08 August 2019
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This is a whopper of a book from the son of Hitler’s Foreign Minister, who died, aged 98, the week we received this book. It uses his personal experiences and diaries of his father.
Author: Rudolf Von RibbenTrop
Reviewed by: Duncan Evans
This is a whopper of a book from the son of Hitler’s Foreign Minister, who died, aged 98, the week we received this book. It uses his personal experiences and diaries of his father. That’s both the great strength of this narrative – you’re getting thoughts and stories straight from Hitler’s mouthpiece, and also its weakness, because it’s clearly not even handed. Rudolf also served as a young man, in the Waffen-SS, fighting in Norway, France, the Battle of the Bulge and Hungary. Like his father, he was a committed National Socialist, so what you have here is the story from inside the German state, mainly in the lead up to war in 1939.
It starts by explaining German history in the 19th century, then we’re off with Hitler and Ribbentrop senior, as they attempt to carve up Europe while keeping the British from getting involved. It’s absolutely fascinating, but not balanced in any way, so don’t be surprised when you read that they thought Britain was behaving unreasonably in not coming to an agreement with them.
• Pen and Sword
• ISBN 978-1-5267-3925-4
• 480 pages • Hardback • £30
As reviewed in The Armourer August 2019
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