed at Auschwitz and another 500,000 died of starvation and disease. A month later, he was handed over to the Poles and was encouraged to, and did, write a memoir of his life. His defense that he was following orders failed, and he was hung at Auschwitz on April 16, 1947.

                 The author is Hanns' grand-nephew. He heard of Hanns' story for the first time at his funeral. While researching the book, he toured Auschwitz with Hoss' grandson. The gallows where Rudolf Hoss was hung are still there.

                

                  

The Devil's Daughter, Greisman - B

                  This is fun novel set in Manhattan in the late 1950's featuring private investigator Jack Coffey. He's from Hell's Kitchen, fought in the war, seems to know every barkeep in the borough, and somewhat incomprehensibly is buds with Thelonious Monk and Marlon Brando. A wealthy Wall Streeter hires him to find his teenage daughter. Soon, he's on a wild goose chase with all sorts of folks trying to knock him off. He brings the missing daughter home, and uncovers that her dad is a grotesque child molester and pornographer who is blackmailing very important people. But the bad guys keep coming, and anyone he spoke to while looking for the daughter is getting killed. Things get a bit preposterous with people dropping like flies in the finale. That said, there are occasional interesting insights into the big city.

We Must Not Think of Ourselves, Grodstein - B +

       This is fictionalized memoir of life in the Warsaw Ghetto. Adam Panow is a 43 year old widower and English teacher who does not even think of himself as Jewish anymore. Nonetheless, when the ghetto is created in November 1940, he finds himself in a small apartment with a dozen other people. He has taken only a few books and his late wife's necklace with him. He is engaged by the Oneg Shabbat project to interview people and create a written record of the horrors they are all going through. He teaches classes and survives because he has a job. He falls in love with, and carries on an affair with a married woman, Sala Wiskoff, whose husband works for the Judenrat. The necklace affords him the chance to escape, and he takes Sala's two sons with him to safety. This is a well done depiction of the hell the Jews were subjected to. It should be noted that many of the documents created by Oneg Shabbat were found after the war and shed light on life in the ghetto.

The Killing Tide, Bannalec - B

                Over the course of twenty-four hours, Commissaire Dupin is faced with three murders. Two are young women, a fisherwoman and a dolphin researcher, both of whom live on the Ile de Sein off the Brittany coast, and improbably, a seventy-five year old retired male virology professor.  Each book in this series teaches about Brittany, and this one is about the fishing industry, where major firms and small fishermen square off. In the end, human greed is the motive. A golden cross of vast archaeological value had been found and is the motive for the murders.

Rules of Deception, Reich - B

               This is an extremely fast paced thriller from a decade-and-half ago. Jonathan Ransom is a physician for Doctors Without Borders. His wife, Emma, is a nurse and administrator who determines where they go and organizes all aspects of their work. When she falls into a crevasse in the Swiss Alps, Jonathon stumbles into a world of hi-tech spies and madmen, and slowly realizes that his wife was a spy. As in all of the author's stories, there are more plot lines, explosions, bodies, and gunfights than one can keep track of.

Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia, Eisenberg - A*

            This Bancroft Prize winning history "takes as its subject the Nixon administration's conduct of the war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and the resulting diplomacy with the Soviet Union and China." It reverses the familiar belief that the war was shaped by Cold War considerations, which impacted his three predecessors, but not Nixon. If the best and the brightest in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations failed intellectually, in the Nixon administration, failure was a matter of selective, wishful thinking.

