Product Description
The sequence in which food has been served at meals has changed greatly over the centuries and has also varied from one country to another, a fact noted in virtually every culinary history. Most food writers have treated the more significant alterations as stand-alone events. The most famous example of such a change occurred in the nineteenth century, when service à la française--in which the stunning presentation made a great show but diners had to wait to be served--gave way to service à la russe, in which platters were passed among diners who served themselves. But in Arranging the Meal, the late culinary historian Jean-Louis Flandrin argues that such a change in the order of food service is far from a distinct event. Instead he regards it as a historical phenomenon, one that happened in response to socioeconomic and cultural factors--another mutation in an ever-changing sequence of customs. As France's most illustrious culinary historian, Flandrin has become a cult figure in France, and this posthumous book is not only his final word but also a significant contribution to culinary scholarship. A foreword by Beatrice Fink places Flandrin's work in context and offers a personal remembrance of this French culinary hero. ... Read more

Product Description
The German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 began World War II in Europe, pitting the newly modernized army of Europe’s great industrial power against the much smaller Polish army and introducing the world to a new style of warfare – Blitzkrieg. Panzer divisions spearheaded the German assault with Stuka dive-bombers prowling ahead spreading terror and mayhem. This book demonstrates how the Polish army was not as backward as it is often portrayed and fielded a tank force larger than that of the contemporary US Army. Its stubborn defence did give the Germans some surprises and German casualties were relatively heavy for such a short campaign. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Good concise review of the 1939 Polish campaign.
Being familiar with other books written by Steve Zaloga, I knew this would be a good and informative book.

I thought I knew allot about the WWII European campaigns, having read numerous books on the Eastern front, the invasions of Norway, the low countries, France, North Africa etc., but when I saw this book here on Amazon, it dawned on me that in all the years of reading about WWII, I had never come across anything about the invasion and subsequent German campaign in Poland. Like many people this is about all I knew:

1. Gleiwitz incident, where the Nazis staged a false attack on a German radio station as a reason
for declaring war on Poland.

2. WWI veteran battleship Schleswig-Holstein opens fire on the Polish garrison in Danzig. The
first shots of the war.

3. German army groups attach from the SW, W, and out of East Prussia. Integrated use of armor,
artillery, and air support. Blitzkrieg.

4. Polish mounted cavalry units decimated when they attack German panzers.

5. Warsaw bombed and shelled.

6. Under the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union attacks Poland from
the east.

7. Poland surrenders.

That's about it.

In a short concise review (typical of the Osprey Campaign Series) the author covers all the salient facts of the battle. German and Polish order of battle, army commanders (while I knew of the German commanding general, I had no idea who commanded on the Polish side), weapons, strategies, politics involved in the Polish strategies, debunking of some cherished myths, the list goes on.

Other reviewers have covered this book far better than I can, and there's no reason to repeat them. I just wanted to reiterate the fact that if , like most of us, you have little knowledge concerning this important (but sadly neglected) WWII battle, you will get an excellent overview in this book.


Paul

A good Osprey Book
A good book in the series and it gives a good overview of the invasion in Poland and its place in the events of World War 2.

It adresses a few myths and explains in a satisfactory manner how this was the testing ground of the Wehrmacht - that the German Army did make mistakes, plenty of them, but learned its lessons very well. Zaloga brings the highlights to life and brings the rest of the invasion into light. He disbands the myth of the cavalry charging into panzers - a long lived nazi propaganda lie and shows that the Germans had not perfected their tactics. He also shows that part played by the French and British and the Soviet Invasion of East Poland is well covered.

All in all this is quite impressive and complete. And that within the framework of the Osprey series.

First to Fight
'Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg' is an excellent example of the Campaign series of books from Osprey Publishing. Written by the consistently good Steven Zaloga (an expert on this campaign) the narrative is interesting, informative and flows nicely along. He comprehensively dismisses the myths of Polish lancers charging panzers and the destruction of the Polish Air Force before breakfast on the 1st of September.

The maps are very good, the detail on the 3D views is excellent, and the photographs are judiciously chosen. The colour plates are also good, although I would rather that the accompanying captions spoke more about the action shown rather than summarizing the information available elsewhere in the book.

Poland's 1939 Defensive War against Impossible Odds
There are several excellent reviews of this book in existence, and I focus my review mostly on details not covered by them. This review is based on the 2004 hardback edition.

