A Description of Historical Literature Concerning Europe in the Twentieth Century

Introduction

The twentieth century is dominated by the rise of -isms.

Communism, fascism,

capitalismall impact the century in one way or another. The ideals of monarchy are replaced
with those of democracy. The shadow of Adolf Hitler looms over the last half of the century like
a titan. But what is the true centerpiece of the century? Is there a country that is involved and
achieves a towering height only to be fall, all within the space of a hundred years?

The Great War

The Other Battleground; The Home Fronts: Britain, France, Germany, 1914-1918 by
John Williams (1972) examines the reaction of the civilian population to the outbreak of
hostilities in 1914. It is his contention that the actual beginning of hostilities took the Allies by
surprise even though tensions had been building throughout the summer following the
assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. An interesting subtopic in his work concerns the
activities of women in all three countries. Germany had to work to get women in the factories
for employment as such use of them was outside the traditional female role in Germany. The

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French women were motivated to work by both a fervent patriotism and memories of the FrancoPrussian War. In Britain, women had been fighting for suffrage, but the government was not
eager to put women to work. However, advance were made; for instance, wages were increased
for women working in factories as the war progressed, fir instance.
In her social history Home Fires Burning: Food, Politics, and Everyday Life in World
War I Berlin (2000), Belinda Davis asserts that, contrary to popular belief, civilians did play a
role in changing the domestic policies of the German government in Berlin during World War I.
In fact, the government in Berlin on several occasions responded favorably to civilian protests.
Most of these protests concerned food shortages that served as a catalyst to unify the people,
especially poor women, to protest for policy change to help the people survive better in the face
of war-induced shortages.
A Whole Empire Walking: Refugees in Russia During World War I by Peter Gatrell
(1999) looks at the refugee problems caused in Russia by the advent of the First World War.
Gatrell examines what caused the problem; who the refugees were; and how the government,
people, and refugees themselves responded to the crisis. Gatrell blames the problem on the
scorched earth employed by the Russians to slow down the German advance. Such a move
created refugees by its very nature, people who were then forced to take to the road to get away
from the war-ravaged areas. Most of these people were ethnic Jews who had lived in separate
communities of their own. At first, the public wanted to help these people, but as time wore on
they grew jaded and resented their presence. The Russian government thought that they should
have stayed at home and become a burden and roadblock to the Germans by their very presence.

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They Fought for the Motherland by Laurie S. Stoff (2006) is a monograph that explores
the use of female soldiers in the Russian army during the Great War and also in the October
Revolution. It is Stoff's thesis that the motif of the strong feminine hero in the Russian culture,
in addition to modernization, made it possible for women to cross gender boundaries and take
part in the actual conduct of combat operations. Early in the war, the majority of women who
served as combat soldiers were disguised as men and came from a wide variety of backgrounds.
After the February Revolution, combat units comprised entirely of women, such as the premier
1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death, were formed in a futile effort to shame the men into
fighting more effectively. The result of this experiment changed little at the time, but did make
inroads for women's rights in the young USSR, inroads that would lead to more women in
professional jobs and eventually to the use of similar units in the Great Patriotic War.

The Paris Peace Conference

Paris 1919 by Margaret Macmillan (2003) is a survey of the issues that were handled by
the Paris Peace Conference following the Great War. Macmillan rejects the traditional view that
the actions of the conference in regards to Germany did not set the world inexorably on a road
that would culminate in the Second World War. She also discounts the idea that French
vindictiveness would lead to the next war either. It is her belief that France's main concern was
with the security of its borders, not crippling Germany in a vindictive fit. Macmillan sees other
international issues as having greater importance, such as relations with the newly-formed USSR

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or the negative treatment of Japan in regards to human rights issues (the racial equality clause
that Japan wanted the League of Nations charter.
The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Keynes (1920) was a protest work
written by a British delegate of the conference who left after having disagreement with his
government over the amount of reparations for which Germany was responsible. Keynes felt that
such outrageous reparations would cripple Germany for over a century and lead to even greater
instability on the continent. He ultimately felt that reparations should force Germany to work
together with France.
A Memoir of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 by James Headlam-Morley (1972) is
actually a compilation of his letters and diaries as published by his daughter Agnes. It is an
interesting look into the mind of one of the major delegates to the conference, but is incomplete
in several ways. For instance, we only have his letters to read in the work; there is no mention
specifically as to what he is responding to in his letters. It is as if one were listening to one side
of a telephone conversation. There is thus no frame of reference in several instances.

