(4.0 Stars)

To say this book is disturbing is an understatement. That doesn't make it a bad book, but it was difficult to read. It was a very long book, filled with atrocity after atrocity, hour after hour. Just when you thought you've heard the the worst thing possible... it gets worse.

Again, that doesn't make this a bad book. If you want a historically accurate account of the evolution of concentration camps in Nazi Germany (and territories), this is the book you should read.

And, yes... reading of the beginning stages of Hitler's rise and how he was able to encourage inhumane treatment of entire groups of people... I couldn't help but notice the parallels to the world today, and how the far-right leaders speak of their perceived "enemies". ( )

Konzentrationslager (KL): Concentration Camp. There is so very much I could write about this book. Rather than do that, I will limit myself to just four specific points. I preface these statements by pointing out that I had already read an extensive narrative about a specific Nazi concentration camp in Sarah Helms book, Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women, which covered much of the same concepts about the "general business" of the camps, though geared specifically at the differences for women. In addition, a broad coverage of the camps was included in Timothy Snyder's book, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. And, of course, like lots of people before me I read books like Elie Wiesel's book, Night, and watched the Spielberg movie, "Schindler's List." My first point is that I believe the average American, at least at first blush, thinks first of Jews, gas chambers, and probably Auschwitz, when Nazi concentration camps are mentioned. While there is no doubt -- regardless of what Holocaust deniers might say -- Jews did indeed suffer horrendous assembly line genocide in the KL and elsewhere -- so in saying the KL were much more than that is not to diminish what what happened to Jews. Quite the contrary. Nazi disdain for a vast host of peoples not fitting their Aryanism ideal, cast its evil even broader and deeper. Gays, prostitutes, street people, petty criminals, thugs, mentally and physically disabled, Gypsies (Roma), Jehovah Witnesses (primarily because they wouldn't swear allegiance), and definitely Slavs in great numbers, meaning lots and lots of Russians and Poles. Despite the common connection made today, White Supremacy, as bad as it truly is, is more tolerant and inclusive than Hitler's Nazi ideal. Slavs are White, after all. My second point is how much incompetence there was in running the KL. Shifts in who and how persons were treated in the camps were fairly common. And there was a significant amount of "reinventing the wheel" at the various KL sites on how to manage these new tasks as they shifted, belying the reputation of German efficiency in the Third Reich. That brings me to my third point which comes with the last months of the Third Reich and how they tried to react to the squeeze put on space and resources as the Allied forces closed in, while seemingly never letting go of their knee-jerk behavior in mistreating as many people as they could. Nothing quite makes this point as the time Himmler hopes to curry some favor with the approaching Allied armies and decides to formally surrender a single major camp. While painting buildings and other nice "spring cleaning" activities for the "guests" arriving, somehow they forgot they had thousands of dead bodies piled up for all new arrivals to see, and while the conquering army was already in the camp, SS guards continued to shoot errant prisoners, until finally stopped. They simply could not see the depths of their depravity. And finally, I will point out something mentioned at times in this book that is pointed out more comprehensively in Snyder's book and more eloquently in Helm's book. The Russian troops approaching the many KL sites were apparently hell bent on matching the Nazi depravity by such actions as raping their own Russian women soldiers after they had been allowed to escape their KL imprisonment in Ravensbrück. There are history books with more literary flair than this one, but it is still quite readable...assuming you can tolerate the subject matter. Its obvious scholarship justifies its high marks. ( )

When studying World War 2 you will inevitably have to face the atrocities of the war through something other than chapters within other histories. When you decide to face the part that is the Nazi concentration camps, may I recommend this book. Wachsmann will take you on a surprisingly readable journey from their beginnings in 1933 to their demise in 1945. I do not think you could find a more comprehensive, one-volume, history that does not read like an academic study. ( )

Nel marzo del 1933, appena due mesi dopo la presa del potere da parte di Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, il nuovo capo della polizia di Monaco, diede l'annuncio di aver scelto una fabbrica in disuso nei pressi di Dachau per farne un campo di concentramento per i prigionieri politici. Poche settimane dopo, le SS presero il controllo del posto, un capannone circondato da filo spinato, in grado di contenere non più di 223 prigionieri. Dopo questo modesto inizio, il sistema dei campi di concentramento crebbe fino a diventare un vastissimo panorama di terrore, che comprendeva 22 campi principali e l.200 satelliti sparsi tra la Germania e l'Europa controllata dai nazisti. All'inizio del 1945 i campi tedeschi contenevano circa 700.000 persone provenienti da tutta Europa. Lì morirono due milioni di uomini. In questo libro, lo storico tedesco Nikolaus Wachsmann ricostruisce la storia del sistema dei campi di concentramento tedeschi, le violenze, gli abusi, i massacri, facendo rivivere un'epoca atroce attraverso le vicende di quanti vi furono rinchiusi e lì tragicamente morirono. (fonte: ibs)

Exceptionally powerful book. Ostensibly a complete and massive scholarly history of the Nazi concentration camp system from 1933-1945, or as a previous author described it, the theory and practice of hell, full of numbers, statistics and facts, nevertheless this book drips with horror and human suffering. Wachsmann has expertly melded dry scholarship with very human first-person accounts of one of the most atrocious crimes in history. Best way to sum up this book, is that you will learn and you will cry and you will quiver with rage. Very highly recommended. ( )