Disguised as an Austrian private, former SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Oberg (1897−1965) was captured in June 1945 by American troops. Oberg was responsible for Nazi security forces (e.g., Schutzstaffel, Gestapo, and Sicherheitsdienst) in occupied France from April 1942 until the country’s liberation in August 1944. He was directly responsible for the deportations to KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau of more than forty thousand Jews. Originally convicted of crimes against humanity by the British and then separately by a French court in 1954, Oberg’s death sentence was commuted to life in 1958 by the French president. A year later, the life sentence was further reduced to twenty years. In 1962, President Charles de Gaulle pardoned Oberg and he was set free. An aberration of justice in a case of a former Nazi convicted of crimes against humanity? No. Unfortunately, this was not an exception but rather the norm during the early postwar years.
Former SS General Karl Oberg in custody of the American army. Photo by anonymous (c. June 1945). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
In his absorbing book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer made sure to point out on numerous occasions how Hitler’s 1925 book, Mein Kampf, or “My Struggle” (it was really more of a “manifesto”) laid out the agenda the future Führer would pursue once in power. Hitler’s book was first published seven years after Germany signed the armistice ending the conflict of World War I and subsequently, the Treaty of Versailles acknowledging their responsibility. (There were two volumes of Mein Kampf published; 1925 and 1926 for a total of 720 pages.)
CBS war correspondent, William L. Shirer (center at typewriter) in Compiègne, France, reporting on the signing of the armistice between France and Germany. The building in the background housed the rail car used by Marshal Foch on 11 November 1918 to sign the German armistice after the end of World War I. Photo by Kreigsberichter Jager Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (22 June 1940). PD-Author’s life plus 70 years or fewer. Wikimedia Commons.
The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to disarm, give up thirteen percent of its European territory, lose all its colonial possessions, and subjected the country to onerous financial reparations. Germans, including Hitler, were humiliated and at the same time, outraged. The Weimar Republic came into existence in 1919 and things went downhill from there. The book was written during a time when Germany was suffering from hyperinflation, political extremism, quarrelsome relations with its European neighbors, and within five years, a severe depression. It was a period when people began looking for a scapegoat for their problems and Hitler found a group of people who, for millennia, were forced to play this role: the Jews.
Did You Know?
Did you know there was one thing that Hitler and the Nazis feared more than Jews, Communists, or homosexuals? It was cancer. Well, the 1931 Nobel Prize winner for medicine was a German who was Jewish and openly gay. Otto Warburg (1883−1970), a biochemist, was nominated for a Nobel award forty-seven times during his career. He is remembered for his work on how cells metabolize food and sugar. He discovered that cancer cells eat up more glucose than other cells. Warburg believed the cause of cancer was faulty cell metabolism. As time went on, his theories were proven wrong, and Warburg announced his critics were idiots. The scientist was extremely vain and filled with self-conceit. When another scientist was asked to rank Warburg’s arrogance from one to ten, he took a moment and answered, “Twenty.” Read More Hitler’s Blueprint
“Informative and entertaining, Stew Ross’ newest work evokes a difficult and frightening time in the history of the City of Light. The detailed descriptions of sites such as the Vél’ d’hiv’ or Gestapo headquarters reminds us of the choices people made during those years.”
Cynthia Bisson, PhD, Professor of History, Belmont University, French Resistant Expert
Mr. Ross brings the streets of Paris to life, making it possible for you to stand on the very spots where the grand and tragic events of the French Revolution took place. If you are looking for more than just the typical tourist experience in Paris, then this book is must reading!
