Book Reviews,  History,  Nazis,  NON FICTION

The Nazis Next Door by Eric Lichtblau (no rating)

nazisEven before WW II came to a close the United States was already preparing to admit Nazis into the country.  The horror, of course, is that even though the practice lasted for years beyond the war’s conclusion, Jews who had survived the devastation were still isolated in concentration camps and camps for displaced persons.  Palestine, the U.K., and the U.S. forbid their entry.  Unfortunately, Lichtblau is so blinded by his outrage that he fails to paint a larger picture.  He never explains why American leaders were so obsessed by their anti-Communism that they felt it essential to employ every possible weapon at their disposal to stave off the Russians.  Those weapons included nuclear warheads, proxy wars around the globe, spies of every type, dirty tricks, and the drafting of former Nazis (before the Russians could draft the same ones) to develop even more aggressive tactics.  Rather than feeling unabated anger over American cohabitation with arch enemies, I was left wanting to know more about the anti-Communist mania that overtook the country.  It does not help that Lichtblau considers every Nazi party member to have been a mass killer.  No doubt, some were integral parts of the Nazi killing machine, but not every party member is a full supporter of every policy any more than every American who voted for Bush or paid her taxes or worked in his government, say a lifelong Republican worked in the Department of Commerce for 18 years, thought that America’s demolition of Iraq was a wise plan.