A Pictorial History Of The SS 1923-1945

by Andrew with intro by Trevor-Roper Mollo

1977, Loaded with photos and info 192 pages. 9 1/4 By 12 1/4"

Genres: History, Military History, World War II

253 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1976

Reviews

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Mollo has been the author of many fine books and this is one of them. There are two statements of note in the introduction of "A Pictorial History of the SS 1923-1945." Speaking of the SS, he says that without this organization Hitler could never have risen to power nor implemented his philosophy. The other point he makes is that a lot of research has gone into placing the correct captions in these photographs, which other authors shamefully mislabel to support their written word.

By way of explanation, the original Nazi stormtroopers with their brown uniforms were the Strumabteilung (SA). These rowdy street fighters battled their political opponents who had their own streetfighters. Hitler felt the need for special bodyguards so the Schutzstaffel (SS) were formed. These men with their black uniforms were an elite. In time they replaced the SA by killing off the SA leaders. The military, businessmen and politicians were pleased that Hitler cut the head off the snake, but what they didn't realize was that he replaced it with something far worse. Besides intimidating an enemy, the black uniform had a certain appeal to those who fell under the Hitler spell. Many cultured Germans wished to join this 'fraternity' but it wasn't easy. Himmler, the head of the SS, bragged that members didn't have as much as a tooth filling. Later wartime losses relaxed such standards and even allowed for foreigners to join.

In time different branches of the SS took over different functions such as concentration camp guards, espionage, secret police, government posts, and even served alongside the army units as the Waffen (armed) SS. It was these members of the Waffen SS that often gained the most notoriety for their treatment of prisoners and conquered people as well as fear or hatred when faced in combat. Few elite groups had such devotion to their cause and often were successful in combat due to their disregard of horrendous casualties suffered. Yet they often found willing recruits, even in occupied countries. Hitler once remarked that if he had a son, he would have liked him to be like Leon Degrelle, the highly decorated commander of the Belgian SS Assault Brigade. The author mentions that had the Germans recruited the hundreds of thousands of Russian prisoners instead of implementing genocide they could have beaten the Soviets. Instead, they drove them to the Communist banner and gave them something to fight for.

This was an interesting book well illustrated but lacking maps.

[Robert M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rated highly for the pictures, and the identifications and supporting factual data. The narrative is often crap and the hypocrisy and perfidy of the “allies” shines through.

[Ruppert Baird · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book covering the whole of the history of the SS in photos, including a bit of the years after WWII. The captions are informative, but if there is a major criticism of the book it's that many captions identifying persons is in many cases confusing.
Additionally, the photo reproduction was not as good as should be expected of a book of this kind. Nevertheless, while I have read extensively on WWII history, I did find a few nuggets.

[William Sariego · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically a 'Coffee Table' book for World War II history geeks.