Not for the feint hearted. - Rated 
The World knows of the six million jews murdered in the death camps of Hitlers Germany, few know that this was only a fraction of the twenty million in total who met their end at the hand of this tyranny.
In the campaign against the Soviets anyone who was declared undesirable by the Nazis in their advance across Eastern Europe, where butchered by the Einsatzgruppen,their methods where barbaric, victims diverse and ideology total.
This book looks at how respectable, professional, intellectual pillars of German community where turned into barbarians, without compassion or value for human life,,and poses the question of our own mentality should history repeat itself.
Brutally Fascinating - Rated 
I really enjoyed this book, it is absolutely chilling. That may sound a contracdiction in terms but it evokes a morbid curiosity that makes it so fascinating. Having studied the holocaust at university I always found the role of the einsatzgruppen has been somewhat neglected by historians, who tend to focus on the gas chambers, and only those who examine the period in depth truly grasp the role played by the nazi death squads and auxillary police units in the occupied territories.
Rhodes provides a good variety of contemporary sources, from oberservers, survivors and perpetrators, supported throughout with relevant and concise historical evidence. He has clearly researched this book thoroughly. Even the pictures, as horrific as they are, support what the author is trying to convey.
Chapter two, in which the author attempts to explain how human beings can become brutalised through certain processes is interesting, and quite beleivable. However, I still think such excesses cannot be sufficently explained through psychological scholarship. The gunning down of hundreds, sometimes thousands of men, women, children and infants at close range with evident enthusiasm and emotional indifference is extremly difficult to comprehend. The actions of the perpetrators illustrates the extent of human beings capacity for cruelty towards one another, and surpasses anything I have ever read or seen before.
If you are interested in this period of history, I would seriously advise you to read this book. It will not fail to shock, sicken and fascinate you.
At last some facts on the holocaust. - Rated
For me the holocaust has been a sleeping partner for some 5/6 years since I decided that prior to visiting Auschwitz I really should get some of the basic facts straight in my head so as to make more out of the visit. In doing so, and having been well aware of the general descriptions and claims about the holocaust for decades, I of course found that for every claim of truth about the numbers involved and horrors meted out to the jews and of course others targeted in the holocaust there is another alternative claim or fact. In fact there is more counter claim and argument about this sorry episode in 20 century history than I think any other. My problem with the 'death camp facts' is that they are very difficult to get to the bottom of. I, like many people do not believe the total death toll of 6+ million and the claim after claim that 20,000 per day were gassed and exterminated in Auschwitz and others. This book clearly and progressively covers the elements of the pre death camp holocaust which took place in eastern europe after the Germans invaded Russia in 1941. As the pages turn you are drawn into the unremitting hell and distressing horror brutally applied to those unlucky souls who numbered 1.3m or more. This detail as uncovered by the author is mind blowingly terrible and at times made me feel ill but it is unputdownable! Very well written it is clear to me the facts as presented here are irrefutable and so the numbers are without question. How they did it, in full graphic detail and to an extent the reasons why and how they managed to get away with it too. The frightening thing and worthy of further digging is why those senior officers caught after the war and who actually oversaw such mass murder, and also pulled the trigger too, were, apart from a few who were executed, all jailed for such short terms. They were all released by 1958! Rhodes does not delve into the killing machine that was Treblinka etc leaving that to the many others who have tried and failed in my opinion. The holocaust is clearly a story of two parts, einsatzgruppen=fact, death camps = spin, myth, rumour and doubt. This book was a great insight into the former and I 'enjoyed' it very much though be warned you will need a strong stomach at times. I did not visit Auschwitz as I doubt I will get any hard fact from such a trip.
Frightening - Rated
How "ordinary" men become murderers. A frightening book which narrates a history which almost defies belief. Well written & concise, it gives a well detailed account of the horrors perpetrated by the Einsatzgruppen & those who suffered at their hands.
It is difficult to describe how harrowing this book is in large parts. A stupefying history of blind loyalty, hate, ignorance & de humanisation.
An incredible piece of work.
HORRIFIC - Rated
I purchased this book to gain a better incite into the dark world of the SS-Einzattsgruppen, and this book certainly did the trick. This book is fantastic in many respects, not least because it not only describes in quite good detail the events and atrocities metted out by the death squads of the SS but it also tries to understand it, and does a pretty good job of it. Not why the Germans did it but why the men, some not long out of school carried out such acts,and examines whether the 'i was just following orders' line was an acceptable excuse.
This book is a powerful account of what the human being is capable of. I can honestly say no book before or since made me stop in my tracks in disbelief to think over what ive just read, i had to read half of the book twice just to make sure i hadnt misunderstood, its a tribute to the men, women and children who suffered the most horrendous of ends. READ THIS BOOK.
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