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Heinrich Himmler: The Sinister Life of the Head of the SS and Gestapo ReviewManvell and Fraenkel's compelling biography of the life and death of Heinrich Himmler is a masterful attempt at understanding a pivotal figure in the unrelenting horror story of the third reich. One of the most effective methods they use to do this is their reliance on the recollections of Felix Kersten, Himmler's personal masseur, as well as those of Kersten's wife.Himmler was so impressed by Kersten's ability to relieve his constant stomach pains through his legendary massage skills that he forced Kersten to become his own personal masseur, and by default, his personal conscience and father confessor. Kersten was able to argue with Himmler against genocide and even to get "favors" from Himmler, including saving friends and even Jews from the maws of the Nazi death machine. Himmler explicitly recognized this trade off, even crediting Kersten with his comment that "Kersten massages a life out of me with every rub".
In the period following the D-day invasion, as the eventual defeat of the nazi regime became increasingly evident, even to Himmler, Kersten was even able to subtly influence Himmler by playing upon what remained of a conscience and his fears of eventually being charged as a war criminal, and convinced Himmler to meet with Norbert Masur, director of the Swedish sector of the World Jewish Congress in order to negotiate the release from the death camp, Ravensbruck, of "a thousand Jewish women for evacuation to Sweden, under the cover of their being of Polish origin. Himmler was still openly afraid that Hitler might discover what he was doing." Himmler also explored channels, through contacts via Kersten, the possibility of negotiating a separate peace with the West (as opposed to Russia) should Hitler be deposed or die.
This biography is particularly fascinating during this phase when Himmler tries to justify the Nazi regime's "anti-Jewish" policies while at the same time trying to build some semblance of an image as someone who "tried" to end the slaughter and a "trust-worthy" potential successor to Hitler. Throughout the biography the reader is given repeated insights into the character, or lack thereof, of this bureaucrat who instituted the most highly organized and systematically evil mass extermination in the history of humankind. If you want to understand Himmler, this is a must book.
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