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The SS: A History 1919-45 Paperback – July 1, 2004

by Robert Lewis Koehl (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
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The SS grew out of Adolf Hitler’s and Heinrich Himmler’s obsession to prevent the treachery they believed to have caused the German defeat in the First World War. It was to be an elite corps of politically aware soldiers whose primary aim was to prevent the undermining of the Nazi Party by rendering its potential enemies “harmless.” This disturbing story reveals not only the inner workings of the SS, but also its paramount role in the mass murder of Europe’s Jews, homosexuals, and gypsies; its organization of the death squads throughout occupied Europe; and the military campaigns undertaken by the Waffen SS.
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  1. Print length
    368 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Tempus
  4. Publication date
    July 1, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 0.93 x 7.6 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0752425595
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0752425597
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

The SS grew out of Adolf Hitler’s and Heinrich Himmler’s obsession to prevent the treachery they believed to have caused the German defeat in the First World War. The SS was to be an elite corps of politically aware soldiers whose primary aim was to prevent the undermining of the Nazi Party by rendering its potential enemies “harmless.” This disturbing story reveals not only the inner workings of the SS, but also its paramount role in the mass murder of Europe’s Jews, homosexuals and gypsies; its organization of the death squads throughout occupied Europe; and the military campaigns undertaken by the Waffen SS.

Robert Lewis Koehl was formerly Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has researched the SS for more than thirty years and has published widely in the field. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tempus; New Ed edition (July 1, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0752425595
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0752425597
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.93 x 7.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 22 ratings

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Robert Lewis Koehl

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
22 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

S. Edstrom
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic reference book!
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2006
This is a one of the best reference books about the SS.
The author did a huge research going through personnel records of SS officers in Berlin document center back in the sixties.
This is unfortunately a shortened version of the first edition with the original title The Black Corps: The Structure and Power Struggles of the Nazi SS which includes a huge reference matter which is sadly removed in this newer edition, but it's a great useful book anyway.

The book is a fantastic reference for people like me with a genuine interest in the terms and structure about the different branches of the complex organization SS.

If you're looking for a general informative and illustrated easy to read book about the German SS, this is not the one.
3 people found this helpful
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David A. Meier
4.0 out of 5 stars Robert Koehl knew his material.
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2018
Verified Purchase
Koehl's earlier works, especially, The Black Corps and RKFVD, reflect the strength of his research and analysis. Koehl's interest in education and pedagogical methods inclined him to use a wide variety of tools in composing his books. This work, The SS, simplified much of what Koehl had written earlier in his career. A solid and reliable source, this book book suffers mainly from a smaller print than most of us would prefer. IN terms of content, it breaks no new ground but allows those with little or no knowledge of the SS a reasonably easy insight into a complicated organization.
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Thomas M. Magee
3.0 out of 5 stars A Different Take
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2011
This book is a different take on the SS. I would rate the book as average. I would say it is a good reference book for deep papers but not a good read.

This book definitely has things you won't find elsewhere. That is a very rare thing in today's world. This take sort of puts a new spin on how the SS came about. The book goes into detail about the inner workings for the SS. All to often people hear SS they think the death camps. Whereas that was a part of the SS but it wasn't everything. The organization was much bigger than that. They fielded their own Army, merged in ways with the national police forces, integrated some of the "elite" of the nation and tried to become a religion. They had over a million people by 45 in their ranks.

The author takes the reader into the bowels of the SS. You can see how big the SS was. How it started from a body guard group to this large bureaucracy. The book explains how the different parts of the bureaucracy grew. It takes you beyond the personality of Himmler and pictures of the death camps to something more horrific. You can see how scores of people contributed to the cause. This book gives you the names of these mid level bureaucrats that gave shape to Hitler's vision. There you can see how the evil rests in all, not just a few.

If you are looking of some dramatic stories of the SS you won't see it here. Nor will you see a romantic story of dark knights. The story of the SS does get loss in the bureaucratic tales. That loss does take away from the impact of the SS. Also many will really find the book troubling when you can see evil can appear in anyone, not just a few. Many will find that more troubling than detailed descriptions of the ovens and black booted parades in Berlin.
2 people found this helpful
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Stephen Campbell
4.0 out of 5 stars Review
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2008
This is not a bad book nor is it a great book. If you are looking for a book about the "Gallant Knights" of the SS then you will be disapointed. This is not a book written for apologists or romantics of the SS of which there are many. Rather, it is an explanation of the sociology of the SS in general.

