Explore Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Ideological Soldier Of The Third Reich Depicted By Peter R. Black Presented In Paper Edition

read this book several years ago and just now realized that I never wrote a review for it.
First of all, the historical value of this biography is immeasurable as its literally the only one that has ever been written about the highest ranking SS leader who stood trial at Nuremberg, and the only one that one will have to read to understand the true nature of Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who was far from the onedimensional evil mastermind that few historical sources portray him as being.
The extent of the research that Peter Black has put into this biography is truly outstanding and includes his transcriptions of his interviews with Hansjorg Kaltenbrunner Ernsts son, letters, accounts told by former teachers, witnesses, colleagues, comrades and family members.

Organized in a thoroughlystructured way, each chapter follows Ernsts life from his early childhood and his relationship with his mother he was her favorite son and she always favored him until her death, his brothers, and his father with whom he had a rather difficult relationship to his years in the University of Graz, the beginning of his career as a lawyer and his eventual reluctant joining the Nazi Party.
Im saying “reluctant” here as, unlike many of his peers back in that turbulent time, Ernst was undecided as to where his political allegiance lay for quite a long time and joined the NSDAP solely due to a number of rather personal, profitseeking reasons read the book for a complete picture.

What I enjoyed the most about this biography was the precision to detail with which Black analyzed Ernsts behavior and reasons, and how well he characterized his complex personality.
I was always fascinated with how polar the opinions of his own colleagues about him were: some painting him as cruel and cold some as a selfless, warm and friendly comrade and a just superior who was always ready to help.
The more I read, the more I tried to understand how a person, who just saved his former Jewish teacher from the concentration camp, could send another ten thousand to death in the next moment.
How, announcing his unconditional loyalty to his fuhrer, he was nevertheless resenting some of his policies and in secret was plotting the separation of Austria and the setting of an independent Austrian government at the same time.

The story of the forming of the NSDAP, the inner workings of the RSHA, the history told “from the inside” all this makes this biography a wonderful research material.
The resentment between Kaltenbrunner and his two infamous superiors Himmler and Heydrich is also explained in great detail and is rather noteworthy

for its reasons.
And the accounts of his personal life are truly fascinating,
If youre familiar with this shadowy figure from internet sources only, you really do need to read this biography to understand his true nature.
No, he certainly wasnt one of the noble guys, but merely a child of his resentful generation whom the fate placed where he never wanted to belong as a young man, he had a rather different view of his future a dream, which didnt fulfill due to a number of reasons which are also explained in this biography.
A truly outstanding historical source! Ive been studying Kaltenbrunner for several years and in addition to this biography read a number of things from archival sources, but this book still remains the only detailed account available to the public.
I really cant recommend it highly enough,
At the beginning ofI was introduced to Ellie Midwood's utterly fantastic "The Girl from Berlin" series, in which one of the main characters is Dr.
Ernst Kaltenbrunner. After thoroughly enjoying the series, and the series that came after that focuses on Dr, Kaltenbrunner in particular, I decided to bite the bullet and pay theto get the only biography on his life this is actually really, really cheap.
It wasbut I got it forthanks to my two Barnes and Noble gift cards, However, I'm fairly happy that I did decide to go ahead and buy it, It is a fantastic and well researched book on this very complex individual, I really appreciated how Mr, Black incorporated background information to the story, so that the reader had a better understanding of why people like Kaltenbrunner joined the Nazis or did the things he did.
It's hard to believe how someone could so blindly through all their faith into one person, but Mr, Black really does a good job to get the reader thinking of why Kaltenbrunner did just that, I also really liked how neutral Mr, Black was in his assessment of Kaltenbrunner, Sometimes when I read books about certain time periods and individuals, the author tries so hard to make you see their point of view that it just gets annoying.
However, with the exception of a few times, Mr, Black just gives you the facts and lets you judge Kaltenbrunner for yourself,

Overall, a fantastic book and a great addition to any World War Two library, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in World War Two, the Third Reich, and anyone wanting to learn a little bit more on perhaps one of the most complex individuals of the Third Reich.
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