Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

The Kersten Memoirs, 1940-1945, by Felix Kersten. 1992

Nazism Anti-Christian and Anti-Sexual-Morality. Was Heydrich Jewish?

This review is based on the original (1957) edition. Felix Kersten, Himmler’s personal physician, had numerous heart-to-heart conversations with him. Historian Trevor-Roper credits Kersten’s intervention with the saving of the lives of 60,000 Jews (p. 11) and at least 500 Poles (p. 14).

THE SOVIET UNION DID NOT SINGLEHANDEDLY WIN WWII. LEND-LEASE APPRECIATED

In contrast to those who rationalize the sellout of Poland at Yalta through the west’s imagined powerlessness, Himmler recognized the real basis of Soviet military successes: “Without American weapons and supplies, Russia would have been overwhelmed by our blitzkrieg and by the violence of our attack…” (p. 130).

NAZISM WAS NOT CHRISTIAN: IT WAS ANTI-CHRISTIAN

As for Himmler’s views on religion, Kersten comments: “Himmler was an outspoken antagonist of the Christian and especially the Catholic religion. This hostility towards Christianity has led him to take a systematic interest in other religions.” (p. 148). In fact, Himmler thought highly of the eastern religions (p. 149, 151, 156) and of their concept of reincarnation (p. 154). Himmler foresaw the death of Christianity in Germany as one eventual outcome of Nazism: “The more our training takes root and men become infused with our spirit, the less they will depend on the churches–and one day they will be empty.” (p. 136).

DO NOT BLAME CHRISTIANITY ON THE HOLOCAUST

In recent decades, there have been accusations of the Church being indifferent to, if not complicit with, the Holocaust. Ironic to this, Himmler attributed much the same malevolence and power to the Catholic Church as he did to the Jews, and even believed that they were in cahoots: “In every crisis, you will trace the influence of two great world powers, the Catholic Church and the Jews. They’re both striving for world leadership, basically hostile to each other, only united in their struggle against the Germanic peoples.” (p. 155).

THE NAZIS DID NOT PROMOTE TRADITIONAL SEXUAL MORALITY

Libertines and hedonists sometimes try to tar modern traditionalism with the purported similarity of its views to that of the Nazis. This was far from the case. Himmler, for example, frowned upon sexual and marital monogamy (pp. 176-179), and had no problem with illegitimacy (p. 180). His opposition to homosexuality was primarily based on the fact that it discouraged procreation that would benefit the Reich, and not because it went against traditional morality. (p. 57).

HIMMLER: HEYDRICH WAS JEWISH

Himmler said that, not only was Heydrich of Jewish ancestry, but that Hitler used it to good Machiavellian effect to keep a man of Heydrich’s talents in line. Furthermore, Heydrich was an ideal person to lead the extermination of the Jews because of the hatred of his own Jewish blood (pp. 97-99).

THE FINAL SOLUTION (ENDLOSUNG): EMIGRATION OR EXTERMINATION?

As for the Holocaust itself, Himmler claimed that, all along, he had been content with the emigration and resettlement of the Jews (pp. 119-120, 139, 162). Hitler, Bormann, and Goebbels were the ones who supposedly chose extermination (p. 164), deciding this before November 1941 (p. 119) [which was at least two months before Wannsee].