           In March 1968, Nixon said "I pledge to you that new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific." With talks in Paris progressing just before the election, Nixon contacted the South Vietnamese to assure them he would get them a better deal if they didn't accept LBJ's proposal. Johnson and Dirksen agreed that what Nixon had done was "treasonous," but they could do nothing because LBJ had obtained the information illegally. Nixon came into office knowing that the strength of the anti-war movement would be important in the mid-terms, and that protecting himself politically was his number one concern. Mel Laird, Defense Secretary, began withdrawing troops and labelling his action 'Vietnamization.' This notwithstanding the fact that the administration had conclusively concluded that the ARVN could not stand on its own two feet. Kissinger was concerned that Vietnamization would ease pressure on the North to settle, and the Pentagon opposed any troop reductions. There was no obvious path to a satisfactory strategic conclusion. Annoyed at the North for rocket attacks on the DMZ, Nixon authorized bombing in neutral Cambodia. The peace and anti-draft movements picked up steam in the face of the fact that Nixon seemed to be escalating the war*. On October 15, two million Americans participated in the Vietnam War Moratorium. Nixon made the best speech of his life on November 3rd rallying the 'peace with honor' believers, and successfully halting tv coverage of the second Moratorium on Nov. 15-16. 

          The new year saw the administration significantly ratchet up the existing policy of bombing Laos because the Ho Chi Minh Trail veered into the country. Massive use of B-52's killed thousands and depopulated the Plain of Jars, home to a million Laotians. Because the NVA and the NLF used Cambodia as a sanctuary, the JCS and the president initiated an invasion at the end of April. Kissinger told the Senate majority leader that Cambodia had requested military help. This was a complete fabrication. He and the president continued to lie to the press, the public, Congress, and the Cabinet. American and SVN ground forces, aided by US air support, entered Cambodia, and after a lengthy halt, the USAF resumed bombing Hanoi. Around the country, college campuses exploded in outrage. At Kent State, four students were murdered by the National Guard. Higher education in the US shut down. In Cambodia, the combination of excessive bombing and atrocities by the ARVN began a destabilization of the country that would lead to a deadly civil war. Nixon declared the operation a success, although the North Vietnamese had moved away from the border and controlled 40% of the country. Throughout the year, both Nixon and Kissinger worked back channel approaches to Dobrynin and Gromyko hoping for Soviet help in negotiating with Hanoi. None was forthcoming. Nixon frequently contrasted our clean cut boys over there against the long hair bums at home. The year 1970 saw the soldiers in Vietnam smoking weed, growing their hair, wearing non-uniform clothes, refusing to fight, and occasionally 'fragging' overzealous officers. At home, the Vietnam Veterans Against the  War publicized the atrocities of murdering civilians, calling in artillery to destroy villages as a game, raping indiscriminately, burning hooches, dousing people with white phosphorous to watch them burn, and throwing prisoners out of helicopters.  

        The year 1971 would see one of the largest operations of the war. Lam Son 719 was the South Vietnamese lead incursion into Laos. It went well for a bit, but the NVA stopped the southerners after two weeks. Soon the NVA was pounding the ARVN troops and at least 30 American planes had been shot down. Airlifted into their objective 26 miles into Laos, the ARVN was momentarily triumphant until Prime Minister Thieu pulled them out after three days. It was a rout categorized by the Pentagon as "an evacuation proceeding according to plan." "Lam Son 719 would prove to be the turning point in the American war, signaling the end of the administration's optimism." Nixon and Kissinger had deluded themselves into thinking the ARVN could cover the American drawdown of troops. Two years into his presidency, Nixon's strategy was in tatters.

         In spring the Vietnam Veterans Against the War arrived in Washington, along with Gold Star Mothers and WWII veterans. Navy Lt. John Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and eloquently damned the war and those who lied to America about it. The Mothers returned their son's medals, and awards. A WWII veteran played taps for his son, and hundreds of veterans threw their medals over a fence in front of the capitol. Nixon's ratings plummeted. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators followed the next month. In June, The New York Times began publishing the top secret Pentagon Papers, proving to the world that the Johnson administration had consistently lied about the rationale for the war and what was actually happening in Asia. The war was so unpopular that Congress was regularly getting closer to voting to shut it down. 

           Nixon and Kissinger were hoping for some foreign policy breakthrough to shift America's focus away from Vietnam. That summer, Zhou invited Kissinger to China, and he visited in June and October. An agreement was made to invite Nixon to China, but there was no help offered on changing Hanoi's negotiating positions. The possibility of reducing tensions with the Soviets was also explored, and a USSR summit was also planned for 1972. Two summits, an election, and a North Vietnamese escalation appeared to be the agenda for 1972.