Industrial capacity is the key to modern warfare, and the extreme asymmetry (using modern parlance, and not Zaloga's) favoring the Germans began at that stage. Up to WWII, Germany had manufactured 1.4 million motor vehicles against Poland's 33,000 (p. 32). Germany was in a position to outspend Poland, in military matters, at 30:1 (p. 22), despite Herculean efforts by the latter.

Nominal static asymmetry in such things as airplanes, tanks, and artillery favored the Germans at approximately between 4:1 to 8:1 (p. 23, 31). But, since German weapons were more modern, the effective static asymmetry was easily 10:1 or more. Since only 65% of Polish forces had been fully mobilized (p. 39: as a result of western pressure for Poles not to "provoke" Hitler), the effective static asymmetry became even greater. Finally, owing to the fact that the German forces enjoyed greater mobility and modern communication (e. g., p. 32, 67, 70), they could use their arms more effectively than the Poles could whatever little they had. Owing to these tactical advantages, the dynamic asymmetry favoring the Germans became much greater than the effective static asymmetry already in their favor.

Zaloga discusses the failure of the British and French to live up to their treaty obligations towards Poland in 1939: "Hitler had hoped that Britain and France would abandon Poland altogether. Their timid response left the Poles to their fate. France threw away one of its great strategic opportunities, as German forces in the west were too thin to repulse any full-scale assault. German officers interviewed about the campaign after the war expressed their firm belief that if France had struck with force in September 1939, its army would have reached the Rhine in a couple of weeks, and possibly won the war. France would have faced a far different army in 1939 than the one it confronted a year later." (p. 65)

Ironic to the "Polish lancers charging German tanks" canard, the Polish cavalry had actually discontinued the use of lancers well before WWII (p. 7, 30)! Zaloga traces the origins of the German-propaganda tale (pp. 42-43), which unfortunately has proved to be so enduringly believed. (Myths survive when they meet needs. This one fulfilled the need of Poles to remember their struggle against a vastly technologically superior foe. It also met the needs of Polonophobes, as it ostensibly supported their prejudicial views of Poles as impetuous and stupid.)

Best Book on this topic despite its short length
I have collected a number of books on the Polish Campaign, but I have to say that this is the best, despite its short length.It not only gives an excellent overview of the campaign, but disproves a number of widely held myths (Polish cavalry charging tanks, Polish air force being destroyed on the ground on the first day) and covers a number of small unit combats in detail.I particularly enjoyed the description of a polish cavalry brigade stopping a panzer division on the first day.Talk about standing that myth on its head!

The book also gives a good (if brief) description of the opposing forces.If there is a shortcoming, it is this last.I would have liked this section to be longer but, given the format, that would be unreasonable.There are plenty of sources on the German army; if you want to know more about the Polish forces, you can buy "The Polish Campaign 1939" by Zaloga and Madej (used) for 3 or 4 times as much.Otherwise, buy this book. ... Read more

Product Description

Lavender vinegar, saffron wafers, chicken baked with prunes, pears stewed with cucumbers and figs . . . there is something wonderfully inviting about the unusual and exotic flavors that came to the medieval Polish table. By turns robust and refined, and capturing all the richness and complexity of Poland in the Middle Ages, this is cookery that flourished at the crossroads of Western and Oriental foodways.

This is the first book of its kind in English to explore the fascinating culinary history of medieval Poland. It represents the fruits of a twenty-year collaboration between two distinguished food historians, William Woys Weaver and the late Maria Dembinska. Freely adapted from a pioneering work first published by Dembinska in 1963, this new edition explores the subject of Polish medieval cuisine through archaeology, material culture, and ethnography, along with other perspectives and techniques. Topics examined include not just the personal eating habits of kings, queens, and nobles but also those of the peasants, monks, and other social groups not generally considered in medieval food studies.

To appreciate the tastes and textures of medieval Polish cookery, there is simply no better way than to experience the food firsthand. Weaver has included thirty-five carefully reconstructed recipes, from courtier's pottage, a one-pot dinner popular with rich peasants and petty nobles, to game stewed with sauerkraut, to a court dish of baked fruit, to Polish hydromel, an easily made drink flavored with honey and fennel. With ingredients such as rosewater, cucumbers, saffron, and honey, these recipes will intrigue anyone who loves the art of cooking.

