This is the book that has launched my current fascination with Nazi's and death camps. What piqued my interest in reading this book wasn't how Eichmann was captured (even though you know he is, it's still a very riveting and suspenseful event), but tracing his years and journey from post-war Germany to Argentina. Reading about all the "assistance" mid and high level Nazi's got from the Red Cross, the Vatican, and the leaders of several South American countries is just incredible. While one could make an argument that in the period just after Germany surrendered, the world didn't fully grasp what was going on with the camps and the Jews, certainly by the late 40's everyone knew. And once these guys got down to Paraguay and Argentina, they didn't exactly go underground. With the huge German immigrant populations, the support of the governments and what I can only assume was general apathy on the part of Europe and the USA, many of them lived quite openly. Eichmann's children even used his last name! What also struck me was that while some of Nazi's lived a very good life in South America, Eichmann did not. Even when he moved to the outskirts of Buenos Aires, his "house" was basically a small adobe hut with just a few rooms. He worked at a factory and had a very blue-collar lifestyle.
On a separate note, as a big Evita-file, I found it very disturbing to read about the very close ties between the Peron government and Nazi Germany - before, during and after the war. Of course, I will rationalize it by saying that was Juan's doing - Eva I'm sure had no knowledge or part in that policy.
This reads like a non-fiction spy novel, it is that good. The author researched this thoroughly and interviewed everyone still alive. A great read that will keep you up late.
9 comments:
And the Peronistas were also lefties.
Yes I know.
Was just commenting on our discussion a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to do a post one of these days that better expresses my lame attempt then.
Yes, please do. I think it will make for a lively discussion
Is this gonna be "liberals are fascists"?
The genesis of this is based upon a comment made by Dennis Prager on his radio program a couple of weeks ago. He stated something along the lines of there has never been a "right-wing dictatorship" or "right-wing totalitarian regime". I disagreed and of course, Scooter and Michael agreed with Prager. Hitler and the Nazi's came up and Scooter made the argument that the Nazi's were National "Socialist" Workers Party, thus they were lefties. I countered that party names shouldn't always be taken literally i.e. the "Democratic" People's Republic of Korea).
This is what Scooter is referring to.
Nope-I'd never say liberlism equates with fascism. Just that fascist systems are not right wing. Any system so weighted in the state's favor cannot be "conservative."
Our former blog brother also slammed me for that lame name argument. I went for the too easy reply.
My point is probably going to drown in a sea of semantics.
Conservatism can't by definition be totalitarian because it is all about the individual, not the collective and not the state.
I've never understood how they could even be considered to be right wing except for the fact that in WWII, the fascists (at least one of them) went to war with the Commies (apparently Commies are therefore left wing and attacking the left wing must make the attacker right wing).
Looking forward to your post on the topic. I'm a liberal partly because of crim pro cases (i.e. an appreciation for the liberal justices concern for individual rights in the face of abusive state power).
Careful, that may be a right wing position (philosophically, if not in practice). Or, at least, the libertarian position.
I certainly am no fan of state abuse against the accused.
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