The Russian Revolution and Its Makers

The Russian Revolution, 1917-1932 by Shelia Fitzpatrick (1982) takes a broad view of
the Russian Revolution that extends through 1932. She ends her coverage with the end of
Stalin's first Five Year Plan in 1932. Fitzpatrick sees this as the fulfillment of the Revolution; by
this time, the Soviet /union is firmly entrenched and has changed its parent society into its full
Stalinist form. She also takes the approach that the initial Bolshevik uprising was a revolutionary

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coup not supported by the mass of the People. Stalin, however, was able to remove the old
intelligentsia and appealed to the young people to solidify his rule.
John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World (1919) is the firsthand account of an
American socialist who came to Russia as a journalist in 1917. He appeared to be in the right
places at the right times and was able to eyewitness much of the fighting and the establishment
of the Bolshevik government that would become the Soviet Union. Reed attempted to reduce his
socialist bias in his writings but it is clear from his writings that he was very pro-Bolshevik and
supportive of the new Soviet government.
The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution by Paul Avrich (1973) is a compilation of
letters, journals and other literature written by a resurgent anarchist movement during the
Russian Revolution. Avrich does insert explanations in his compilation as an aid to the reader.
The work is very personal and allows the reader to flow through the period between February
and November of 1917 and obtain a feel for the changes that were occurring in Russia as a result
of the Tsar's overthrow. It was the below of the anarchists that socialism became injurious of
their freedom as the year progressed.
The History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky (1930) is a three volume work by
one of the great figures of the Revolution. Trotsky was the commander of military forces during
the Russian Civil War and later lost a power struggle to Stalin and was forced into exile. Besides
recording his account of the Revolution, Trotsky explains that the Russian Revolution, even
though it occurred in the most backward nation of Europe, still conformed to Marxist class
theory. Trotsky outlines this in the first chapter, The Peculiarities of Russia's Development. He
calls this the law of combined development and states that Russia's economy was artificially

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accelerated into an industrial period without having to go through the development of a
bourgeois revolution against the traditional aristocracy and instead started with a proletarian
revolution.

Stalin: The Man and His Times

Stalin and His Times by Arthur Adams (1972) starts with a sketch of Lenin and asks the
question of who will inherit Lenin's mantle upon his death. Along with Kamenev and Zinoviey,
Stalin formed a triumvirate against both Trotsky on the left and Bukharin on the right and
managed to solidify control of the Party and the Soviet Union.

Stalin created a cult of

personality around himself and managed to purge the Trotskyites out of the Party. He went on
with the establishment of the Five Year Plans to economically change the Soviet Union. Adams
calls Stalin's regime totalitarian and defines that as a dictatorship that uses the benefits of
technology to enforce its tyranny.
Why Lenin? Why Stalin? Why Gorbachev? by Theodore von Laue (1993) shows a chain
of events that starts with Russia's culture and background and then leads successively from
Bloody Sunday, 1905, to Lenin to Stalin to Gorbachev. Von Laue sees all three as great leaders
who able to use compromise to hold on to power. In the case of Stalin, von Laue shows that
Stalin was able to purge the Party and was able to rearm the USSR and make it strong enough to
survive the Second World War.

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In the Shadow of Revolution: Life Stories of Russian Women from 1917 to the Second
World War by Sheila Fitzpatrick and Yuri Slezkine (2000) is a collection personal narratives,
speeches, letters, and oral histories examining women's experience. It is not, as the title suggests,
exclusively concerned with women's studies but is indicative in many ways of a trend in the
field to look at historical subjects from a gender relations focus. That is, it does not focus on
women to the exclusion of not seeing how they interact with men in a historical context.

The Faces of European Fascism and Neo-Fascism

Native Fascism in the Successor States by Peter Sugar (1971) is a compilation of essays
dealing with the rise of fascism in the six eastern European Successor States created following
the Great War: Poland, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Native
fascism is a term used to describe fascism that arose without importation by either German or
Italian intervention. Sugar sees fascism as stretching back centuries and inevitably based around
a Master Race theory. The Great War destroyed public faith in religion, thus people were
looking for a secular religion.
The Fascists in Britain by Colin Cross (1963) discusses the many small fascist groups
that arose in Britain between the World Wars and how they were prevented from achieving any
type of success in the UK. The infamous Battle of Cable Street in 1936 occurred when the
British Union of Fascists held a rally in Hyde Park and were opposed by Jews and communists
who set up roadblocks in an attempt to stop the march and then went on to fight with the police.

