WEEK ELEVEN - HANNS AND RUDOLF - BOOK AS A WHOLE - FINAL THOUGHTS - July 21st - July 27th - (SPOILER THREAD)

[Bryan]

Thanks for joining us, Vince, thank you.

[Whitney]

The introduction of the book immediately pulled me in. Tomas Harding wanted to learn more about his Uncle Hans, who the family claimed brought in the Kommandant of Auschwitz: Rudolph Hoess. I found it a fascinating motivation for the writing this book. I was a little surprised to feel like it took a good part of the book for me to really get who Hans was. It seemed we learned a lot about Rudolph right away.

I think this was an important perspective to add to the histories and memoirs about the Holocaust. It was a different way of examining some of the events and the questions that arise from them. I had not read a book about anyone from the war crimes investigation team before, and I found that to be very interesting. It brought up a lot of things I would like to know more about, such as: how the teams were formed, how were the members of the teams chosen, how many people did they bring to justice, and many other questions.

I won a copy of this book from the publisher to participate in the Goodreads History Book Club discussion about this book.

[Bryan]

Thanks so much for joining us, Whitney. I hope you do another discussion with the group.

[Dachokie]

Review:

A Tale of Two Germans …

**This book was reviewed as part of Goodreads History Book club which included a free advance copy of the book**

Due to the staggering magnitude of World War II, in terms of events and individuals involved, it is understandably simplified for easier digestion. Peeling back the layers of the war’s events results in a seemingly endless stream of individual accounts that prove to be quite fascinating. Thomas Harding presents one such example with his book HANNS AND RUDOLPH, the story of two German men whose divergent paths in life turned one man into the hunter and the other, his prey during the war only to have those roles reversed once the war ends.

HANNS AND RUDOLPH is essentially a double-biography that details the lives of Rudolph Hoess and Hanns Alexander. Hoess was a disgruntled World War I veteran who becomes an ardent Nazi and the eventual commandant of Auschwitz. Alexander, the son of a well-to-do Jewish doctor who flees Germany, joins the British Army and is given the task of finding Nazi war criminals following Germany’s surrender. While the life paths taken by Hoess and Alexander started worlds apart, those paths ultimately collide.

Although the book’s expanded title alludes to the capture of Rudolf Hoess as being the focal point, Harding takes a much more thought-provoking approach by focusing on the individual histories of both men instead of a singular event. Chronologically written with alternating chapters representing pivotal periods in Hoess and Alexander’s lives, readers are taken along two diverse journeys. The early chapters describing the childhood/coming-of-age years of both men predictably charts their eventual paths in life. Alexander, having grown up in a close-knit Jewish family that enjoyed the comforts of wealth, is portrayed as an innocent young man with a promising future. Hoess, on the other hand, learned to accept life as being an ongoing thunderstorm that included a dysfunctional/unloving family and a never ending state of war. As they are presented, it isn’t hard to figure Alexander taking the righteous path with Hoess naturally veering into the darkness. The rise of the Nazis represents pivotal moment for both men by providing a natural haven for Hoess and a source of fear for Alexander and his family that eventually forces the family to desperately escape the escalating violence in Germany.

The progressing stories of both men are interesting and diverse. While Hoess’ job as the commandant of Auschwitz has made him the subject of other books, Harding digs a little deeper to provide a look at the man’s personal life, his upbringing, his rise through the Nazi ranks, life with his wife and children and how he interacts with the Nazi hierarchy throughout the war. Harding doesn’t present Hoess as evil from the beginning, but he does illustrate the events in Hoess’ life (lack of family, World War I and the violent chaos in Germany after that war) seem to contribute to his psychopathic behavior as an adult. I found Alexander’s story to be a little more compelling. Forced to leave Germany, he joins the British Army to fight against his native countrymen and ultimately is assigned to a unit designed to hunt suspected war criminals. Even though there appear to be more details available in illustrating Alexander’s life, Harding does a good job of balancing both men’s stories. I would have liked a little more information on Alexander’s military experience, mainly whether or not he ever faced combat against his former countrymen. I found the cat-and-mouse storyline of Alexander and his men trying to find Hoess to be the best part of the book. With both men swapping their former roles as hunter and prey, it’s hard not to feel a sense of justified satisfaction as Alexander zeroes in on the scent trail left by the hiding Hoess … the thrill of the hunt somewhat overshadows Hoess’ eventual capture, making it somewhat anticlimactic.

HANNS AND RUDOLPH exposes one of those lesser-known mini-dramas of World War II. The irony of the story (a German Jew capturing the commandant of Auschwitz) is what drew me to the book in the first place. Thomas Harding presents the stories of these men and their ultimate connection in a manner that keeps readers interested from the book’s beginning to its end. Photos peppered throughout the book add clarity to Harding’s already vivid writing. I believe this is a story that needed to be told.

[Jill]

Thank you for a very in-depth and cogent review, Dachokie. Well done.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

G wrote: "I would first like to thank the author, Simon and Schuster, Goodreads, and the History Book Club for this book which I received as a giveaway. I'd also like to thank the participants who gave cons..."

Thank you G - I think that Mr. Harding was portraying both men in as neutral a light as he could - so that we could make up our own minds. It had to be a very tough thing for him to do.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Ctgt wrote: "I would like to thank the author, publisher Simon & Schuster and The History Book Club on Goodreads for providing me with a free copy of this book.


The book parallels the lives of two men, Rudolf..."

Thank you CTGT

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Brian wrote: "Thanks go to Simon & Schuster, Thomas Harding, the History Book Club on Goodreads, and Bentley for the free copy of Hanns and Rudolf.

This a well written and researched dual biography of the Komma..."

