For nearly twenty year, Kim Philby was the premier Soviet spy, rising through the ranks of the British Secret Service, acting as the head of Soviet counterintelligence for the British (he was charged to chase himself), and worked closely with both the CIA and the FBI (under Hoover).  This book starts out with an excellent introduction by Phillip Knightley who studied Philby for thirty years, and an exciting foreword by Graham Greene who not only knew Philby, but even visited him in Moscow after Philby fled the U.K.  From there however, the book fails to meet the promise.

Philby, in his position, was able to pass literally mountains of secrets to the Soviets and was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of anti-Soviet agents across Europe.  He was a true believer; he did not betray his country for money, but he did believe in the goal of Communism.  Even though he knew the true scope of Stalin’s crimes against his own people, he kept the faith based on a belief (as modern-day apologists proclaim) that it was not the “system”, but it was rather the wrong person at the top.  Yet he like today’s apologists never face the question of what kind of system is it that allows a murderer like Stalin to take control and exist for so long.

Given the situation in the Ukraine, I thought a brief reminder of the system that shaped Putin might be timely. Putin wishes to reconstitute the Soviet Union and those who would appease him and not treat him like the outlaw he is, need to be reminded of his system and those he admires.

I have no doubt that the title for the most biographies written about any politician would belong to Winston Churchill, but his life compared to Stalin’s was an open book.  For Stalin, the ideal time to write a biography with new information is past as his contemporizes die off and the archives are once again closed.  Montefiore was the right biographer at the right time at the right place.  He has written a biography that is well paced, filled with colorful antidotes and supported by excellent research. Considering his topic, the greatest mass murderer until Mao, this book brings home the ruthlessness of Stalin without exhausting the reader by an impression of overwhelming despair.

From 1671 until the fall of the Raj and the independence of India, many thousands of English women would make a long and often dangerous journey to the Raj to find a husband. The voyage was known as “The Fishing Fleet” and those women who failed in their quest went back to England on a voyage called “The Empties.”  Most of the women were away from home for the first time and as the running of the Raj was a male endeavor, the women who landed at Madras, Calcutta and Bombay were outnumbered by English males who substituted sports for sex while they paid their dues in an attempt to create a successful career. Thrown into a whirlwind of parties, balls, and sightseeing, they were the center of attraction and could receive numerous proposals after speaking to a man for only a few minutes.

The process started while the English presence in India was the domain of the East India Company who would pay for the passage and a stipend for eligible women to make the long voyage. After the Mutiny, this type of arrangement fell off, but given that there was a surplus of eligible women in the U.K. (approximately 750,000 a year), well, what was a girl to do?

Victor Serge (1890-1947) was born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich to Russian anti-Tsarist exiles and grew up in Brussels where he mingled with socialist, anarchist, unionists, etc.  Leaving home while in his teens, he lived in a French mining village and then in Paris.  He became an anarchist and editor of a like-minded paper and after refusing to testify against comrades who participated in an anarchist action, was sentenced to five-years in prison.

When released in 1917, he traveled in 1919 to Russia then in the midst of a civil war.  From this point on, his description of the Civil War, bloody elimination of factions opposed to the Communists, the excesses of the Cheka, the Kronstadt Rebellion is one of the best descriptions of that period on record.  Still an anarchist, he is allowed to edit several papers (until the Communist close them down) and can participate in governmental conferences until the Communists begin to turn on their own.  Intra-party fighting pits Left Opportunists against Right Opportunist, Left and Right Deviationist against each other and of course, the anarchists against all the above.  Unlike John Reed’s classic (but dry and pro-Party book), Serge gives us a real feeling of the ever-changing forces and factions as the Communists attempt to solidify their hold on the world’s largest country.

At the end of last November, I posted a review by Victor David Hanson of the new biography by Allen C. Guelzo. I purchased the book although I thought I was familiar with Lee’s life, but I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. Although the author considers Lee a traitor, he is very even handed and treat Lee as a man full of doubts, cares, and desires so that you feel a connection with Lee.

Lee had his own devils, including adoring his father, Henry Lee, a hero of the Revolutionary War, also known as “Light Horse Henry,” for his daring wartime actions. A failed land speculator, Henry left his son early to escape creditors and each time Lee looked at a business venture, he always saw the image of his failed father over his shoulders. Those land failures were also at the base of Lees’ constant concern about money and attempts to safeguard his families’ small holdings in Virginia. In turn, those concerns were part of his reason to side with the Confederacy during the war. He was devastated when Arlington, his father-in-laws property (todays Arlington Cemetery) was seized by Federal troops, and he realized after the war that the property would never be his in anything except a dream and a memory.

Although we tend to think of Lee as a military man, he had never commanded troops in battle until the outbreak of the war and he was at heart, an engineer. Several times he thought of leaving the military with its low pay, slow promotion, and postings which he disliked (including Superintendent of West Point Academy). Each time, he pulled back due to the security of the army and its steady paycheck.

