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Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2026 11:53 pm
by Silbers
I can imagine there are books out there which are biased in one way or another - I guess I'm looking for one which isn't. Is anything like that available do you know?
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2026 12:53 am
by Stubble
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2026 1:59 am
by Archie
I wouldn't avoid mainstream material even if it is slanted. Much of it is still worthwhile. You just have to learn how to read it critically. That's a very important skill because you're generally not going to find dedicated revisionist studies on every specialized topic.
Here are a few titles that come to mind.
David Irving, True Himmler - biography of the head of SS
Robert Gerwarth, Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich - mainstream biography of Heydrich, another key SS man
Gerald Reitlinger, The SS: Alibi of a Nation - I've read Reitlinger's other book, the Final Solution, and that book was less orthodox in some ways than you'd expect. Probably a bit dated by now.
Adrian Weale, The SS: A New History - Have not read this but this would be a more recent history (from 2010).
From there you could search for academic articles on whatever details are of most interest to you. Depending on how deep you want to go. If you just want to know some basics, you could just read some books on the Third Reich. Probably better to start broader. See here for a discussion of Hitler biographies:
viewtopic.php?t=82
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:03 pm
by Silbers
Thanks, I'll listen to that if i can't find the book.
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:43 pm
by Silbers
Archie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 1:59 am
I wouldn't avoid mainstream material even if it is slanted. Much of it is still worthwhile. You just have to learn how to read it critically. That's a very important skill because you're generally not going to find dedicated revisionist studies on every specialized topic.
Here are a few titles that come to mind.
David Irving, True Himmler - biography of the head of SS
Robert Gerwarth, Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich - mainstream biography of Heydrich, another key SS man
Gerald Reitlinger, The SS: Alibi of a Nation - I've read Reitlinger's other book, the Final Solution, and that book was less orthodox in some ways than you'd expect. Probably a bit dated by now.
Adrian Weale, The SS: A New History - Have not read this but this would be a more recent history (from 2010).
From there you could search for academic articles on whatever details are of most interest to you. Depending on how deep you want to go. If you just want to know some basics, you could just read some books on the Third Reich. Probably better to start broader. See here for a discussion of Hitler biographies:
viewtopic.php?t=82
Thanks very much - I look forward to reading these recommendations of yours.
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:55 pm
by Stubble
Silbers wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:03 pm
Thanks, I'll listen to that if i can't find the book.
The PDF link at the bottom is the book in digital format.
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2026 4:07 pm
by pilgrimofdark
If you're interested in SS involvement in the camps system in particular, the first volume of the USHMM Encyclopedia of Camps & Ghettos is mostly focused on this.
There's a relatively short introduction
available online to that section of the encyclopedia.
A much longer history is Wachsmann's
book KL - A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps. Looks like an epub version is available from the usual suspects. It's written in a more popular (versus scholarly) style.
They're mainstream works, but Thomas Kues and John Wear have cited Wachsmann's books on the concentration camps in articles on CODOH.
I often like reading journal articles more than books, because they're shorter and more focused. For particular topics on the SS you're interested in, Google Scholar will bring up a good number of books, articles, and theses/dissertations. Many are open access, and if they're not, they're often available from the usual suspects.
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2026 10:46 am
by borjastick
I might recommend Hitler's Death's Head Division - SS-Totenkopf Division by Rupert Butler. Yes it looks at just one division/regiment within the SS but is a comprehensive analysis of their actions and background. Long time since I read it so cannot recall anything stand out from it but worth a look.
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2026 11:04 am
by Eye of Zyclone
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2026 7:22 pm
by Silbers
Stubble wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:55 pm
Silbers wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:03 pm
Thanks, I'll listen to that if i can't find the book.
The PDF link at the bottom is the book in digital format.
Found it - thanks again!
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2026 7:24 pm
by Silbers
Thanks for the links, they look interesting.
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2026 7:42 pm
by Silbers
borjastick wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2026 10:46 am
I might recommend Hitler's Death's Head Division - SS-Totenkopf Division by Rupert Butler. Yes it looks at just one division/regiment within the SS but is a comprehensive analysis of their actions and background. Long time since I read it so cannot recall anything stand out from it but worth a look.
I will certainly look that up - cheers!
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2026 7:47 pm
by Silbers
pilgrimofdark wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2026 4:07 pm
If you're interested in SS involvement in the camps system in particular, the first volume of the USHMM Encyclopedia of Camps & Ghettos is mostly focused on this.
There's a relatively short introduction
available online to that section of the encyclopedia.
A much longer history is Wachsmann's
book KL - A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps. Looks like an epub version is available from the usual suspects. It's written in a more popular (versus scholarly) style.
They're mainstream works, but Thomas Kues and John Wear have cited Wachsmann's books on the concentration camps in articles on CODOH.
I often like reading journal articles more than books, because they're shorter and more focused. For particular topics on the SS you're interested in, Google Scholar will bring up a good number of books, articles, and theses/dissertations. Many are open access, and if they're not, they're often available from the usual suspects.
I'm not sure who the usual subjects are but thanks for the information anyway. Scholarly articles are always behind a pay wall, that's been my experience in the past.
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2026 1:01 am
by Stubble
In this instance 'The Usual Suspects' is shorthand for those who form the academic consensus and who carry those works. The 'Mainstream'.
Re: Which books would be recommended reading on the SS?
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2026 4:39 am
by Archie
Stubble wrote: ↑Fri Jun 26, 2026 1:01 am
In this instance 'The Usual Suspects' is shorthand for those who form the academic consensus and who carry those works. The 'Mainstream'.
"Usual suspects" is used the way you're saying, but I think pilgrim was making a delicate reference to websites for downloading not-entirely-legal copies of copyrighted material.
E.g., sci-hub, annas-archive, and other sites that I myself would of course never use.
Another option (that's legal) is you can check nearby university libraries and see if they have public computers. In my experience, most do though not always. Universities pay for access to databases with newspapers, periodicals, academic journals, doctoral theses, etc. The better the school, usually the more stuff they have. This is probably the most viable legal way for a non-academic to get access.
