Bursts__ reviewed The Beast Reawakens by Martin A. Lee
The Legacy of US "denazification of post-WWII Germany"
4 stars
This book picks up where Blowback by Christopher Simpson left off, with OSS and CIA support and funding of nazi spies and soldiers as the US and others in the Allies occupied and divided former Axis powers. The book mainly follows two saviors of the Reich who met after the failed 20 July to assassinate Hitler by competing Nazis: Otto Skorzeny and Otto Ernst Remer. Lee documents these villains survival after the war, fostering domestic (Remer) and international (Skorzeny) networks of former SS & Nazi leaders who integrated into post-colonial military intelligences, founded arms companies and fostered grassroots neo-fascist movements around Europe, North and South America. There is a lot of history covered in this book and a lot of names (some I recognize, many I don't): it feels in many ways like a cousin project joining Blowback with Blood and Politics by focusing on the some of the cross-Atlantic …
This book picks up where Blowback by Christopher Simpson left off, with OSS and CIA support and funding of nazi spies and soldiers as the US and others in the Allies occupied and divided former Axis powers. The book mainly follows two saviors of the Reich who met after the failed 20 July to assassinate Hitler by competing Nazis: Otto Skorzeny and Otto Ernst Remer. Lee documents these villains survival after the war, fostering domestic (Remer) and international (Skorzeny) networks of former SS & Nazi leaders who integrated into post-colonial military intelligences, founded arms companies and fostered grassroots neo-fascist movements around Europe, North and South America. There is a lot of history covered in this book and a lot of names (some I recognize, many I don't): it feels in many ways like a cousin project joining Blowback with Blood and Politics by focusing on the some of the cross-Atlantic support between white supremacist groups after WWII and during the period around and following German re-unification. There were some portions that really peaked my interest and I'm challenged to dig a little deeper (such as the portions discussing National Bolshevism and the institutional integration (or at least allowance) of Russian Chauvanism into Bolshevik and CCCP policy from 1917 onward, the German interwar relationship with Russia, the German post-Reunification revanchism and courting of Croatian separatists and more on the NATO/US stay-behinds. A suggested read if you have the time and don't mind constant reminding of how terrible and integrated our enemies are.