In a sense, Dembinska's greatest gift has been to give a real Polishhistory back to a living Poland. And William Woys Weaver gives us MariaDembinska, a wonderful scholar who died before this long, long projectcould be completed. The recipes Weaver researched and included with thetext combine to make this a history, ethnography, archaeology, and apowerful friendship you can sit down and taste. It's a rare taste, and oneto be savored. --Schuyler Ingle ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Book has a wealth of educational material
This book is filled with a wealth of educational material.This book is comprised of mostly history regarding the culture, the food, and the people.The recipes are well written with measurements in english and metric, temperatures are also given in standard and celcius degrees.Most recipes are from the peasant folk with a few meat dishes sprinkled in.Some recipes are common to today's standards while a few of the others would not typically be seen served in today's kitchen.There are approximately 30 recipes or so in this book.Each recipe has its history in terms of how it was served, to whom it was served, and when it was served.The book is a worthwhile read.

This is a wonderful book with lots of historical tidbits
This is really more of a history book, to my reading.It has wonderfullittle known facts that I would never have learned otherwise.There is alot of research that went into this book, and she obviously worked long andhard to get this book and the history into order.This is a wonderful bookfor anyone who is interested in Poland or Slavic areas, and the recipies,to me, almost seemed as an afterthought, though I do not doubt they arecorrect and proper for Poland.Enjoy!!! ... Read more

Product Description
The Collected Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Volume 11. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
Hitler's decision to invade Poland in August 1939 triggered the start of the Second World War.It was also the first demonstration of Blitzkrieg tactics - the ruthless use of armor, mobile infantry and air support.

Customer Reviews (2)

Great modeling reference.
This book is exactly what it says it is "IMAGES" of War. Don't expect any technical detail. I have dozens of books like this and have to say that ALL of the photos here were new to me. Most in this particular volume were of pretty good quality and note that the author mentions in the introduction that none were altered or enhanced. It's a great book for getting ideas on doing a model or diorama.
Quite a few of the captions had errors but that didn't bother me as I was familiar with all the different versions of the vehicles I was looking at.
It was great to see new pictures, especially from this very early part of WWII, which is not that well covered in other photo books.

Photos from the invasion of Poland
Great photos showing the begining of the WWII, very useful for modelists and students of history for images. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
On a summer day in 1941 in Nazi-occupied Poland, half of the town of Jedwabne brutally murdered the other half: 1,600 men, women, and children-all but seven of the town's Jews. In this shocking and compelling study, historian Jan Gross pieces together eyewitness accounts as well as physical evidence into a comprehensive reconstruction of the horrific July day remembered well by locals but hidden to history. Revealing wider truths about Jewish-Polish relations, the Holocaust, and human responses to occupation and totalitarianism, Gross's investigation sheds light on how Jedwabne's Jews came to be murdered-not by faceless Nazis, but by people who knew them well.Amazon.com Review
"One day, in July 1941, half of the population of a small east Europeantown murdered the other half--some 1,600 men, women and children." Thisshort sentence summarizes the subject of Neighbors, historian JanGross's account of a massacre that occurred in Jedwabne, in northeasternPoland. Gross describes the atrocities of Jedwabne in almost unbearabledetail. Men and women were hacked to death with knives, iron hooks, andaxes. Small children were thrown with pitchforks onto a bonfire. A woman'sdecapitated head was kicked like a football. Historians before now haveblamed the massacre on the Nazis--whose participation in and responsibilityfor these crimes has been exaggerated, Gross says. In fact, he argues, avirulent Polish anti-Semitism was liberated by German occupation. Instead ofexplaining the horrors of Jedwabne, which would be impossible,Neighbors sets the record straight as to the identity of thecriminals. In doing so, Gross has ensured that future histories of theHolocaust, particularly in Poland, will be more honest, because futurehistorians will be answerable to his argument that the evil of the Naziswas not only forced on the Poles. In places such as Jedwabne, it waswelcomed by them. --Michael Joseph Gross ... Read more

Customer Reviews (80)

MURDERER!
I read the reviews of your disgusting book. The fact that you are even given any type if platform is evidence enough that evil exist. Instead of trying to foster healing, you use your own psychological wounds to perpetuate hatred and evil. Your types must be stopped now before you do anymore damage to the human race. I will begin a campaign to stop you beginning with your advertisers.

Sorting out the sordid past
In Neighbors, Jan Gross tells the story of a summer day when "half the population of a small East European town murdered the other half" (7).The author, a Polish Jew who now teaches at Princeton, gives special attention to the question of "who did what in the town of Jedwabne [Poland] on July 10, 1941, and at whose behest" (10).

