Himmler's Secret Deal is an intriguing book, but with a misleading title. Himmler plays an important supporting role and not the main role. This book is especially interesting if you are interested in the stories behind various rescue operations to save Jews during World War II.
Triggered by the title Himmler's Secret Deal I went to read this book. After all these years, what had become known about Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945), the second man of the Nazi regime, that we did not already know? With that question in mind you shouldn't start this book because then it will be a bit disappointing. The author, Canadian historian and journalist Max Wallace, also gave his book a different title:In the name of humanity. This covers the load better, as the book is full of Schindler's List-like rescue attempts to save Jews from Hitler's murderous lust.
Rescue operations in a row
The book is not a scientific work but written for a large audience. It is disturbing that Max Wallace (or his translator George Paper) uses his language rather heavily and unscientific. For example, something quickly becomes "stunning" and "incredible" and Himmler is called "the Devil" or "the monster." On the other hand, the book is full of notes and the author shares his extensive literature and source research.
Wallace has a lot to say. The countless names of persons and organizations that are reviewed read like a summary of attempts to save the still living Jews in Europe. Especially after the world started to realize what mass murder was taking place in the German Reich. Title person Himmler does not appear until chapter five. I got lost a few times in all this factual information from different parties, but at the end things come together.
Final solution
The author describes extensively how Himmler, the head of the SS (paramilitary Schutzstaffel), van Hilter had to solve the Jewish question. Germany had to become 'Jew-free' and in the first instance the Nazis sought the solution in emigration. This just didn't happen fast enough because other countries only wanted to take in refugees to a limited extent or not. The Jews also had to put down a lot of money to be able to leave Germany, and that was not possible for many.
From 1941 onwards, the deadly solution was adopted. It started with special SS units moving after the German army into the conquered Russian territories. Here they massacred Jews, gypsies and disabled people en masse. Himmler is quoted in this connection:“The occupied territories in the east are being liberated from Jews. The execution of this particularly difficult order has been laid upon my shoulders by the Fuehrer. By the way, no one can take the responsibility for that from me.”
Shooting and gassing by means of exhaust gases was not fast enough. After much experimentation, the poison gas hydrocyanic acid turned out to be the best solution for the Jewish problem. Himmler and his subordinates carried out the entire operation, the Endlosüng, in detail and very efficiently. From the spring of 1942, Jews were led from the freight trains into the newly designed gas chambers, after which the corpses were burned in the adjacent crematorium. Auschwitz alone could kill thousands of people a day in this way. The question is why Himmler put an end to this in November 1944.
Scoop?
During archival research, the author came across the people who stubbornly urged the Allies to take action. The Swiss Recha and Isaac Sternbuch and Jean-Marie Musy were already known for their rescue of many Jews. But according to the author, they also influenced Himmler, after which he stopped the gassings. This went like this…
At the end of the war Himmler wanted to cultivate goodwill with the Allies. He was willing to stop the massacre, although Hitler wanted to continue killing Jews to the very end. One of his interlocutors was former Swiss president Jean-Marie Musy (1876–1952), who negotiated with Himmler on behalf of the Sternbuch Rescue Committee. In 1944, in exchange for the release of Jews, he promised equipment and peace negotiations with the Allies. Complete bluff, because the Allies would not give the Germans any equipment that could be used against them. But Himmler believed Musy.
A few weeks after this conversation, the Nazi chief had the Auschwitz crematorium buildings blown up. At the time, it was thought to be a resistance action, but it was later revealed that Himmler himself had given the order. Historians assume that Himmler did this to destroy evidence of the mass murders. The allies were coming.
Himmler persuaded
The book describes how private individuals put pressure on the Allies to stop the massacres. Bombing railway lines was an option to stop the supply of new people. Rescue committees also wanted to ransom prisoners, both with cash and with the trucks that were missing by the Germans. However, the Allies needed their equipment elsewhere and paying Nazis was forbidden. They wanted to prevent the Germans from using the trucks in battle.
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Despite the Allies' prohibition, the rescue committee of the Jewish Sternburchs managed to arrange goods for the Germans. On November 20, 1944, the first load of ten tractors was ready to be shipped from Switzerland as exchange material for a thousand Jews. With more equipment supplied, the Germans would release more Jews and in the meantime they would stop the massacres in concentration camps.
Five days later, Himmler had crematoria and gas chambers destroyed in Auschwitz, which Wallace says is a direct result of this imminent tractor delivery. The author disagrees with the official reading that the evidence for mass murder had to be destroyed now that the Allies were getting close. They were still too far away for that, according to him.
It would be interesting if further research is done on the author's version. I can follow the reasoning that Himmler allowed himself to be persuaded to talk to enemy parties about stopping the Jewish mass murder in order to build goodwill. The author's research revealed that more parties were involved in this than known to date. His ultimate explanation for the 'why', however, is thin.
Himmler's End
Himmler knew that the battle could no longer be won for the Germans. His offer to the British and Americans to join forces against the Communists came to Hitler's ears. He was furious, but he could do no more than expel the absent Himmler from the party. Now Himmler had no power to negotiate anything and knew he could count on mercy from any party. Once in the hands of the Allies, he committed suicide.
It was already known that Himmler did not want to go through to the last to get the German Reich 'Jew-free'. The fact that the years of efforts of some have played a greater role than they have been credited for makes the author credible. The hopeful message is that a few can make a difference, even if the majority of the world looks the other way.
For many prisoners who escaped the gas chambers, it was still too late. They died of starvation, outbreaks of disease or during death marches to other camps. All in all, Himmler's sophisticated murder plan cost the lives of nearly six million Jews. The fact that there have been people who have managed to convince the Nazi chief that he could get away with that is an achievement in itself.