It is a well written overview of the SS as a whole. The authors point is that the SS was not a monolithic organization. Rather, it reflected the power struggles, ideological differences, and general self-serving drive for power of its leaders, and the various factions inside the party itself.

I had some problems with the authors terminology. Especially his use of "Supperior SS and Police Leader." Why not use the common HSSPF? I also thought he skimmed over the role of police battalions and indigneous troops in the east. This is not suprising since the book predates C. Brownings work on the subject. Yet there is enough there to point a casual reader in the right direction should they be more interested in learning more.

Generally a good overview that is worth reading. If you believe the SS equals the Waffen SS then you will be disapointed.
5 people found this helpful
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rusoviet
2.0 out of 5 stars A very grueling poorly edited book on an important subject.
Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2016
The problem I found with this tome was not that it lacked detail rather it is poorly edited and has a very slim 'index'. It is very tough reading due to the lack of 'breaks' in text the paragraphs are far far too long. Also it is clumsy in not 'grouping' the topics in a more concise manner. I is a rather confusing book. It is a very jumbled text. Frankly had the author or editor tasked a proven copy editor in streamlining the text it would make it a far more readable and a resource to refer others to - I cannot and I say that with respect for the effort evident in the throughout the text.

Slow sledding - found myself skimming tops of each paragraph to see if the ensuing text was of interest.
One person found this helpful
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rabbit_biscuit
1.0 out of 5 stars Meandering, confusing, plain irritating
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2006
Supposedly about the history and inner workings of the SS, this book also takes you on a disorienting ride into the world of convoluted sentences and uninspired phraseology. Koehl isn't out to enlighten the reader; rather than telling his story in a clear and methodical fashion, he simply plunges the reader right smack into his ramblings, dropping names and using terms without explanation. This is a book meant for someone who already has significant background knowledge on the subject and who would have no problem immediately understanding terms like "folkish movement", "Kapp Putsch" and "the Kahr regime". Read this book if you enjoy having to go over long sentences again and again and again... I can honestly say this is the worst history of *anything* I've ever read.
6 people found this helpful
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Ralf Raths
5.0 out of 5 stars Schwer, komplex, spröde - und die Mühe wert
Reviewed in Germany on April 27, 2016
Verified Purchase
Eine knappe, fundierte Überblicksdarstellung zur SS zu finden, ist nicht so leicht. Kogons „SS-Staat“ kann allenfalls noch als historische Quelle dienen, und Höhnes „Orden“ ist ebenfalls rundum veraltet – mal abgesehen davon, dass das Buch schon zu seiner Entstehungszeit eher populär ausgelegt war. Dennoch sind es genau diese beiden Bücher, die man immer wieder stapelweise in Buchhandlungen zur Ramschpreisen liegen sieht, und die zusammen mit inhaltsschwachen Bildbänden dubioser Provinienz und Qualität daher immer noch die Hauptquelle für das breite Wissen über die SS ausmachen. Wer tiefer graben wollte, musste schnell in detailliertere Studien eintauchen – Heins sehr gutes Buch zur Allgemeinen SS, Wegeners Klassiker zur Waffen-SS und der jüngere Sammelband zum Thema und Orths Buch zur Konzentrationslager-SS bilden einen guten Dreisatz, sind aber eben auch weit weg vom Anspruch eines knappen Überblicks und den verknüpfenden Überblick muss der Leser selbst leisten. Hein hat in der Beck'schen Reihe mittlerweile auch einen Band zur SS beigesteuert, der diesen Anspruch sicher erfüllt; soviel wage ich zu behaupten, auch wenn ich ich noch nicht gelesen habe. Aber die Beck'schen 150 Seiten sind dann doch auch wieder arg knapp.

Daher habe ich mir vor einiger Zeit Koehls Buch gekauft und es nun endlich gelesen. Zuerst einmal habe ich es aber nach dem Auspacken enttäuscht weggelegt, weil ich Opfer meiner eigenen Konditionierung geworden bin. Ein schneller Blick ins Buch zeigte: Keine Fuß- oder Endnoten, keine Bibliographie, nicht mal eine „Further reading“-Liste. Also doch nur wieder eines dieser mythenreproduzierenden Populärwerke. Schade um's Geld.