As the subtitle intimates, the evidence points to a shocking conclusion. Those who tortured and slaughtered nearly all of the 1,600 Jews of Jedwabne were not the soldiers of the recently-arrived German army.They were, instead, the Polish residents of the town, the long-time neighbors of the victims.

The report of the trial of 22 people accused in 1949 as perpetrators has every
appearance of being perfunctory and hastily done.By contrast, the 1945 testimony of Szmul Wasersztajn--one of only seven Jewish survivors of the massacre--provides many details of the hellish events that took place in Jadwebne in late June and early July of 1941.Gross insists that the first-person accounts of Waserztajn and others must be taken seriously.The speakers, he points out, have few if any reasons to lie.Their stories corroborate one another and match up well with what the people of the region still say about that time.

Of course, the specific events described in the book took place within a set of
contexts. The author is careful to mention and discuss them as well.The totalitarian regimes of Stalin and Hitler made every effort to exploit any sort of division or resentment.In that world, says Gross, a person living in a place like Jedwabne, completely disoriented by the events of the Second World War,

"could simultaneously endear himself to the new rulers, derive material benefits from his actions (it stands to reason that active pogrom participants had first pick in the division of leftover Jewish property), and go along with local peasants' traditional animosity towards the Jews."

Gross goes on to say that if

"we add to this mix encouragement by the Nazis and an easily whipped-up sense that one was settling scores with the `Judeo-commune' for indignities suffered under the Soviet occupation--then who could resist such a potent, devilish mixture?" (162).

That someone of his background could make such an observation indicates that in this book we have not only the work of a fine historian.We also have the mature and thoughtful reflections of someone who has managed to tell about a crooked world in a remarkably straightforward way.

Refusing to own up to virulent anti-Semitism
The energy and enthusiasm displayed by traditionalist Poles in denying anti-Semitism is sadly comical. As every objective Pole and casual student of Poland knows, the country is steeped in anti-Semitism. Poland's own official investigative agency for war crimes, Instytut Pamieci Narodowej, basically corroborated Gross's findings. In fact, the institute reported "there were about sixty localities in the area of Bialystock, Lomza, and Suwalki in which anti-Semitic violence led to fatalities in the summer of 1941" ("The Jedwabne Debate in America," Antony Polansky, Polin, Vol.19, 2007, p.413). Even polonophile extraordinaire, historian Norman Davies, concedes Gross's conclusions on Jedwabne (See "God's Playground: A History of Poland," revised edition, 2005, p.336). But almost a decade later conservative Poles and Polish Americans continue with their rants against Gross, perpetuating the stereotype of Poles as unreconstructed Jew-haters.

In response to the outcry and denials in Poland and Polonia over "Neighbors," scholar Joanna Beata Michlic wrote the masterful "Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present," which makes it clear that the massacre of Jedwabne's Jewish citizens by Polish Catholics was part and parcel of historic virulent Polish anti-Semitism.

Some other very good books to read on Polish Catholic anti-Semitism:

"The Neighbors Respond : The Controversy Over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland" edited by Antony Polonsky and Joanna B. Michlic.

"Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz : An Essay in Historical Interpretation" by Jan T. Gross

"The Catholic Church and Antisemitism: Poland, 1933-1939" by Ronald Modras

"Contested Memories: Poles and Jews During the Holocaust and Its Aftermath" edited by Joshua D. Zimmerman

"Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw, 1940-1945" by Gunnar S. Paulsson

"Shtetl: The life and death of a small town and the world of Polish Jews" by Eva Hoffman

"Bondage to the Dead: Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust" by Michael C. Steinlauf

"Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust" by E. Thomas Wood, Stanislaw M. Jankowski

"My Brother's Keeper?: Recent Polish Debates on the Holocaust" edited by Antony Polonsky

"Polish-Jewish Relations During the Second World War" by Emmanuel Ringelblum

"On the Edge of Destruction: Jews of Poland Between the Two World Wars" by Celia S. Heller

"The Convent at Auschwitz" by Wladyslaw T. Bartoszewski

"Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future" edited by Robert Cherry and Annamaria Orla-Bukowska

"When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poland" by Brian Porter

"The Pages In Between : A Holocaust Legacy of Two Families, One Home" by Erin Einhorn

"Rome's Most Faithful Daughter: The Catholic Church and Independent Poland, 1914-1939" by Neal Pease

"The Populist Radical Right in Poland" by Rafal Pankowski

"Polish-Jewish Relations in North America" (Polin Vol. 19) edited by M. B. Biskupski and Antony Polonsky

"Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland: A Beleaguered Church in the Post-Reformation Era" by Magda Teter

"From Assimilation to Antisemitism: The "Jewish Question" in Poland, 1850-1914" by Theodore R. Weeks.