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The end result was the passage by Parliament of the Public Order Act of 1936 that forbade the
wearing of military uniforms during political rallies. This had the effect of de-fanging the
fascists and ruining any possible credibility that they might have had in the public eye.
Fascism, Anti-Fascism, and Britain in the 1940s by Dave Renton (2000) is an
examination of the attempted rise and fall of a post World War II fascist movement in Britain
and presents five arguments. First, fascism did revive. Second, it was a movement without a
strong ideology. Third, the response of the government was appropriate to the time. Fourth, the
state failed to active overtly or decisively. Fifth, although the government failed to act, resurgent
fascism failed anyway because it had poor leadership and fascism was equated in the public eye
with Hitler and German enemy from the Second World War.
Fascist Italy by Alan Cassels (1968) is a synthesis of the works detailing Mussolini's Italy
from its early beginnings to Mussolini's execution by communist partisans in 1945. Cassels
presents the two prominent views of the development of Italian fascism. First is the view that
Mussolini alone was responsible for the rise of fascism and that it was his creation. Cassels
points out that this view is more popular in the United States (with a strong Italian-American
electorate) and in Italy. The other is that fascism was a direct outgrowth of the environment of
early twentieth century Italy. Cassels shows, however, that Mussolini had little impact on the
people of Italy and that he did not create a truly totalitarian state. The attitude of the Italian
people was one of acceptance of fascism, but not enthusiasm. All of his goals were either
inevitable, such as the Lateran Accords with the Church, or later proven to be false, the result of
a propaganda machine to which even Mussolini himself fell victim, blinding him to the reality of

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the economic and military strength of Italy. In the end Cassels asserts that Italy became a mere
satellite state of the true fascist power in Europe, Hitler's Germany.

The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas (1961) is the classic short (one volume) work
on the Spanish Civil War that covers the entirety of the war.. Thomas gives three reasons for the
outbreak of the war: fighting between the Roman Catholic Church and anti-clerical rebels;
landowners and the poor; and the centralists and decentralists (such as Basques and Catalonians).
The Second Republic unraveled practically as it was created. The anti-clerical and socialist
elements in power were unable to reach a compromise with the religious and the wealthy.
Britain and France were both worried that the war would spread. Germany and Italy backed the
Nationalists while the Soviets backed the Republicans. The whole war boiled down to fact that
the Nationalists had more effective international support as well as better organization, whereas
the Republicans were hampered by internal fighting among members.
Guernica: The Crucible of World War II by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts
(1975) is an examination of the facts concerning the bombing of Guernica by the German
Condor Legion. It is their belief that the site was used as an experiment by the Germans in the
effects of bombing on a civilian target such as a town. The authors do an excellent job of sifting
through the accounts and proving their thesis. However, there is a problem with their narrative

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style in that they put thoughts in the actors heads and extrapolate the narrative in similar fashion
throughout the work.
Reform and Reaction: The Politico-Religious Background of the Spanish Civil War by
Jose Mariano Sanchez (1964) is a political history that looks at the role of the Church in the
Spanish Civil War. The author points out that the involvement of the Church in political affairs
in Spain stretches back to the tie when Theodosius established Christianity as the official religion
of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. However, the Church and State had encroached on each
other's territory since the imprisonment of Ferdinand VII by Napoleon in the early nineteenth
century. In Spain, rather than supporting the people, the Church falls on the side of the wealthy
land-owners and generals that form the Fascist party.

Adolf Hitler: What Manner of Man?

The Last Days of Hitler by Hugh R. Trevor-Roper (1947) is an examination of Hitler's

last ten days and an examination of those around him and is good for a look at Hitler's mental
well-being at the end of his life.

Trevor-Roper describes the Nazi government not as a

totalitarian regime, but rather as a court of an eastern potentate riddled with intrigue and
conspiracy. It is Trevor-Roper's belief that Hitler was paranoid as a result of the attempted
assassination attempt on his life in July, 1944, and that Hitler also showed neurotic tendencies as
he began to retreat in a fantasy world where Germany would win the war through their racial
purity.

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John Toland's two volume work, Adolf Hitler (1976), is still considered one of the
definitive works on the dictator. In his first volume, Toland examines Hitler's rise to power and
also the personality that propelled him. He examines Hitler's attitudes toward women and Jews
and points out his childhood with a domineering father and a mother who he adored. Some
criticize Toland's work for its lack of analysis; however, this standard for his other works as well.
Toland seems to present his works in a most objective fashion and leaves much of the analysis of
the fact that he presents to the reader.
The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler by Robert Waite (1977) examines the question of
how such a strange little man as Hitler could come to control a nation like Germany. Waite calls
his a work a psycho-history and says that one must understand motivation in order to accurately
record history. Hitler was a not intelligent, but is described by Waite as demented. Waite also
describes the longing for the German people for a messiah to lead them to new heights, a desire
that had existed in them since Martin Luther. Waite's conclusion is that the German people were
as crazy as Hitler was.
The Mind of Adolf Hitler by Dr. Walter Langer (1977) was a wartime psychological
profile of Adolf Hitler commissioned by the OSS during World War II. It was declassified and
published in 1977. Dr. Langer concluded that the most likely course of action was that Adolf
Hitler would commit suicide rather than surrender to the Allies.

