EBOOK
The Perfect Nazi
Discovering My Grandfather's Secret Past and How Hitler Seduced a Generation
Martin Davidson(0)
About
A unique and highly personal history of Nazi Germany, supported throughout by documents and transcripts.
In 1993 Martin Davidson discovered that his German grandfather, who seemingly spent the war as an unassuming dentist in Berlin, had been a Nazi. And a thoroughly committed one, too: he had joined the Bund as a child, graduated to the brownshirts, and signed up for the party as soon as it had become legal, seven years before Hitler came to power. Davidson became determined to discover who and what his grandfather had really been. This book is the story of that quest. It is the piecing together and fleshing out of an archetype on which the Nazi party was founded: the middle-ranking, cogwheel-oiling, in-tray-emptying, memo-writing, fanatical fascist. As Davidson trawls through the archive, discovering many revelatory documents, he comes closer and closer to a mind-reeling possibility. His grandfather had been in Hungary in 1944. Did his commitment to evil go as deep as working with Eichmann on the sending of 700,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz?
Davidson also investigates and considers the lives and careers of other members of his family, some of whom made very different choices. He asks, what does it mean to discover that so many of one's relatives operated on the wrong side of the greatest moral divide of modern times? And what light does that discovery shed on the inner workings not just of Nazi bureaucracy, but on the complex of emotions and calculations that drew millions of Germans to throw in their lot with an insane ideology of mass murder? List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. Funeral in Berlin
2. SS Curriculum Vitae
3. Fathers and Sons 1906—1922
4. Fulfilment! 1922—1926
5. Street-fighting Man 1926—1933
6. Triumph of the Will 1933—1937
7. Men in Black 1937—1939
8. War! 1939—1944
9. Endgame 1944—1946
10. Aftermath 1946—1992
Postscript
Bibliography
Notes
Index "A fascinating and extraordinary journey into the heart of Nazism."
- Ben Macintyre, Author Of Agent Zigzag And Operation Mincemeat
"Martin Davidson has done a brave thing: he has confronted and revealed his own family's Nazi past. The result is absorbing, highly readable and painstakingly researched."
- Niall Ferguson
"The utterly compelling account of what it's like to discover that your grandfather was a ruthless officer in Hitler's SS."
- Philip Kerr
"The Perfect Nazi is a terrific piece of writing, shedding light on how ordinary Germans abetted the Nazi terror and how in later years all was conveniently "forgotten"."
- David Cesarani, Author Of Eichmann: His Life And Crimes
"A fascinating and compelling account. This is an important book for anyone interested in the moral climate which led to the Holocaust and the other crimes of the Third Reich."
- Adrian Weale Evening Standard (UK)
"A riveting narrative that brings a fresh vividness to a familiar episode."
- Valerie Grove The Times (UK)
"Davidson's journey into his grandfather's past makes for a compelling and unsettling tale ... A thoughtful and affecting book."
- Telegraph (UK)
"Shocking and compelling ... Hollywood fiction turns out to be not so far from the truth as revealed in Martin Davidson's fascinating account of his maternal grandfather."
- Sunday Times (UK)
"Chillingly addictive ... Davidson was right to decide that, whatever the cost, Bruno had "forfeited the right" to post-humous anonymity."
- Roger Hutchinson Scotsman (UK)
"This highly readable, thought-provoking book highlights the challenges that German families have faced as they seek to put the past behind them ... It offers a window on how the different generations grappled with the Nazi past."
- Hester Vaizey Independent (UK) MARTIN DAVIDSON has two degrees from Oxford University and worked at J Walter Thompson before becoming a filmmaker and author, specializing in historical and
In 1993 Martin Davidson discovered that his German grandfather, who seemingly spent the war as an unassuming dentist in Berlin, had been a Nazi. And a thoroughly committed one, too: he had joined the Bund as a child, graduated to the brownshirts, and signed up for the party as soon as it had become legal, seven years before Hitler came to power. Davidson became determined to discover who and what his grandfather had really been. This book is the story of that quest. It is the piecing together and fleshing out of an archetype on which the Nazi party was founded: the middle-ranking, cogwheel-oiling, in-tray-emptying, memo-writing, fanatical fascist. As Davidson trawls through the archive, discovering many revelatory documents, he comes closer and closer to a mind-reeling possibility. His grandfather had been in Hungary in 1944. Did his commitment to evil go as deep as working with Eichmann on the sending of 700,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz?
Davidson also investigates and considers the lives and careers of other members of his family, some of whom made very different choices. He asks, what does it mean to discover that so many of one's relatives operated on the wrong side of the greatest moral divide of modern times? And what light does that discovery shed on the inner workings not just of Nazi bureaucracy, but on the complex of emotions and calculations that drew millions of Germans to throw in their lot with an insane ideology of mass murder? List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. Funeral in Berlin
2. SS Curriculum Vitae
3. Fathers and Sons 1906—1922
4. Fulfilment! 1922—1926
5. Street-fighting Man 1926—1933
6. Triumph of the Will 1933—1937
7. Men in Black 1937—1939
8. War! 1939—1944
9. Endgame 1944—1946
10. Aftermath 1946—1992
Postscript
Bibliography
Notes
Index "A fascinating and extraordinary journey into the heart of Nazism."
- Ben Macintyre, Author Of Agent Zigzag And Operation Mincemeat
"Martin Davidson has done a brave thing: he has confronted and revealed his own family's Nazi past. The result is absorbing, highly readable and painstakingly researched."
- Niall Ferguson
"The utterly compelling account of what it's like to discover that your grandfather was a ruthless officer in Hitler's SS."
- Philip Kerr
"The Perfect Nazi is a terrific piece of writing, shedding light on how ordinary Germans abetted the Nazi terror and how in later years all was conveniently "forgotten"."
- David Cesarani, Author Of Eichmann: His Life And Crimes
"A fascinating and compelling account. This is an important book for anyone interested in the moral climate which led to the Holocaust and the other crimes of the Third Reich."
- Adrian Weale Evening Standard (UK)
"A riveting narrative that brings a fresh vividness to a familiar episode."
- Valerie Grove The Times (UK)
"Davidson's journey into his grandfather's past makes for a compelling and unsettling tale ... A thoughtful and affecting book."
- Telegraph (UK)
"Shocking and compelling ... Hollywood fiction turns out to be not so far from the truth as revealed in Martin Davidson's fascinating account of his maternal grandfather."
- Sunday Times (UK)
"Chillingly addictive ... Davidson was right to decide that, whatever the cost, Bruno had "forfeited the right" to post-humous anonymity."
- Roger Hutchinson Scotsman (UK)
"This highly readable, thought-provoking book highlights the challenges that German families have faced as they seek to put the past behind them ... It offers a window on how the different generations grappled with the Nazi past."
- Hester Vaizey Independent (UK) MARTIN DAVIDSON has two degrees from Oxford University and worked at J Walter Thompson before becoming a filmmaker and author, specializing in historical and