Hitler's Traitor : Martin Bormann and the Defeat of the Reich

Rating:
Summary: I Don't Think So...
Review: Actually, from my intensive reading about the subject, I believe the spy behind the Nazis down fall was Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. Head of the Abwehr (Germany's CIA), he not only hated Nazism and Hitler, but he also intentionally recruited people for his organization who felt the same way. In fact, I dont believe the British broke the Germans code (Ultra & Enigma). I believe Wilhelm gave it to them. Furthermore, Bormann was way too personally loyal to Hitler to even dream of [messing with] him. It just didn't fit his psychological makeup.

Rating:
Summary: a problematic thesis
Review: Although eyewitness accounts of the last days in Hitler's bunker are highly impressionistic, it seems irrefutable that Bormann attempted to flee the bunker and died in the process (confirmed by dental records in 1971, then by DNA testing in 1990). Too many accounts, from people captured in different places at different times, agree on this point. If he was a spy, why would he do this? Merely by remaining in the bunker, or beelining for the nearest Soviet unit, he could have fled to Moscow as a valuable spy--especially since it became obvious to Stalin as early as 1945 that the Western powers had every intention of using former Nazis in the budding conflict with the USSR.

The problem I have with this book is not only that it relies on circumstantial evidence to sketch out a conspiracy theory that flies in the face of everything else we know about Bormann, but that it's symptomatic of a desire on the part of some writers to absolve the Nazi military machine of full responsibility for their failures. So many writers in the West are so entranced by the likes of Guderian and Manstein that it is simply inconceiveable to them that the Wehrmacht could have lost because the Red Army ultimately proved superior. So they come up with theory after theory of how someone betrayed the soldiers. The "Hitler as incompetent war leader" held vogue for decades, until ruthlessly punctured by critical examinations of generals' memoirs and the release of the Soviet archives. So now we have this, Bormann as betrayer.

This happened once before, in German history. After WW1, many Germans felt it was inconceivable that the Kaiser's army could lose on the battlefield. So they concocted the myth of the stab in the back. This Bormann as spy theory is the same thing.

Rating:
Summary: A Flawed Page-turner
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It reads like a second-rate spy novel and as such is very entertaining. My gripe about this book has to do with the conflicted theme of Joe Stalin- demon or "realpolitik" master non-pareil? The book weighs in with those who credit Stalin with scores of millions of deaths but as is usual with such claims the scource is Robert Conquest- Joseph Goebbels' little brother. (I challenge anyone to PROVE the outlandish figures given for Stalin's victims- 30, 40 or sometimes even 50 million people! Its mathematically and historically impossible) In a new bizarre twist Stalin is even given credit partially for the "Holocaust" because through Bormann he may have encouraged it! In real life most of us in the West ESPECIALLY college professors, writers and investigative reporters would be living a far different existence if it wasn't for Joe Stalin and the Red Army's defeat of the Germans. Ironically, the full extent of that victory is brought out in this same book because the amazing exploits of the Red Orchestra and "funkspiel" gave the Soviets superior intelligence; better even than the much-vaunted Ultra. Also exposed is the duplicitous evil of Winston Churchill, lurching through history like a perverted old uncle. The trouble with this book is that it is hard to know what to believe in the end. Like the real-life spying it depicts, the truth is murky at best.

Rating:
Summary: Read it again.
Review: In my opinion none of the other reviewers who unfavorably reviewed the book read it carefully. In any case, they didn't address the problem posed by Mr. Kilzer, namely who had daily and intimate access to the discussions carried on in Hitler's HQ for more than 3 years? Only Bormann with his stenographers qualifies. Are they afraid of the implications of the revelation that Stalin may have a hand in the Holocaust?

Rating:
Summary: From a differnt angle
Review: Interesting book that looks at the Second World War from a different angle. If you read previous reviews from mainly British/American readers it hardly surprises to see them raising a doubtful brow, as it is clearly evident that this book does reduce effective contribution of the Western Powers to the collective Allied war effort and finally their part in achieving victory close to nil. Moreover it exposes the politics of the then crumbling British Empire as vicious and deceptive and the US, then ascending to a major superpower, as ruthless and scheming, something that will hardly ever going to be popular in the English speaking world. Nevertheless it doesn't seem important if the well presented facts of this book are true or fiction. It's major truth is the possibillity of a clouded past that leaves one standing and marvelling anew at the meaning of those famous words quoted by the Roman Livy: "Vae victis" - "woe to the vanquished", and its consequences for the assessment of the German nation after this massive defeat conferred upon it by Stalinist Russia.