"Antisemitism And Its Opponents In Modern Poland" by Robert Blobaum

Unfinished exhumation of Jedvabne massacre site.
Results of partial exhumation of the Jedwabne site in 2001 disproved most of the theses stated by Jan T. Gross in the book i.e. number of victims (not 1600, but between 200 and 300 which correlates with German records), placement of the two mass graves, perpetrators as well as their motives (money and precious objects found with bodies, shells and bullets of German rifles and pistols found on the site), etc. The exhumation was stopped on demand of rabbis supervising the dig citing `religious grounds` (sic!) when skulls found in the barn grave had bullet holes in them (fact confirmed by Israeli newspaper "Ha'aretz" quoting Michael Schudrich, chief rabbi of Poland). Isn't that interesting to learn that Jews themselves did not want to uncover all the facts regarding a war crime pinned on Poles?

J.T. Gross based "Neighbors" on an account of Shmuel Wasserstein, an officer of UB (Security Service - part of soviet NKVD in Poland) in city of Lomza, not far from Jedwabne. He also used testimonies of people coerced by UB to testify in a staged trial of people accused of committing the killing by Wasserstein. Gross in his book dusts off all this communist propaganda disregarding any other sources contradicting those accounts. The extent of confabulation Gross created to support an unbelievable notion that a handful of inhabitants of Jedwabne terrorized and killed 1600 Jews, gives you an idea of the lengths professor Gross is able and willing to go to in order to defame and slander Poles.

The exhumation confirmed all the accounts stating that the killing was done by German sondercommando targeting and executing Jews collaborating with Soviets (other Jews from Jedwabne were closed off by Germans in a ghetto). The Polish inhabitants of Jedwabne were coerced to assist in the massacre, i.e. burry the dead. Compare this to Jews in Judenrats sending other Jews, people they knew, often members of their own families, to death camps.

Why Would People Kill Their Neighbors?
What causes people to turn on their neighbors, to organize into a mob and attack and kill people who live in their town, on their street? What are the motivations for such evil behavior? There has been much weighing in concerning the history of Poland and the second World War, but whether or not this massacre was strictly done by the Polish townspeople or not, recent history presents us with a number of other examples of neighbor turning on neighbor. There was the genocide in Rwanda, with Hutus attacking Tutsis, and there was the Serbian genocidal attacks in the 1990s in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. We could go back further and further in history and various parts of the world to find examples of neighbor attacking neighbor.

In the case of Jedwabne, the residents had a confusing and no doubt frightening experience of having one occupier, then another, and back again, caught in the conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union. Poland as a nation has seen its borders shifted all over the map. The author notes that some of the attackers had attached themselves to whoever happened to be in power at the time, probably in an attempt to ingratiate themselves with the occupier as well as a desire to share in the power. The Jews, however, could not do this as they knew the Germans wanted to eradicate Jews and occupation by Germans was dangerous for them. That does not mean they embraced the Soviets, but they certainly must have felt safer during the Soviet occupation. The author believes totalitarianism encourages destructive, scapegoating feelings. Both Germany and the Soviet Union were totalitarian states.

But the level of cruelty and ferocity of these attacks seems to indicate a long-standing dislike of Jews by these townspeople, something that was there before the occupations by foreign powers. Was this dislike simply because the Jews were "different" or had the Jews done something collectively to enflame their Polish neighbors? Did it go back to the Christian belief that Jews used the blood of Christian children in their rites, as the author suggests? The local priests and bishop did nothing to stop the massacre.

Another theory is that the motivation was economic. The remaining townspeople were able to take over the possessions of the Jews. The author presents some evidence that this may have been a factor, but the extreme cruelty of the attacks is still hard to understand. The author mentions that "hooligans" from Jedwabne and surrounding towns may have participated just for the "fun" of it, as well as for the plunder of Jewish property. That seems to imply that some basically evil people torture and kill others just for enjoyment. We know serial killers do the same. Is this enjoyment of torturing others more widespread than we want to believe?