           Nixon went to Beijing in February, met with Mao and Zhou, was seen exchanging toasts in the Great hall, and accomplished "a public relations windfall exceeding all expectations." When asked why we were still in Vietnam if 'containing' China was no longer a strategic imperative, the president said that we could not look weak.

           "It would be another month before thousands of North Vietnamese troops began pouring into the  south." The ARVN again failed to fight. "Nixon was beside himself. After so many years of careful planning and billions of dollars, how could this be happening? He had always ignored the naysayers, domestic and foreign, who had argued that pacifying  South Vietnam was a doomed project because the local insurgents and their North Vietnamese allies would never give up no matter how intense the American firepower." Hoping he could get the Soviets to rein in the North, Nixon ordered the saturation bombing of Haiphong and Hanoi. The NYT said "The United States is the most  dangerous and destructive power in the world. Only a fool or a madman could believe that more bombing will bring peace."   After a few weeks, MACV was concerned that the South would fall, as the South's soldiers deserted en masse. Nixon's response was to increase bombing the North. In May, he spent a week in Moscow reveling in his role as an international statesman.  By every measure, the Moscow summit was a success but there was no Soviet help forthcoming in Vietnam. 

            Fortunately for the White House, the NVA invasion of the South had stalled, and there were only 39,000 American non-combatants left in country. Finally, both China and the USSR urged the North to be more flexible in their negotiations with the US. Both sides dropped their most intransigent positions. The US would leave, our prisoners would be returned and there would be a cease-fire in place. For the North, they accepted the fact that they could defeat the South later. But without the consent of the Thieu government, the deal faltered. When the North insisted the US stick to the understanding, the US resumed B-52 raids in the north. Virtually the entire world expressed their outrage with comparisons to Nazi atrocities and Allied bombing excesses of WWII being made. The Chineses strongly encouraged the North to work out a settlement. The US and North Vietnam came to an accord at the end of January, 1973. "Although reluctant to admit it...for Nixon and Kissinger, the Paris Peace Agreement was never about peace. It was about getting US prisoners home, withdrawing the troops, and establishing interim processes that could persuade domestic adversaries that their pursuit of the war...had yielded something positive." For America, the war in Vietnam was finally over. Needless to say, a magnificent book.

        

         

*Nixon's first year in office saw the death of five young men from my parish: Mickey McGovern, John Dixon, Kenny Cummings, Gerry Paulsen, and Doug Brustman.

Matterhorn, Reich - B

                  This is a classic page turner involving the CIA v. the SVR, a Russian mole, a traitorous American born marine of Russian extraction, his best friend whose grandfather, dad, daughter, and son are either USMC or CIA,  a beautiful mysterious Israeli diplomat/agent in love with the US agent,  a Russian who betrays the Rodina in love with an American, a scientist prepping WMD, reckless driving, deceit, revenge, murder, mayhem, alpinists, technological wizards, and all set in beautiful Switzerland. Get ready for the beach - a one day read. 

The Retreat, Rambaud - B+

                   "In June 1812, with more than 500,000 men, Napoleon crossed the Niemen and entered Russia." After three months of 'scorched earth,' the Grand Armee arrived in Moscow. They'd already lost tens of thousands. The city was empty; so were the granaries. Napoleon had hoped to sit down with the Tsar and sign a peace treaty. All the French could do was take out their frustrations on the city. However, it is likely that the fires that destroyed the city were set  by the Russians. Napoleon believed he had the option of marching to St. Petersburg or staying the winter and obtaining supplies from Poland. Neither option was realistic as the city continued to burn, killing people and horses while wolves roamed Moscow's streets. Slowly, the Russians began a guerrilla warfare campaign in the city and along the supply lines. They ambushed and killed an increasing number of the invaders. 