When the Cold War ended, many felt that it signified the end of totalitarianism and dictatorship. The world would move forward into a new age where individuals and societies would be freer to determine their futures. As we have seen however, there are those societies and individuals who seem to have chosen to continue along the path which limits the freedom of the individual and seeks to continue what is the main course of human history, that of strong leaders who believe they have found the true path to a better world as outlined by their own vision, paranoia and sense of victimhood.

Are the visions of the leaders of Russia, China, Turkey, North Korea, and others simply anomalies or do they reflect a natural inclination of mankind? How is it that leaders can be supported as they move to limit freedoms, begin to imprison opponents, and even move toward genocide, often of their own citizens? This book allows us to learn from the past and see how it is often those who are considered the “best and the brightest” to begin to move down the path of tyranny and destruction.

From my reading of the subject, this is the best history of the RSHA which incorporated the SD, Gestapo, and the Criminal Police and provided the leadership for the killing squads that roamed through Europe from the invasion of Poland in September 1939 until late in the war.

     Unlike the popular image of the SA, the street enforcers of the Nazis especially prior to the “revolution” when Hitler rode into power, much of the leadership of the RSHA came out of the university student unions which gained such power after WWI. Today, at many of our universities, we see leftist demonstrations aimed at seizing administrative power at all levels, blocking dissenting views, demanding the ouster of “unenlightened” professors, etc. But in the 1930’s it was the right wing at the universities which interrupted lectures, led massive demonstrations and frequently started violent conflicts with those who dared to challenge them. Although most of the students had little contact with Jews, by 1930 only a couple of fraternities accepted Jews as members and the anti-Semitism was directed not only at students but also professors and administrators.

     With the Nazi seizure of power, leading students joined first the SA, then moved into the SS and were transferred to the RSHA. Many had received their doctorates in law and were perfectly trained to administer the ever-expanding realm of the RSHA.

     Totalitarian states such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union operate on several levels. You have the official state apparatus which is called the “Normative State” and then you have the “Prerogative State” which exists and operates outside the normal boundaries of the State and Society. The “Prerogative State” consists of paramilitary militias, the secret police, informers, etc. Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union relied on the police to maintain control and not the army (which was co-opted, infiltrated, etc.). The real rule of the secret police, according to Hanna Arendt, begins when domestic opposition (traditional political foes) ends (usually through extermination) and then the search for “objective” foes begins.

    This is an excellent book for those who are genuinely interested in this subject. It traces numerous individuals, often from their university days through their movement within the RSHA. With no indication of previous thoughts or actions, top university students move from studies to anti-Semitism to active participation in the shooting of hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of men, women, and children. And in the end, after the war, the overwhelming majority went back to Germany and led ordinary lives. Some became government officials in post-war Germany while others became police officials and even members of the bar. How those men who had ordered and participated in the slaughter of thousands could escape any form of retribution is due in part to the post-war fear of the Soviet Union, the efforts of the average Germans to deny any knowledge of crimes and blame it all on the highly visible SS, the ignorance of the victors about the organization of the Nazi state and smart politicians such as Konrad Adenauer who managed to play East against West in his effort to resurrect the new German state.

Thousands of youthful, idealistic minds were bent to oppressing others all in the name of a greater good. It should serve as a lesson to responsible adults that youth throughout history are more easily led by demigods and that indulging them in their folly without adult guidance can lead to terrible, even deadly consequences.

     This is not an easy book to read as it is extremely detailed, and the novice will quickly be lost in the details. But for anyone interested in this fascinating subject, it is well worth the effort.

Victor David Hanson has published an excellent review of Robert E. Lee: A Life by Allen C. Guelzo. After the destruction of so many statues by the Woke Left, this seems to be a balanced scholarly examination of Lee who was considered as an icon for many in the South, the military and Civil War Historians.

I have always been skeptical of the leadership of Lee, as he was slow to learn the destructive fire power of state-of-the-art military hardware. General Longstreet understood the brutality of the weapons of the time before Lee as was proven by his reluctance to commit General Pickett to the suicidal charge at Gettysburg. Somehow, Lee failed to understand that the war had turned into a war of men against machines and that the South was doomed if Lee practiced a type of warfare that belonged to the previous century (this mistake would be repeated fifty years later by both the French and Germans during the opening phases of World War I). Amazingly enough, he failed to realize that even if the charge were successful, he had no reserves to consolidate any gains while his opponent who outnumbered him, could quickly move in reinforcements to swamp the tattered remains of his divisions.

A massive biography which covers the first half of Wellington’s life. Not being the first son, he was relegated to joining the military (under British custom, the first son inherited the title, the second went to the military and the third son entered the Church of England).