What is disturbing about these genocidal killings is having to face the fact that human beings are capable of such horrible acts. Is the primary reason based in the immediate historical facts surrounding these cases, or is this an aspect of human behavior that will continue to occur, regardless of historical circumstances? In many cases persecuted people end up turning on their persecutors and behaving in the same way, giving credence to the idea that it is rooted in human nature.

How can we stop these gencidal massacres from happening? We must first face up to these events, analyze them and try to understand why they happened. I believe that was the authors' intent. ... Read more

Product Description
This text explores the nature of Polish Catholicism in the first half of the twentieth century and the changes it underwent under the policies of Soviet Communism. Of particular note are the laws and policies that were employed by the state in order to destroy religion in general, and Catholicism in particular. The text also explores the way that the strong tradition of Polish culture prepared the populace to be uniquely resistant to attempts to destroy its Christian religious life. It is ultimately, a story of the triumph of the people over the state. ... Read more

Product Description
It was one of the most ruthlessly conceived and executed invasions in the annals of warfare. Hitler's Polish campaign unleashed a blitzkrieg in which SS troops, police squads, and the army itself waged an ethnic war of unprecedented brutality. Tens of thousands of Poles-roughly 80 percent of whom were Christian-were summarily executed in acts of collective punishment. After six weeks, a country was crushed and the world was at war.

Usually given short shrift in most histories of World War II, the invasion of Poland was more than a series of opening salvos; it was a testing ground for German brutalities to come. In this first intensive study of the invasion, Alexander Rossino provides a comprehensive study of the Polish campaign, including disturbing new insights into its racist and ideological underpinnings.

Rossino tells how this invasion melded the ideology of the Nazi party with Germany's military yearning for empire in the East. The Polish campaign was important as the first step in Hitler's drive for "living space" for Germans in Eastern Europe, and as the blitzkrieg decimated urban residential areas, civilians soon became indistinguishable from combatants. In addition to describing military operations, Rossino also provides a close analysis of SS plans to murder Polish leaders, German army reprisal policies, and the close collaboration of Wehrmacht and SS forces in the subjugation and execution of Polish citizens.

Rossino considers both top-level decision making and the experiences of German soldiers as he explores the mentality of those who perpetrated crimes against civilians. He particularly investigates the links between Nazi racial-political policies and military action to show that Poland was merely the German army's dress rehearsal for the later slaughter of other Slavs and Jews during the Russian campaign. By providing a detailed examination of atrocities committed by both military and SS personnel, he shows that the Wehrmacht's criminality was clearly evident at the beginning of the war.

Hitler Strikes Poland is a startling reconstruction of history that clearly reveals the extent to which Nazi philosophy drove the German war machine. It also helps us better understand the brutality of the years that followed and better appreciate the suffering of the Polish people.

This book is part of the Modern War Studies series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Excellent Detail, but Omits German Exterminatory Plans against the Polish People
Rossino recognizes the fact that German plans to destroy Poland went far beyond the "injustices" of Versailles, and had long preceded Hitler's rise to power (p. 6, 221-226). He also touches on Pilsudski's 1933 suggestion for a preventive Polish-French war against the infant Nazi state (p. 2).

The German invaders of 1939 saw the crushing poverty of Polish farmers as one that kept them 200 years culturally behind the poorest German farmer, and attributed this state of affairs to Jewish economic dominance (pp. 209-212). Ironic to the modern portrayal of Poles as eager anti-Semites, certain Germans chided Poles for their "stupidity" for letting the Jews cheat them and keep them in such poverty! (p. 210)

Rossino sees the 1939 German conquest of Poland as one exhibiting a level of viciousness unprecedented in European warfare up to that time, and not to be matched until Operation Barbarossa (p. 1). There was no love lost between the Pole and the Hun and, although atrocities occurred on both sides, German atrocities against Poles greatly dwarfed the reverse. Wehrmacht officers commonly opposed SS atrocities--not from ethical motives, but out of fear of adverse effects on military discipline (p. 115, 232). Still, the Wehrmacht was responsible for the massacres of 16,000-27,000 Polish civilians (p. 263). In addition, German forces murdered Polish POWs at hundreds of locations (p. 185). The SS alone murdered 43,000 Poles and 7,000 Jews through December 1939 (p. 234, 300). This is, of course, in addition to the colossal level of death and destruction resulting from German military operations.

