An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler - WWII History Book on Nazi Occupation & Resistance | Perfect for History Buffs, Students & WWII Enthusiasts

This is a tough review to write. Immediately before I read this book I read the author's latest book about the first hundred days of the third Reich. I recommend reading the two in that order. I did not set out to establish an order, but I'm glad that by pure chance this is what occurred. One comment frequently expressed in reviews of this author's work disparages his writing style. Yes. He can be difficult to read. He is getting at the very stuff that makes us human. He is juxtaposing the view that we are all in this together against the view of the national socialist that we are in this world separately and, therefore, must destroy any category of human that encroaches upon or threatens our national sovereignty. That is heady stuff. Granted, his sentence structure can be a little difficult to digest, but given that he is interspersing so many quotes from so many different written sources it is easily understood why that increases the reading difficulty. He blends his commentary, and his deep understanding of humanity, with the internal dialogue as expressed by the witnesses of world war II, penned in their most horrible moments. Additionally, one may find oneself re-reading his sentences, sometimes two or three times, to ascertain what he is getting at, but it is worth the work. Many times while reading the two books, after re-reading one of his sentences a few times, suddenly I would go 'oh wow' now I get it.Like most who would venture to read this book I, too, have read a lot about world war II. It is one thing to forensically understand the post-mortem of events chronologically as they happened. That is, in an effort to provide context. It is quite another thing to truly understand the 'why' of it. The national socialist ideology seems like something out of the worst type of dystopian science fiction. Many think that this author is revisionist. I think he nails the human condition. I think he shows us that the Germans were human, too. No less human than the Poles or the French or the British or even us. I think he shows us that the Germans, collectively, were no different than we are today. One thing he does is completely dispel any illusion that the German people did not know what was going on. He shows us what can happen, and what did happen, when human beings go down a path that is idelogically as fervent as the worst type of cult religion. It shows us how, without the author ever digressing to comment on this particular event, how Jim Jones got all those people to drink the Kool-Aid. It explains how the US government allowed small pox infected blankets to be given to our indigenous peoples without blinking and eye. He opens a window that allows the fetid air of human horror to waft into our current time and place. For the first time in my seven decades I think I begin to understand how it happened, even if I don't fully comprehend the why. I used to believe that this could never happen again. I am disabused of that notion. This is what humans can do, writ large, when given the right environment in which to form a heinous body politic.As a PostScript I recommend getting the Kindle version. The author makes so many references in German and French and Polish regarding governmental organizations, media, national state of mind, and the turn of a phrase, that it's very helpful to be able to immediately look these things up to provide meaning and context.