Origins of World War II

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The Origins of the Second World War by A.J.P. Taylor (1961) looks at World War II and
its root cause and who was to blame for starting it. Taylor forwards the thesis that the war
actually began when France and Britain declared war on Germany. He claims that Hitler merely
acted like a normal politician and was seeking power and using rhetoric and posturing to do so;
he was an opportunist who took advantage of any openings he could find. Taylor claims that
Hitler wanted power, not was, and was forced into war by the Allies.
The Origins of the Second World War: AJP Taylor and His Critics by William R. Louis
(1972) is a collection of editorials dealing with Taylor's thesis. It focuses on the four points of
contention with Taylor's viewpoint. The first idea is that Hitler was just an ordinary German.
Second, Hitler had no predetermined plans to wage war. Third, France and Britain were more
responsible for the outbreak of war than Hitler. Fourth, British appeasement was the proper
course to take with Hitler. Most of the editorials in the work disagree with Taylor and the above
ideas, although there are a few that agree with Taylor.
World War II: Roots and Causes edited by Keith Eubank (1975) is a collection of essays
covering the period from 1933-1939 arranged chronically in five parts: geography/political
tensions; Hitler; Methods and Challenges of Appeasement; Munich and the Soviet-Nazi
Nonaggression Pact; and Hitler Reconsidered. The work defends the Allies and runs counter to
Taylor's thesis. The overall thesis is that Hitler was a villain who instigated the war.
On Borrowed Time: How World War II Began by Leonard Mosley (1969) is a narrative
outlining the road leading to the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1939. Mosley's thesis is that
politicians like Chamberlain followed a policy of appeasement that led Hitler to become more
aggressive in pursuit of his expansionist policies. Mosley also asserts that less vacillation on the

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part of the western democracies and a firm military intervention early on in the crisis could have
averted the tragedy to come. Mosley paints a portrait of Chamberlain as a typical politician more
concerned with his own power rather than as a statesman desiring peace. The title On Borrowed
Time refers to the idea that appeasement merely delayed the inevitable military crisis and that
peace was never possible with a ruthless dictator like Hitler.

To What Extent did Nazism Penetrate Traditional German Institutions?

Sex and Society in Nazi Germany by Hans Bleuel (1973) examines changes in both
womens roles and ideas of sex during the Nazi regime. Bleuel focuses on Hitler's obsession
with purity. Hitler wanted a strong, pure Germany made up of strong Aryan families to promote
his views of German dominance over Europe. However, in many cases with the Nazi hierarchy it
was a case of hypocrisy. Goering was a heroin addict and was divorced and remarried with only
one child. Reinhard Heydrich, also had numerous affairs with women and was most assuredly
affairs.
Propaganda and the German Cinema, 1933-1945 by David Welch (1983) is a doctoral
dissertation that examines the use of film in Nazi propaganda. Josef Goebbels felt that film was
best used as a subtle tool to bring Nazi ideology to the masses through the propaganda agent of
film. Ideals like comradeship and heroism were extolled too the younger generation in an effort
to gain more recruits for the military. Martyrdom for the Reich and the Volk were also positively
portrayed. Generational struggles between parents and offspring were used to bring the youth
into the party and also showed the need for every person to be suspicious of everyone, even

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family members. Naturally, anti-Semitism was also a motif in Nazi film, and portrayed the
Jewish people as evil millionaires who stole their money from the sweat of the German workers.
There was a major shift after the defeat at Stalingrad in 1943, however. The subtlety was lost
and the films became more and extolled the virtue of resisting the Allies o the bitter end.
Hitlers Professors by Max Weinreich (1946) puts forward the idea that the German
intelligentsia were at least partially responsibility for spreading Nazi ideology in the universities.
Weinreich shows how professors answered questions like the Jewish problem and how they
promoted anti-Semitism among the universities. He concludes that they were at least partially
responsible for keeping the war effort going.
In The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945, Richard Steigmann-Gall
(2003) argues that many of the Nazi Christians developed their Nazi ideology by way of
following their Christian beliefs. He claims that the Nazi party was no antithetical to Christianity
and that Christians used a traditional historical conception of the Jews to validate their beliefs.
Hitler Youth by Michael Kater (2004) discusses the mandatory enlistment of children
into Hitlers Youth and looks at the subject matter thematically. The Hitler Youth was a Nazi
program, similar in some ways to the Boy Scouts, that was used to indoctrinate German children
with Nazi ideology. Sports to promote physical fitness, and the children were indoctrinated to put
Fuhrer and Reich above everything else, including their families.
Nazi Culture by George L. Mosse (1966) is a collection of excerpts from primary sources
detailing the Nazi ideas of culture during the Third Reich; it is self-described as a documentary
history.

