Centuries Will Not Suffice

A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust

De: Prit Buttar

Narrado por: Bruce Mann

Duración: 15 h y 52 m

Resumen del Editor

Centuries Will Not Suffice explores how different people responded to the Lithuanian Holocaust and the roles that they played. It considers the past history of the perpetrators and those who took great risks to save Jews, as well as describing the experiences of many who were caught up in the maelstrom.

Unlike the figures at the top of the Nazi hierarchy, the men who were responsible for these killings have been largely forgotten. Karl Jäger was a senior SS figure who was in charge of the units that carried out most of them. He complained that his experiences caused him to suffer nightmares but continued to order his units to carry on and regarded it as his duty to remain in his post. He took refuge in compiling detailed reports of the killings, listing the numbers executed and breaking them down into men, women and children. The roles played by other figures are all described.

Before the German invasion of Lithuania, two diplomats recognized the danger that lay ahead for the Jews of the Baltic region and did what they could to help them escape. Karl Plagge, a major in the army, did all he could to save Jews. What perhaps make the terrible story of the Baltic genocide unique is that the Nazi regime was able to rely upon collaboration by convincing the populace that the Soviet invasion of the area was the responsibility of the Jews.

©2023 Prit Buttar (P)2023 Tantor

An unexpected gem

In reading seven of Buttar's mammoth volumes about the fighting on the Eastern Front, I think I have heard him mention the Holocaust maybe twice. He is a military historian, and I have always assumed he doesn't have the stomach - which I certainly don't - to write about that awful topic.

Yet here we have not only a book about the Holocaust, but a deep dive into one of the lesser-known corners of it. And Buttar gets into the grisly details with the same thoroughness and accuracy as with his military work.

This is not an easy read, but an important one. At some point the reader will realize that all of this suffering and death, detailed so meticulously here, forms only a small fraction of the Holocaust. Lithuania was a backwater for the German military and the SS, yet even here the horror was unspeakable in both scale and execution.

The narration is not great. Mann has a rather peculiar, clipped delivery which does grate a little, but it's far from the worst I've heard. Certainly nowhere near the dumpster fire that the narration in Meat Grinder - Buttar's previous book - was. Buttar does seem to have bad luck with narrators. Still, a great listen.