I.M. Baxter

I saw this book yesterday for the first time at the bookstore, and that's pretty shocking considering how often I visit that bookstore in that particular section. But there were about 15-20 of the same type of books (with a small summary and mostly pictures with descriptions) in all the different theaters/fronts of World War 2. They might have had others besides WW2 but the good majority were. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5, is that a lot of the wording in the different descriptions get monotonous and repetitive. But sadly, that isn't really the authors fault because these tragic events happened over and over and they have some records from 1941-43 in the back of the book that shows the unbelievable number of people killed along with their nationality and if they are a man, woman or child. I was shocked at how many children were killed right along side the adults. Maybe some of them were just psychopaths but I know some of those German members of the Einsatzgruppen had to be seriously damaged and f'd up by the mass killing they took a part in. It says that Himmler got word that some of the men, especially the ones with a wife and kids at home, were really starting to crack up because of the slaughter. Himmler replied something like, "he better get in line with the program". The next paragraph said after that he was witness to one of the massacres and he nearly (or did) fainted after seeing it himself. Following his personal experience, the top brass came together to find more "humane" ways to commit ethnic cleansing/genocide. This is where the idea formulated to have mobile vans filled with poisonous gas, and that way they would still be killed but the soilders wouldn't have to look them in the eye. Some of these photos were new to me and if it doesn't seem like this could have even happened such a short time ago, but it brings the stories to visual proof and you're going to feel some feelings after going through them all. But I still highly recommend that you read this book. It's mainly pictures with captions with only about 10-15 actual typed pages, so it's super easy to read and can be done in a day, Even for the slower reader, it's doable in a weekend.… (mehr)

I saw this book yesterday for the first time at the bookstore, and that's pretty shocking considering how often I visit that bookstore in that particular section. But there were about 15-20 of the same type of books (with a small summary and mostly pictures with descriptions) in all the different theaters/fronts of World War 2. They might have had others besides WW2 but the good majority were. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5, is that a lot of the wording in the different descriptions get monotonous and repetitive. But sadly, that isn't really the authors fault because these tragic events happened over and over and they have some records from 1941-43 in the back of the book that shows the unbelievable number of people killed along with their nationality and if they are a man, woman or child. I was shocked at how many children were killed right along side the adults. Maybe some of them were just psychopaths but I know some of those German members of the Einsatzgruppen had to be seriously damaged and f'd up by the mass killing they took a part in. It says that Himmler got word that some of the men, especially the ones with a wife and kids at home, were really starting to crack up because of the slaughter. Himmler replied something like, "he better get in line with the program". The next paragraph said after that he was witness to one of the massacres and he nearly (or did) fainted after seeing it himself. Following his personal experience, the top brass came together to find more "humane" ways to commit ethnic cleansing/genocide. This is where the idea formulated to have mobile vans filled with poisonous gas, and that way they would still be killed but the soilders wouldn't have to look them in the eye. Some of these photos were new to me and if it doesn't seem like this could have even happened such a short time ago, but it brings the stories to visual proof and you're going to feel some feelings after going through them all. But I still highly recommend that you read this book. It's mainly pictures with captions with only about 10-15 actual typed pages, so it's super easy to read and can be done in a day, Even for the slower reader, it's doable in a weekend.… (mehr)