The book is divided into eleven sections covering such topics as education,

Christianity, racism, art, and culture. One area that Mosse does not specifically delve into is the

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Nazi obsession with anti-Semitism. He states in the introduction that the racist policies of the
Nazis so pervaded their world view that it cannot be studied separately. Mosse's thesis is that the
Nazi Party, after it came to power in 1933, effectively used traditional German ideals of
patriotism and family to spread its own culture throughout the land. This culture was designed
to control every aspect of the citizenry's life.

Life on the European Home Front

Backs to the Wall: The Heroic Story of the People of London During World War II by
Leonard Mosley (1971) was written to explore the life of the British people during the war and
how they dealt with the problem. The British had not thought war was possible, therefore when it
did come, they were caught unprepared for the reality. Society had to pull together to keep
functioning and people had to take up unaccustomed roles. For instance, women had to help
bring in crops or work in factories since the men were gone to war. Senior citizens had to help
out with the Home Guard, an organization similar in some respects to the American Civil
Defense organization.
Stephanie Carpenters On the Home Front: The Womens Land Army in World War II
(2000) examines the role the Womens Land Army in changing the women's position in society.
Carpenter shows how many women were able to continue working in jobs after the war was over
due to the activities of the WLA during the war. During the war, women grew crops and tended
livestock. Afterwards, they fought to keep those jobs and to also have the same employment
rights as men.

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Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport by Mark Harris and Deborah
Oppenheimer (2000) examines the role of British families in saving Jewish lives by accepting
children as refugees. The work is a collection of accounts from children who were evacuated
before the Nazis halted migration out of Germany. The children were forced not only to
assimilate into a different culture and language, but also faced religious and racial bigotry.

Resistance and Collaboration

Story of a Secret State by Jan Karski (1944) is a report published during World War II
on the resistance efforts of the Polish Underground. Karski was the liaison between the
Underground and the Polish government-in-exile headquartered in London. He explains how the
Polish resistance took orders from the exiled government and was also able to run schools,
newspapers, and even courts.
The German Resistance by Gerhard Ritter (1954) looks at the role of resistance groups in
Germany. Ritter shows that some of these groups were composed of monarchists who wanted
Hitler to lose so they could form a new Imperial Germany led by the nobles. Indeed, they
suffered from the same problem that Hindenburg had: they saw Hitler as an ignoramus and felt
that, with their experience, they could run the country better.
Guerrilla Warfare on the Amber Coast (1962) by K.V. Taurus (a pseudonym) was written
by a Lithuanian freedom fighter. In it he details events in Lithuania from the Soviets takeover in
1941 until the cessation of hostilities in 1952. In 1941, the Lithuanians rebelled as tensions
between Germany and the USSR began to rise. The Germans would eventually gain the upper

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hand and resistance to the German occupation was primarily literary in nature. The resistance
continued after the soviets took control of Lithuania away from the Germans until 1952.
The French Against the French by Milton Dank (1974) examines the period from the
German occupation in 1940 until the early 1950's starting with the Vichy government under
Ptain. Ptain declared that France had fallen, but General De Gaulle countered with a call for
French resistance. When the Allies began the liberation of France in 1944, Germany took over
the Vichy government. After the war, Ptain was tried for treason and ultimately exiled from
France.
Resistance by Michael R. D. Foot (1977) examines the role of resistance fighters in all
countries invaded by the Axis in the Second World War. His thesis is that resistance groups were
not a deciding factor in ending the war due to lack of coherence and organization both within
individual groups and between groups. A lack of coordination lead to a certain amount of
ineffectiveness that did not contribute as a factor in the defeat of the fascists.
Soviet Partisans in World War II by John A. Armstrong (1964) is an expansion of a Cold
War study conducted for the US Air Force on the operations of Soviet irregular forces fielded
against the German invaders during World War II. It was conceived not as a history but as threat
analysis to aid the US government in planning counter-insurgency operations in the Cold War
era, most especially in SE Asia. It was felt by the researchers that the study of the Soviet
partisans would give insight into both how communist guerrillas in the near future would operate
and also how the USSSR would aid them. Armstrong's conclusion is that the partisans were
effective in disrupting German operations and also in projecting Soviet power into the German
rear areas.

