Official secrets
Subtitle: what the Nazis planned, what the British and Americans knew
By: Richard Breitman
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 1999
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 325
ISBN-13: 9780140283884; 9780140280340
Copyright date: 1998
Subjects: Politics and government; Berichtgeving; World War, 1939-1945; Holocaust; Geheimhouding; Genocide; Tweede Wereldoorlog; Diplomatic relations; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Atrocities; Foreign relations; Geallieerden
Description: An important new work based on newly declassified archives. As defeat loomed over the Third Reich in 1945, its officials tried to destroy the physical and documentary evidence about the Nazis' monstrous crimes. Great Britain already had some of the evidence, however, for its intelligence services had for years been intercepting, decoding, and analyzing German police radio messages and SS ones, too. Yet these important papers were sealed away as "Most Secret," "Never to Be Removed from This Office"--And they have only now reappeared. Integrating this new evidence with other sources, historian Richard Breitman reconsiders how Germany's leaders brought about the Holocaust--and when--and reassesses Britain's and America's suppression of information about the Nazi killings. His absorbing account of the consequences of keeping this information secret for so long, including the failure to punish many known war criminals, shows us the danger of continued government secrecy.--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-309) and index.