As was common at the time, Wellington had an unhappy childhood and like many men of that time, he made his mark and fortune in India. His military victories and diplomatic skill in India allowed him to assume command in the Peninsula during the Napoleonic wars where he reorganized the army of Portugal and created the famous defensive lines which the French under a number of Napoleon’s generals refused to attack. In a series of brilliant maneuvers, he out generaled every force sent against him as he slowly pushed the French out of the entire peninsula. That does not mean that he had an easy time as Napoleon poured men and material into the fight, but his real struggle was with various politicians and powers in London who were jealous of his successes and who kept Wellington’s forces on a strict leash.

Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton are names which will stand for the Allied victory in Western Europe during World War II.  But who were these men, what were their backgrounds, how were they picked to hold their commands and finally, how secure were they in those commands.  Mr. Jordan does an excellent job in answering these and other questions in a concise and excellent manner.  These men did not suddenly appear with stars on their shoulders with full knowledge of their craft; they served decades in backwater posts, seemingly forgotten, grinding out their lives (and the lives of their families) believing that they might never practice what they were learning.

Then came World War II, but more importantly, a man by the name of Marshall, George C. Marshall.  He was charged with creating from a puny, ill equipped army a force that could fight around the world, something that no one and no country had ever done.  Breaking the careers of several hundred generals, Marshall had the ability to reach into corners of the military and find individuals who had spent up to twenty years in obscure posts due to tight budgets, their thinking outside of the military “box”, etc.

Not exactly the most exciting title for a book, I am sure it would have sold better if it were “The Company Who Insured the Concentration Camps.”  But despite its droll title, the book can be interesting in realizing that even in a totalitarian regime such as Hitler’s, the reality of business must go on.

Dr. Feldman commissioned in 1997 by the Board of Management of Allianz (the world’s largest insurance company) to author the story of Allianz during the war.  He states that he the company was fully co-operative and given his intellectual credentials, I take the book to be accurate and balanced. Allianz, along with a number of other European insurance companies was being charged in a number of class action lawsuits regarding how they discharged their duties to Jewish policy holders. Additionally, there were newspaper stories regarding how Allianz insured various SS-owned factories in concentration camps. Questions were being raised in several quarters regarding how closely Allianz worked with the Nazi regime and how Kurt Schmitt who the general director of Allianz between was 1921-33 became Hitler’s second Reich Economics Minister between 1933-34.

Before accepting the commission, Dr. Feldman (a distinguished professor at Berkeley) insisted that he have access to all records, individuals, etc., and Allianz to its credit provided free access to any materials which had survived the war. But the task was huge as man companies which did business with the Nazi regime tried to paint themselves as victims of the regime and as being held hostage to the rules and polices of that time. Indeed, the same questions which were asked of individuals who lived under such a regime (the degree of collaboration or resistance too) were being asked of companies throughout occupied Europe.

Finally, the life and times of an insurance company is not the most exciting topic for the average historian, even one interested in economic history. Yet, Dr. Feldman does an admirable job of taking the reader through Board meetings, national conferences with the major Nazi players, the fights for business, how claims for Kristallnacht Nacht were handled (the Party did not want the Jews compensated and wanted to seize the funds which would have been compensation, the insurance companies were reluctant to pay claims as the action was “political” and thus outside of the policies borders,  the economists were upset that replacing the broken glass which largely came from Belgium put a drain on foreign currency reserves which impacted the build-up of the military), etc. Meetings between the insurance companies, Goring, Goebbels, etc. were lengthy and often heated until a compromise was hammered out.

We also see the problem of the Jewish employees of Allianz; the regime put increased pressure on Allianz to fire Jewish salesmen, clerks, etc. Then when Allianz continued to pay the fired agents for the commissions on their business, the regime began to take aim at Allianz for not in effect, boycotting Jewish business. Again, lengthy meetings at several governmental levels with numerous agencies.

As the war went on and new territories were occupied, Allianz and other German insurance firms raced to buy up the insurance firms in Poland, France, etc. Indeed, as late as April 1945, just one month from the collapse of Nazi Germany, some insurance companies were trying to expand in territories about to be occupied by the Soviets! As many of the employees of Allianz were military age, most were called up to serve in the armed services. Should drafted salesmen continue to be paid their commissions when someone else must service their accounts? How were clerical personnel to be replaced and trained when most of the replacements were retired or disabled and not up to the physical demands of the job (the company continued to operate from its various offices throughout the bombing raids).

In the end, the book is an interesting business book as the demands of a war and regime that was not exactly business savvy gives us a glimpse into the everyday problems of a company like Allianz. The reading can be harder as there are so many individuals of whom the reader will never again run across so who reports to who in which department can be difficult.

So, the question is: did Allianz co-operate with the Nazi regime during that period and did they in fact insure various facilities at the concentration camps. Yes, and yes with caveats; they co-operated to continue as did hundreds of other companies and millions of individuals. There is no indication that. y financed the Party (unlike Krupp and others) nor did the management participate in the racial or other political goals of the time. They did employ for as long as possible Jewish employees, paid them their commissions, etc., and tried to continue their pre-war drive to create an Allianz set of corporate-employee values.

An interesting book if you have the patience and a score card to keep track of the players.