Brian I agree wholeheartedly - thank you for your review.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Kressel wrote: "Yes, thanks to all of you who made this possible. Having the author here made the group read even better than usual!"

Thank you Kressel - Thomas was great and added so much to the discussion. Thank you Thomas.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Teri wrote: "In Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz, Thomas Harding tells the story of his great-uncle Hanns Alexander, the man who investi..."

Thank you Teri for posting your review.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

David wrote: "I enjoyed Hanns and Rudolf. While the subject matter is dark and disturbing, I feel that we can only learn from this past by becoming aware of how things like this happened. The first part of the..."

You are welcome David and thank you for your review - I am just getting back from all of the overseas travel and family events.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Melinda wrote: "Review~

Harding, while attending his Uncle Hanns Alexander’s funeral, discovered his uncle captured and delivered Rudolf Hoess to justice. This nugget of information served as the catalyst in pro..."

Thank you Melinda - you might want to add more to your disclaimer -

Disclosure: This book was provided to me for free through the History Book Club on Goodreads. Thanks to Simon and Schuster for their generosity.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Zohar - ManOfLaBook.com wrote: "Here are my thoughts:

Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the Ger­man Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Kom­man­dant of Auschwitz by Thomas Hard­ing is a non-fiction book detail­ing the cap­ture..."

Thank you Zohar - we appreciate the final review and glad you enjoyed the book.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Jerome wrote: "I got around to starting this book today and couldn't put it down. Here are my thoughts:

A gripping dual biography of both Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz and Hanns Alexander, who hunted ..."

Good Jerome

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Vince wrote: "REVIEW

Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Commandant of Auschwitz by Thomas Harding

This is a story of two German born men, both born in the first ..."

Thank you Vince - but if you are adding other books you must cite them.

by Hannah Arendt

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Thank you Krisjian

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Cary wrote: "This is not the sort of book I typically read, but it locked me in from the beginning. You have the stories of two men that had very different beginnings and endings based on the paths they chose t..."

Cary I felt the same way about the book - I was extremely moved.

[Bryan]

So, my father-in-law read the book and thought it was very interesting. He thought it was unique to understand Rudolf's life before Auschwitz, reminding people he was a human being after all.

It did not change his idea of Rudolf and how awful "just following orders" was, but he was glad to read it.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Thank you Bryan - I had forgotten about your father in law reading the book.

It is very interesting hearing about his perspective - I have to say his perspective probably mirrors my own.

[Sherry]

This is one of the best books I've read, certainly this year if not, in my life time. Thomas Harding does a marvelous job of drawing the reader in to the lives of the two men spotlighted in this book, Rudolf Hoess the Kommandant of Auschwitz and Hanns Alexander, the German Jew who caught him and brought him to Justice. He tells each of their stories with great fairness and very little comment, even though Hanns is his relative and the inspiration for the book. I felt the terror of the camps and the unbelievable cruelty more personally than I have ever felt it. It is vivid and compelling and reads like a work of fiction. I couldn't put it down, and in fact, I read it twice.

It is a story of life choices. What are the stepping stones that bring these two men to face each other in the end. How do they end up the ultimate adversaries in the epic story of our time?

One of the ideas that has stayed with me since I completed the book, is Rudolf's comment that in order to get the guards of Auschwitz to carry out their inhumanly cruel tasks it was necessary to promote an "attitude of hate." This is so profound. As I see our political campaigns in this country resort to this attitude to inflame and bend hearts and minds to their way of thinking, I am deeply saddened.

I am extremely grateful to the History BookClub on Goodreads and to Simon and Schuster for giving me this book for free. I also enjoyed the discussion and the question and answer with Mr. Harding. He is a literary "rock star" in my book. And if this book doesn't win the pulitzer I'll eat my hat!

[Vincent]

I have an interesting side thought that others might choose to share.

So we saw how so many Jews, not only in this book but in our knowledge of the history of the Nazis and WWII, wanted to stay Germans, wanted to keep their homeland that they had been born in and that so many had, for example, fought for in WWI.

So my hypothetical question is what would the Jews, or any other group have done if theirs was not the targeted group? What if only Gypsies and homo-sexuals were targeted?

We Americans (I know that not all members of the HBC are Americans) saw openly what was going on in China in the 1930s and had ideas about Europe but it took Pearl Harbor to put us really into the fight.

It was what Clinton did not do in Rwanda. It is part of the struggles that President Obama has now in Syria and other parts of the mid-east.

People and peoples were forced to act in WWII, including the pre-war time, by direct actions against them - will it/ does it come to that for every human tragedy in the world?

Just some personal reflections.

[Jill]

Very good review, Sherry. Thanks for your thoughts.

[Jill]

Vince wrote: "I have an interesting side thought that others might choose to share.

So we saw how so many Jews, not only in this book but in our knowledge of the history of the Nazis and WWII, wanted to stay Ge..."

Interesting question, Vince. If another group was targeted, the Jews would have no reason to jump to their aid. They separated being a German and being a Jew, and probably would have fought with the Nazis. They fought for Germany with honor in WWI and would have probably done the same in WWII

[Kathryn]

I'm rather late - but I didn't not want to post my review.

This was a truly facinating book. The juxapostion between Hanns and Rudolf's early lives adds so much to the story. The book was well researched and told an interesting story. The connection between the author and Hanns was apparent, but the viewpoint still objective. Well, as objective as a book can be when writing about a Nazi.

I found the chapters about building Auschwitz to be very informative, typically when I read books about this topic the camp is just there. I found it challenging to see how Rudolf's family lived on the camp, how could he have done that?

[Bryan]

Glad you can read it with us, Kathryn. I can't image Rudolf's family life, although it was painted to be ideal country living. However, their father's work I think impacted them.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Thanks folks for all of your contributions.