                    After five weeks, the French left. They were encumbered by the loot that each and every one of them tried to cart back to Paris. "Overloaded fugitives began to be seen jettisoning their surplus booty, scattering bags of pearls, icons, weapons and rolls of cloth along the road..." Men, beasts, and entire carriages were sucked into the marshes as it began to snow and the Cossacks raided. "They were in no danger of losing their way: they just had to follow the trail of hundreds of naked, frozen corpses, male and female, lying on the ice, the burnt carriages and the mutilated horses that stained the pink snow." When Smolensk offered no respite, the emperor went ahead to Minsk. The remnants of the army were slowly destroyed by the weather and the lack of food.  When the Cossacks captured soldiers or civilians, they stripped them naked and forced them to march until they dropped. The hastily constructed pontoon bridges collapsed and thrust all into the freezing rivers. When he reached Poland, Napoleon commandeered a sleigh and left for Paris, which he reached on December 17. "Behind, far behind, the remnants of what was once an imposing army and now numbered a few thousand beggars at most were drawing near to the Niemen." 

                 This a tour de force - an historical novel at its very best, one that vividly depicts the hell on the earth the retreat was.

Napoleon's Exile, Rambaud - B

                 In 1813, the allies closed in on Paris. Every conceivable group was ready for life after Napoleon, but it was the royalist supporters of Louis XVIII who would prevail. The armies of Russia, Austria, and Prussia entered the city, as did their monarchs. As his armies deserted or were captured, Napoleon offered up a regency by his wife for his infant son if he abdicated. The allies refused, and Napoleon abdicated unconditionally. He waited at Fontainebleau for their decision as his entourage slowly slipped away. He was being sent to Elba. The ride south to the coast saw him cheered and threatened. After five days at sea, he arrived in May 1814 at "a block of jagged black rocks." He was well-received and began the process of governing the island, which was soon buzzing with activities intended to improve the economy. Napoleon was trying to turn a "sleepy sub-prefecture" into "an operatic principality" overnight. Towards year end, word reached the island that there was unhappiness in France at the return of the Bourbons, and the grasping clergy. Many whispered desirously of the Emperor's return. Bored, frustrated by the failure of France  to pay the agreed upon annuity, concerned about rumors from the Congress of Vienna that Talleyrand was plotting to send him to St. Helena's, and intrigued by the unpopularity of Louis XVIII, Napoleon set sail, returned to France and was back in Paris on March 20th. This trilogy is excellent, although I believe the first two were a bit better than this one.

City In Ruins, Winslow - B+

                     For Danny Ryan, his past is never past. Not- withstanding his status as a very important player and casino/hotel owner in Las Vegas, there are those who remember that he was a mobster in Rhode Island not that long ago. An FBI agent wants payback for killing her crooked lover, a Christian on the Nevada Gaming Board sees him as the perfect target upon which to build her career, and some of the old mobsters are still capable of popping up. Things go sideways with a Detroit mobster and a rival to such an extent that Danny almost loses his son and his  girlfriend. It even requires Danny to get his hands dirty again to solve matters. In a magnificent epilogue, we learn that the boy Ian, who was an infant when Danny left R.I., is now the mid-thirties CEO of one of the largest hotel empires in the world and Danny has peacefully passed away. Sadly, the author, who has six books on this blog, is retiring and this is his final work.

In The Morning I'll Be Gone, McKinty - B+

       A new boss quickly concludes that Duffy is too much trouble. and before you know it, he's fitted up for something he didn't do and offered his pension and a severance if he goes quietly. He accepts the offer and spends nine months at home listening to music, drinking, and smoking weed. MI-5 offers him full reinstatement if he can help them find a former classmate now in the IRA and badly wanted by the entire United Kingdom. While searching through Dermot McCann's family and acquaintances, he befriends Dermot's former mother-in-law when he solves the mystery of her youngest daughter's murder. Tipped to Dermot's whereabouts, Sean saves the life of the PM and receives full reinstatement.