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The Holocaust

Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust by Victoria J. Barnett.

(2000) examines the role of the ordinary people in the Holocaust. Barnett does not excuse the
ordinary German but what to see why and how they could stand by and allow the Holocaust to
happen. The primary reason she finds is that in a totalitarian society the burden of guilt is shared
by the collective consciousness; there is less of a personal feel to all the problems that one
encounters. Most individuals are concerned with their own personal well-being and/or respect
the government even if they do not agree with its actions. This work is typical of a new trend in
the field to look at moral questions and issues.
Denying the Holocaust by Deborah Lipstadt (1993) looks at the Holocaust denial
movement. Lipstadt feels one should not validate deniers by engaging them in debate. It is
better, she feels, to ignore them. The deniers are traced initially to First World War revisionists
who wanted to show that Germany did not pursue war but were forced into it by England and
France.
Selling the Holocaust: From Auschwitz to Schindler: How History is Bought, Packaged,
and Sold by Tim Cole (1999) examines the modern phenomena of the Holocaust as part of
popular culture. Cole shows the influence of three people on the acceptance of the Holocaust
into popular culture. First is Anne Frank and the publication her diary after the war. The second
is Adolf Eichmann and his capture by the Israelis.

Until Eichmann's trial in 1961 most

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Holocaust survivors did not talk about it at all. His trial connected European Jews in World War
II to Israeli Jews. The third person is Oscar Schindler, a Nazi businessman who saved some
Jews lives and was cast as a modern Hollywood good guy.
Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel J.
Goldhagen (1996) presents a different look at the role of the average German. Goldhagen's
thesis is that anti-Semitism was an integral part of German culture since medieval times and the
only reason behind the Holocaust. He refutes the conventional reasoning on the subject and
shows , for instance, that non-Jews in concentration camps were treated differently from the
Jews. He also uses arguments to the effect that non-SA members took part in events such as
Krystallnacht.
The Myth of Hitlers Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis by Rabbi
David G. Dallin (2005) refutes the current claim that the Vatican was a willing participant or
dupe of the Nazis and that Pope Pius did not do enough to help the Jews. Dallin points out that
until the mid-1960's, the Pope was seen a hero for saving the Jews he could. Dallin believes that
most of the furor is purposely misconstrued and misrepresented by those who have a political
agenda against today's Roman Catholic Church. Dallin points out examples like the Nazi plan to
kidnap the Pope and place him in protective custody. If the pope was an ally, Dallin reasons,
why would Hitler need to imprison him?
Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust by Richard Lukas (1989) details fiftynine accounts of Polish resistance to the Holocaust and aid by the Poles to the Jews during
occupation.

Lukas wants to show the Holocaust through the eyes of ordinary Poles. The

stereotype is that Poles were anti-Semitic prior to World War II, but Lukas points out the acts of

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bravery that Poles committed to help the Jews and the fact that they felt they had to act because
they were neighbors and Poles as well.
The Holocaust in History by Michael R. Marrus (1987) is a landmark work in the field
and collects the entire viewpoint and historiography of the period (up to 1987). Marrus
categorizes the different viewpoints on the Holocaust. There are the intentionalists who claim
that extermination was Hitler's plan from the beginning and it was systematically carried out.
The opposing viewpoint is that of the funcionalists who feel that there was no long-term plan and
that things just fell into Hitlers; provided with an opportunity, he acted.
The Holocaust by Donald L Niewyk (1997) is part of the Problems of European History
series and is an essay collection that deals with the problem of the holocaust beginning with the
history and development of anti-Semitism. The section on origins of the Holocaust boils down to
two arguments: It was the Fuhrer's wish, and There was no Fuhrer order. The work gives
the reader a good overview of the Holocaust and the thoughts associated with it in the historical
field.
The Terrible Secret: Suppression of the Truth About Hitler's Final Solution by Walter Z.
Laqueur (1980) seeks to answer the question of what was known about the Final Solution and
why it was not believed by the public at the time. Laqueur first attacks the idea that there was a
wall of silence in Germany about the extermination. He makes it clear that the Germans knew
something was happening to the Jews of Europe and that they were going to the East in
unprecedented numbers. They may not have known firsthand about the slaughter, but there was
more than enough rumor and speculation going on to let them know something was up. Laqueur
then describes the contact and knowledge that neutral countries had and goes on to describe the

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reaction of the Allied governments during the war. It is interesting to note that Laqueur also
focuses on the time period from the invasion of the USSR until December, 1942, in his work.
His reasoning is that the extermination began with the operations of the Einsatzgruppen in the
Ukraine before the usual crucial date of the Wannsee conference of 20 January 1942. The
slaughter was mostly over by the end of 1942.