Rating:
Summary: Stalin's Nazi Martyr
Review: It's an interesting, even gripping, read but the real point is whether it is true. The notion that Martin Bormann was a Russian spy, codenamed Werther, has been around a long time, but this book has to be considered the definitive case for the prosecution. At best, the evidence is hazy. The author stresses that Bormann had unrestricted access to the minutes of Hitler's military meetings once his (Bormann's) stenographers started to take the minutes in 1942. There is speculation on Bormann's address book which, it is claimed, has one curious entry perhaps relating to Red Army spy 'Lucy'. Much of the book is devoted to German reverses on the eastern front, so maybe battles such as Stalingrad and Kursk were influenced by the fact that the Russians knew what the Germans were going to do next. On the other hand, there are some factual errors in the book, on Zhukov for example, and Bormann's actual role and importance in the nazi hierarchy are surprisingly patchy. If Bormann's remains had never been found in Berlin, it might be easier to argue Kilzer's thesis which would work better if the henchman had actually escaped or disappeared without trace. As it is, one is reluctantly drawn to the conclusion the case is not proven. Neither for that matter was he whisked out of Berlin in 1945 by British secret agents to spend his retirement in South Coast tearooms, nor endure his post war years in South America before succombing to liver cancer as argued in other accounts. We need to remember that Bormann was a drunkard by the mid war years. To place him at the center of a complex communist conspiracy, for whatever reason, is a tremendous claim. In fact, the pill is just too big to swallow.

Rating:
Summary: Historical Sensationalism
Review: The premise of Martin Bormann as a 'Soviet Deep Plant Spy' within the Nazi government belongs with the 'Flat Earth Society', 'Earth as Center of Universe', and 'Crop Circles as Alien Evidence' mode of conspiracy 'thinkers?' While Mr. Kilzer presents a credible set of credentials as a writer, it doesn't cover his assertions of an 'Inner Circle of Hitler' spy ring fiction. His main support that Hitler's own 'Party Secretary' was a devastating Soviet spy 'Werther' is drawn mainly from an utterance decades ago by an ex-Nazi intelligence, (then working for NATO, Intelligence Officer) Reinhard Gehlen. Who believed, without giving any supporting evidence that the 'hated Bormann' had to be the spy of the millennium. Mr. Kilzer seems to ignore the voluminous post-war testimony's and interviews with the actual surviving members of the "Rote Kapelle" spy ring who never mention Bormann, but talk about other anti-Nazi spies within OKW who supplied the military secrets under the 'code name Werther' for Army intelligence and 'code name Olga' for Luftwaffe intelligence.

As I have previously have reviewed Kilzer's lack of historical accuracy involving "Hitler's Traitor" in regards to "Eastern Front military history" he (Kilzer) makes wild assumptions and outright 'personal speculations' involving the spy ring within Hitler's Germany. Least of all, given the hatred of Bormann within the 'Nazi ruling circle' and his "distasteful personality" why would he stay around to the end in Berlin? Certainly Bormann had the means and opportunity to escape to the Allies and save his own skin, with the certain defeat of Germany apparent to all within the "inner circle" by January 45'. Why would he die for a régime and a cause he contributed so much to, for its destruction?

For the readers who wish to read an accurate accounting of this vast spy and espionage organization try "The Red Orchestra" by V.E. Tarrant. While "Hitler's Traitor" is an interesting and readable 'fictional' account of a story, as a non-fictional document it is utterly worthless.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing-- save your money!
Review: This book was very disappointing. I heard the author on Liddy and got the book based on that and his two Pulitzers. G. Gordon failed me! Obviously the author did not get his Pulitzers in history. The book is poorly researched, makes elementary errors of historical fact on almost every page and does not really add to our knowledge of the spy called Werner who was operating in Hitler's headquarters. In addition to these transgressions, the author is actually sympathetic to Adolf Hitler and claims a state and army which fought to the last until their enemies had occupied the country, was "disloyal!" This shows a basic misunderatanding of the nature of the Nazi state. This work once again shows clearly why journalists should stick to newspapers and other works where inaccuracy is no failing and footnotes aren't required. Think- National Inquirer does World War II and you have this book in a nutshell.

Rating:
Summary: NOT A REVIEW
Review: You dont need to rate my review, I just want to share some information with you all. Martin B. was not a soviet spy. It is humorous and ridiculous. He worshipped Adolph.