Official Secrets

They were ordinary people not necessarily motivated by politics or hate. But they were killers on behalf of the German state, members of the Order Police and frontline ethnic cleansers in the massacres that became the Holocaust. Their role has long been underestimated or even overlooked by historians. Until now that is, in a major work which presents a wealth of fascinating new evidence on the planning of the greatest of all crimes.

Richard Breitman takes a detailed look at the thinking of the Nazi leaders, and at how the Holocaust was planned. He investigates the work of men such as the "able, but dull" Kurt Daluege whose role as head of the Order Police was far greater than many had previously believed. And he presents new evidence, much of it culled from files which have remained secret for half a century, showing just what the Allies know about the wholesale slaughter of 6 million Jews. The British code crackers who broke the German cyphers began to piece the story together from mid-1941. But the Government was preoccupied with World War II, not the beginning of the Holocaust, and disclosure that the facts were known would have alerted the enemy to the fact that coded German messages were being intercepted. Meanwhile, in the US, says Breitman: "many State Department officials chose not to believe or to act on what evidence they had."

Rich in detail, Official Secrets is a valuable addition to the wealth of published material on the Holocaust, presenting hitherto undisclosed information which has remained secret for far too long. --Stuart Russell

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A compulsory read for all students of the War - Rated
This is an explosive book which could well change your attitudes towards Churchill and the British government during the WWII. The book has taken advantage of the fifty year rule which prohibits the release of government documents for that period of time. Breitman and others have been digging away amongst all these documents to produce much evidence that Churchill knew that Jews were being extrerminated, and also very early on in the war. Indeed not only was this known by the British, but it was basically covered up by them as the 'Jewish factor' was not seen as a good enough reason, or would not elicit enough sympathy from the people. The book also highlights the amazing work of Bletchley Park, where not only was the enigma machine based but also the majority of code breakers for the 'ordinary' codes sent in from the German front telling of numbers of Jews exterminated. If the evidence given in this book is full and accurate then it seems that Churchill was a war criminal. It is unfortunate that he can not defend himself as he would surely have a defence to offer. If only the evidence had come to light decades ago. All students of the War should read this book, though I think that many contempories of Churchill will find it too disturbing.