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

Kilzer, Louis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0891417109 ISBN 13: 9780891417101

Publisher: Presidio Press, 2000

Synopsis

From deep inside Moscow's infamous Center, the Soviet Union directed an espionage network of unprecedented size and sophistication.

About this title

Review:

I must say that when i began to read this book. i expected to be following a trail that would take me to the suspected mole in the german high command. It was better, The book gives quite good detail on the vital war battles and the battle of wits between the allies.and between the russians and germans The author makes a very good case that Bormann was Werther, you got to read the book and make your own mind up. For those who like a book on battle strategy and the old great game ( spying) this is a must. its quite a good read --Thomas Satelle

That is the question, could Hitler's most trusted aid have been the biggest mole ever! If you read this book it will set a very good case for Bormann being 'werther'. This book goes totally against the grain of what people believe and taught at school. I enjoyed reading book immensly. --Mr. R. J. Ellis

The book is interesting in presenting evidence that Bormann acted as a Soviet agent. --Toadattoadhall

That is the question, could Hitler's most trusted aid have been the biggest mole ever! If you read this book it will set a very good case for Bormann being 'werther'. This book goes totally against the grain of what people believe and taught at school. I enjoyed reading book immensly. --By Mr. R. J. Ellis

This is a great book, and once again I must disagree respectfully with the average reviewer in the case of one of Louis Kilzer's books! Incidentally, I don't know Mr. Kilzer personally, but I do know of his journalistic accomplishments and salute him for this and for writing yet another very remarkable book!Churchill's Deception: The Dark Secret That Destroyed Natio Germany I believe some reviewers did not pay careful attention to his evidence and the suspenseful details in the narrative. I believe that in the zeitgeist of our times, Mr. Kilzer simply did not demonize Adolf Hitler enough, as is expected of all writers discussing any details in the life of the German Chancellor. We can objectively discuss Stalin's industrialization record, Five-Year Plans, and military record, but not so Hitler's. It is not politically correct! And for the record, let me categorically state that Hitler was a monster, yes a monster, but no worse than Joseph Stalin, who, at least quantitatively in the number of atrocities and murders of innocent victims, vastly outmatched Hitler, in both war or peacetime perversity. That said, Mr. Klizer does provide evidence, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Martin Bormann was indeed the spy-traitor, "Werther," spying from deep inside the Third Reich. He was the only person that was able to attend all the meetings in question, or if not, to have his informants and official stenographers record in minute details the German High Command's top secret transactions and military plans. Thus he was capable of relaying information to the Russians, even before the German generals were able to review and put them into action! Not even Ultra, the secret decoding of the German Enigma code, Winston Churchill's secret weapon at Bletchley Park, was able to provide this information and feedback! Werther was not only able to have secret German military plans radioed to Moscow Center via the Lucy spy ring in Switzerland immediately after Wehrmacht conferences were over, but also let Stalin know who attended the conference and what each of the conferees stated. Werther was even capable of answering specific questions posed by Moscow center (i.e., "Gisela," the young, attractive, secretive, Jewish, Russian Spymaster, Maria Poliakova). Kilzer shows that only one man was in the key (and only position), where he was able to do so, and that man could have only been Martin Bormann, the Fuhrer's trusted secretary! Hitler was ruthless, but despite what we may have been led to believe, unlike Stalin, he was not a paranoid individual, and he allowed treasonous activity to thrive within the military (e.g., Generals Ludwig Beck and Georg Thomas), the police (e.g., Heinrich Muller, left-wing, head of the Gestapo and creator of the funkspiel, radio playback messages to Moscow), and even German military Intelligence (e.g., the official Hans Bernd Gisevius, General Hans Oster, and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr). It was not until this serious attempt on his life by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg at the Wolf's Lair on July 10, 1944, that Hitler struck back with a vengeance against the conspirators. Only then (and as the Third Reich rapidly crumbled) did he become sadistically vindictive and unforgiving against his opponents within the German military. And yet, he never distrusted Martin Bormann, the "faithful" secretary, "who could get things done." On April 30, 1945, as he prepared for death, Hitler made Bormann the executor of his will and praised him as his "most faithful party comrade." But Admiral Canaris, himself an honorary member of the Black Orchestra. --By Helen E. Faria

From Publishers Weekly:

"Red Orchestra" (Rote Kapelle) is the label given to spy networks operated in Germany and Europe by the Red Army during WWII. Many of these operations were very successful, particularly the "Lucy" net, which targeted the highest German command circles. Kilzer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, revisits this arena with an entertaining synthesis of evidence about the activities of these spies, extensive accounts of relevant military history, and informed speculations about causes and effects, motives and behaviors. He offers some startling conclusions, based on declassified U.S. archival material and published disclosures and analyses accumulated over 50 years. While Kilzer shows that most of Hitler's senior compatriots were traitors in some sense, still subservient to Hitler but devoted to their own views of German interests, Kilzer reasons that two of the highest placed officials must have also functioned as Red Army agents: Martin Bormann, secretary and second in command to Hitler and head of the Nazi chancellery, and Heinrich M?ller, commandant of the Gestapo. The book's title encapsulates Kilzer's claim that Bormann was the chief informant whose existence has been posited for some time, but whose identity has been a mystery. The text is fluent, comprehensive and annotated, but not without a few disappointments: occasional lapses into hyperbole, and inattention to sorting the hypothetical from the demonstrable when sourcing conclusions. The narrative is multidimensional, however, showing the under-appreciated significance of Rote Kapelle and winningly conveying the author's fascination with a challenging historical puzzle. Illus. not seen by PW. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Presidio Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0891417109
• ISBN 13: 9780891417101
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352