The Allied Occupation of Germany

From the Ruins of the Reich: Germany, 1945-1949 by Douglas Botting (1986) is a
sweeping overview of the final days of the Second World War through the Berlin Air Lift. It
focuses on the common people, forced migrations, disruptions of lives and even the perceptions
of Allied soldiers. In the west, the Allied soldiers are seen as liberators, but in the east, the
Soviets are a tide of ruin that sweeps across the land.
The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945-1949 by
Norman M. Naimark (1995) covers the close of the war until the establishment of the DDR (East
Germany) as a state in the Soviet bloc. The process is shown as a series of stepping stones with
no central administration to a tight Soviet control to the semi-autonomy of the German
Democratic Republic. The goal and achievement of the Soviets was to create a Germany without
a bourgeois that was no longer a threat to Soviet ambitions.
The French in Germany, 1945-1949 by F. Roy Willis (1962) begins with an examination
of the viewpoint of the Allies concerning both De Gaulle and Vichy France. At the Yalta

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Conference only the Big Three (UK, USA, USSR) were present to hash out details of
occupation. The US and Britain decided to give in to De Gaulle and set aside some of their
occupation zones for French control. In practice, the French were easier on the Germans and
more willing to help out with education and the like. There were even instances of the French
using former Nazis in administrative positions.
Victor Gollancz wrote In Darkest Germany (1947) after a trip to the British
Occupation Zone in October and November of 1947 and is a firsthand account. His purpose in
writing the book was to inform the public of the horror of the true conditions in Germany almost
two years after the end of WW2. He starts with a chapter devoted to food and health and shows
he inadequacies of the current lack and effects on the populace. Inadequate nutrition was also
lowering the overall health of people in Germany and diseases such as tuberculosis were on the
rise. Gollancz goes on to describe the lack of material goods and essentials such as shoes,
housing, clothing and others. However, the most chilling chapter in the book deals with the
education of Germany. Gollancz coined a phrase totalitarian democracy that he used to
indicate that the denazification of Germany was producing a generation of people that saw
democracy only in negative terms and without true freedom.

The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials: Justice?

Justice at Nuremberg by Robert E. Conot (1983) is a comprehensive account of the

Nuremberg trials divided into five parts. Flashbacks are used to shows the event showcased at

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the trial in a very effective manner. The work does not add anything in the way of commentary
but merely presents the scene of the trial of the most important members of the Nazi hierarchy.
The Crime and Punishment of I. G. Farben by Joseph Borkin (1978) is a monograph
focusing on the war crimes trial of the I. G. Farben corporation for slavery, mass murder, and
plunder and spoliation. I. G. Farben was found guilty of using slave labor to turn profits and also
of the manufacture of the poison gas used to kill Holocaust inmates. The question that the work
examines is whether a company can refuse to aid the government on moral grounds.

Post World War II Europe

Caf Europa: Life After Communism by Slavenka Drakulic (1996) is a description of life
in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. She paints a somewhat bleak picture of life in the
east from horrible service to lack of amenities in many area. However, she is optimistic that
things are on the rise in the East.
Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz by Jan Gross (2007) examines the Polish
view of Jews both during and after World War II. Gross contends that almost all of the Poles
agreed with Hitlers Final Solution and anti-Semitism was traditionally a part of Polish culture.
This traditional hatred was seen by the Kielce Pogrom after the war. Jews that had survived the
Holocaust and returned home were rounded up on charges of kidnapping Christian children.
Officials did nothing to stop the pogrom.

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Paris after the Liberation, 1944-1949 by Antony Beevor (2004) show show Paris after the
end of World War II set the stage for the modern view of France. It is a tale of two countries and
Beevor highlights the difference between Ptain and De Gaulle. In many ways, Paris was a city
of contrasts. It was light-hearted and gay in some aspects, but others were sing art and the like to
pursue a political agenda.