Nach einiger Zeit habe ich das Buch dann wieder in die Hand genommen, weil ich unbedingt das Thema angehen wollte und zähneknirschend dem Machwerk eine Chance geben wollte. Und gleich der erste Satz der Einleitung hat mich positiv gefesselt: „The men in the black coats were, after all, men.“ Und auch die folgenden Zeilen waren kreativ, fesselnd, differenziert. Also hab ich das Buch erneut gescannt und die „About the Author“-Seite wies selbigen als Geschichtsprofessor der Uni von Madison aus; eine schnelle Recherche ergab, dass der Mann jahrzehntelang zum NS und zur SS geforscht, publiziert und gelehrt hat. Der 1922 geborene, in Harvard promovierte und 1997 emeritierte Koehl hat dieses Buch vermutlich so handwerklich … schlank publiziert, weil a) er es qua Reputation konnte und b) es in dieser Form vermutlich einen deutlich breiteren Markt gefunden hat.

Nun, wer auf diese Mimikry reingefallen ist, wird bitter enttäuscht worden sein – so, wie ich im Gegenzug hoch erfreut wurde. Denn Koehls Buch ist dicht, reichhaltig und es verlangt einiges vom Leser. Koehl geht davon aus, dass seine Leserschaft firm in der NS-Geschichte ist und auch Details wie den innerparteilichen Putsch Hitlers einfach mal mal parat hat; und er geht davon aus, dass sie hochkomprimierten Gedankengängen folgt. Man merkt dem Buch wieder und wieder und wieder an, wieviel Wissen in jedem Absatz steckt und dass Koehl sich wirklich Mühe geben musste, all das so weit zu komprimieren, dass es auf knapp 300 Seiten passt. Trotz der geringen Seitenzahl differenziert und analysiert er ausgiebig, vergisst aber dabei auch nicht, ein großes Narrativ zu spinnen, das den Leser auf Linie und die SS als Ganzes im Blick behält, ohne der Verlockung zu erliegen, sich in die einzelnen Wucherungen ihrer Organisation zu verirren. Beeindruckend ist dabei vor alle, wie Koehl immer wieder überzeugend klar macht, wie die SS sich immer wieder wandelte und wie wenig sie dabei zu jedem Zeitpunkt den heutigen Mythen über sie entsprach; und wie er dabei immer wieder verdeutlicht, wie ergebnisoffen diese Prozesse und Entwicklungen waren. Hier zeigt sich eine große Nähe und wunderbare Passgenauigkeit zu Longerichs SA-Buch, das ähnliche Stärken hat. Beide Bände gehören also nicht nur vom Titel und Thema her direkt nebeneinander ins Regal.

Das Buch ist ein Muss für jeden, der aus welchen Gründen auch immer irgendwas über die SS wissen muss. Denn eines ist sicher: Was wir über die SS zu wissen GLAUBEN, ist fast immer der Nachhall von (vor 1945) Propaganda und (nach 1945) Sündenbock-Mechanismen. Koehl bietet eine überzeugende, fesselnde Alternativinterpretation an. Aber man muss arbeiten, um sie aus dem Buch zu holen - und steht dann immer noch ohne Belege und weiterführende Literatur da. Meine Idee war, Koehl einfach anzumailen und nach einer Belegliste zu fragen; amerikanische Professoren sind oft sehr offen für solche Fragen. Leider ist er im Sommer 2015 verstorben. Er hat uns also mit Hausaufgaben zurückgelassen.
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Rossa1
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2015
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A heavy read - very informative
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P. Sørensen
3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but scandelous neutered edition
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2011
Verified Purchase
The book is very well written and contains the best description of early SS I have ever read. This book is clearly a semi-classic and among the very few good books on the SS.

This edition from "Tempus Publishing Ldt." however can only be described as a scandal since all the footnotes and the literature list has been removed making it totally useless for me and other scholars. Important maps have been removed too. Nothing in the book even hint at this strange and unforgivable editorial decision.

So the book is 5 stars, but the edition is a zero star "stinker". Get the 1983 edition instead of this.
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