At the Heart of the Reich

The Secret Diary of Hitler’s Army Adjutant

De: Gerhard Engel

Narrado por: Stefan Rudnicki

A revealing account of Hitler's thoughts and actions throughout World War II from one of his closest aides.

Major Gerhard Engel was Hitler's army adjutant from 1938 to 1943. During his years with Hitler, Engel kept a diary. After the war, he added material to shed further light on certain events, military and political decisions, and Hitler's attitude to particular problems. His diary covers the decision-making process behind crucial military actions, including the annexation of Austria, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the war against Russia. He also addresses intrigue within Hitler's inner circle and his casual conversations with other key Nazi figures.

At the Heart of the Reich sheds important light on the Fuhrer's core beliefs. It includes the statement made by Hitler in 1941, "I am now as before a Catholic." It also details his views on German Jews and dwells on the extent to which they served in the Wehrmacht. Engel also addresses the deportation of Jews from Salonika and Hitler's order to Himmler to select a destination, the details of which Hitler was apparently unconcerned with. The final part of the diary is mostly devoted to the war against Russia. Engel's reports confirm that the master plan was to take Leningrad and Rostov, then close pincers behind Moscow. The plan was frustrated by senior army commanders' lack of enthusiasm and Hitler's failure to exert firm leadership. Engel depicts Hitler as a vacillating, contrary man. It is not unlikely that this encouraged his generals to impose themselves and argue their plan to rush Moscow, which ultimately contributed to the defeat of the Third Reich.

©2005 Greenhill Books. © 2016 by Skyhorse Publishing. (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Full of promise which materializes as complete disappointment and you paid for to boot!

DO NOT WASTE A CENT ON THIS BOOK. What an opportunity... finally someone with actual daily access to Adolph Hitler and his top generals. What a major disappointment THERE IS NOTHING OF SUBSTANCE HERE WHATSOEVER. To make matters worse it stops in 1942 at the last days of Operation Barbarossa. It’s sad when you can say the narrator was the best part of the book. Was the rest of the war that consuming for the Germans? Did the author suddenly die? Was his tour of duty over and he went home? Was he paralyzed with despair? We will never know.... what we do know is the rest of WWII on for 2 1/2 more years, we won and the author apparently could not find a pencil. AVOID THIS BOOK LIKE A DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE.

Not what I was expecting

If you are doing research on a Hitler biography, maybe this is useful. Otherwise, it is a fairly pedestrian day-by-day reading of a diary. I am a big fan of WWII history and have listened to well over 1,000 hours of audiobooks, so I believe I have an appreciation for such things, but I found it very hard to pay attention and did not learn anything particularly fascinating. There are so many other options out there that I would place this one very low on the priority list.