The Cold War

Interpreters and Critics of the Cold War by Kenneth Thompson (1978) shows the three
different view of the Cold War. The first view is the Traditionalist. Stalin started it up because of
his own fears and ambitions. The second view is the Revisionist; it began in the 1960's and
places the blame squarely on America's shoulders. There are two variations of the Revisionist
stance. The soft view places the blame on Truman, and the hard view sees capitalism as the
source of the Cold War. The third view is Moderate, also called the Realist stance. It states that
the foreign policy of the time was driven by national interests, not by individuals.
Charles Maiers The Cold War in Europe (1978, 1991) is a collection of essays that
examines the Cold War. It provides an overview of the Cold War and does not point fingers at
any one side. It takes the stance that the Cold War ended because of Soviet domination of
Eastern Europe.
The Cold War: A New History by John Gaddis (2005) looks at the Cold War from the
end of World War II to the fall of the Soviet Union and is an excellent overview of the origins,

25
progress, and end of the Cold War. Gaddis examines the cultural differences that led to the start
of the war and then looks at the nuclear arms race. He then focuses on the economic problems
that brought the downfall of the Communist bloc.
The Fifty Year War: Conflict and Strategy in the Cold War by Norman Friedman (2000)
examines the Cold War as a war with its roots not in postwar Europe, but in in prewar Europe.
His contention is that both Lenin and Stalin saw conflict with the capitalistic West as inevitable
and goes on to show how Stalin's involvement in the Spanish Civil War was the true beginning
of the Cold War. Friedman's conclusion, however, is typical. He asserts that the West outspent
the USSR in military and industrial areas leading to an economic collapse in the Soviet Union..

The Revolutions of 1989: Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe

The Walls Came Tumbling Down by Gale Stokes (1993) describes the fall of
communism in the East as beginning in 1968 and continue as a slow process until the final
collapse in the 1980's. It is an overview and covers the entire eastern half of Europe and focuses
on all of the countries to some extent. Stokes paints Gorbachev as the foe of the neo-Stalinists.
The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and
Prague by Timothy Garton Ash (1990) is a record of the fall of communism in four of the
capitals by a respected historian and journalist. The author was like a whirlwind and manged to
arrive in all of the major spots at the right time; they are a record of his observations on the
scene. It captures the immediacy of the revolution.

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The Rebirth of History: Eastern Europe in the Age of Democracy by Misha Glenny
(1990) is another journalistic account of the changes in eastern Europe. A major undercurrent in
the book is nationalism, something that arises as the communist ideal breaks down; most of the
revolt is caused by nationalistic tensions in his opinion. At the end of the book, Glenny states
three security concerns for eastern Europe. The first is a fear of a unified Germany; will it
become expansionist again? The second is fear a resurgent, powerful Russia. Third, he points out
the possibility of regional instability and points out that a good fix would be the establishment of
a collective military organization in the region.
Revolutions in Eastern Europe: The Religious Roots by Niel Nielsen (1991) proposes
that religion was a crucial factor in opening the doors in Eastern Europe without violence. It was
an ideology that prompted change. Religion provided a stabilizing influence and religious
organizations were a shelter for dissidents who gained leadership experience that would prove
useful when the governments of eastern Europe fell into chaos.
After the Fall: The Pursuit of Democracy in Central Europe by Jeffery C. Goldfarb
(1992) examines the possibilities of change in central Europe right after the collapse of
communism in the USSR. His thesis is that the fall of communism occurred not because of
economic collapse induced by the the West, but rather through the auspices of the people
pushing for change in their own countries. The climatic moment of opportunity was caused by
glasnost. His thesis is that the fall of communism is a major turning point in the history of
civilization and that all the old concepts of ideology are now defunct.

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Collapse of the Soviet Union

Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? by Robert Strayer (1998) uses an argumentcounterargument format to discuss the issues. Strayer contends that the Russian people had the
need for a strong leader going all the way back to Mongol rule. With the breakdown of strong
leadership following the death of Stalin, the slide toward freedom was inevitable. This also
accounts for the lack of bloodshed in the revolution: the old men in Moscow did not want to
cause problems and fighting. Strayer dismisses the effect of the West on the Revolution and
points out that burgeoning nationalism in the Soviet Union and disfavor with socialism is what
ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR.
Lenins Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Rimnik (1993) is another
journalistic account of the fall of communism. Rimnik is critical of Gorbachev and does not see
him as a superhero in an way. He was a communist who wanted to reform the communist, not to
do away with it. Rimnik also blames Stalin for the death of communism; it was his harsh
measures and implementation of the Five Tear Plans that ultimately doomed the USSR.

Conclusion

The twentieth century has occasionally been called the Russian Century. At the
beginning of the century Russia was backward state. However, during the Great War, Russia
became the Soviet Union; it weathered the fascist invasion during the Great Patriotic War and

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entered into five decades of tension with the USA. Nationalism began to flourish and democracy
took root; the people of the Soviet Union became the people of Russia, the Ukraine, Byleorussia,
and almost a dozen other states. Looking back at the spread of the century, is there anytime
Russia was not involved on the world stage from 1914 forward? I feel that the twentieth century
can truly be called the Russian Century.