Rossino elaborates on "Bloody Sunday" at Bydgoszcz (Bromberg). Some 1,000 Volksdeutsche were killed during their fifth-column actions against armed Poles prior to the Wehrmacht's entry (p. 62). This German propaganda embellished into a Polish massacre of 5,400 (p. 62) and then 50,000 (p. 258) implicitly-innocuous and defenseless German civilians. (I knew an eyewitness, Mr. Stefan Marcinkowski, who reported that there was no wholesale killing of unarmed German civilians by Poles at Bydgoszcz).

Rossino recognizes the fact that German atrocities continued even after Polish civilian resistance decreased (p. 153) and often had no relationship to the latter at all (p. 160, 178). He also recognizes the fact that the Nazis saw both Poles and Jews as enemies in a collective, racial sense: "According to the SS, the soldier was first and foremost a National Socialist Kampfer (fighter) who saw enemies in practical as well as in racial terms. SS personnel thus defined Polish soldiers and the civilian population (Jewish and non-Jewish) alike as legitimate targets of aggression." (p. 115).

Despite the foregoing, Rossino appears to be fixated on German anti-Polish actions as ends in themselves (crushing resistance), and fails to put them into proper genocidal context. In time, 3 million Polish gentiles were murdered by the Germans (p. 298). But, as pointed out by Raphael Lemkin (the Polish Jew who coined the term genocide), the killing off of the Polish intelligentsia (along with such things as the reduction of Poles' fertility, destruction of Polish cultural objects, etc.) was actually part of a multi-faceted, long-term plan to exterminate the Polish people.

Nowadays, Christianity is sometimes blamed for the Jewish Holocaust--never mind the fact that Nazism had been a secularist ideology. Furthermore, many leading Einsatzgruppe and Gestapo officials, later involved in the rape of Poland, are specifically identified by Rossino as having repudiated Christianity. These include: Bruno Streckenbach (p. 32), Bruno Mueller (p. 33), Karl-Heinz Rux (p. 40), Wilhelm Scharpwinkel (p. 42), Fritz Liphardt (p. 42), Lothar Beutel (p. 44), and Otto Hellwig (p. 51). (So, of course, did Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, Frank, Kaltenbrunner, and other top Nazis.).

Misleading title. No Blitzkrieg, only Ideology and Atrocity.
I was looking for a book about the polish campaign, in particular from the military point of view. I knew that talking about it means talking about Einsatzgruppen, SS and Wehrmacht atrocity against Jews and Polish 'Intelligentsia'.
In fact, the Rossino's study focuses only on these Killing Mobile Units, telling about the campaign main course only to place the testimonies of atrocities in a cronological context.
Beware, if you are searching a military point of view this is not the book for you. If you want an Einsatzgruppen story and a great study about Wehrmacht and SS collaboration (you'll discover that sometimes the Wehrmacht hindered the former tasks) for the Untermensch destruction, buy it. If you proudly display a WWII library, buy it anyway. But buy also Browning's Ordinary Men.
The 3 stars comes out not from the above statements but from the book boring attitude. The work is well researched and Mr. Rossino is a competent scholar. The goal was not to entertain us, but to teach a piece of history and he accomplished the task. The problem is that he didn't even try to make the reading more pleasant.
A study about an olocaust should not entertain you, but could possibly stimulate your attention.
Too much plain stats can drive you mad. I finished it only because I finish every book. I made it in two months and in the meantime I read 6 other books.
If you, too, will finish it, you'll get a deep comprehension of the matter. Then you'll proudly put it on the shelves and never take it again.
I'm an Assistant of a Law University Professor and I know that no subject is necessarily boring. The first and fundamental challenge is to teach well. The second is to maintain an high level of interest of the listeners (and readers).
Unfortunately, Mr. Rossino did not take care of the latter goal.

Understanding atrocities
This is a serious history book but easy to read.I read this book to better understand how people can come to do such evil things.I have a personal interest in this as I am of Polish descent and my wife is partially of German descent.The book mentions atrocities committed by both Germans and Poles prior to the Nazi invasion of 1939.In fact a relative (German) of my wife was murdered by members of the Polish Army (or at least wearing the uniform of the Polish Army).

The book gives a thorough picture of the brutal methods used by the SS and condoned by the German Army.It also explains the social conditions and attitudes that made these actions seem acceptable to Germans.

What I found most disturbing is that I have family members who are advocating using the same brutal methods used by the Nazis against the warlords in Afghanistan in order to find Bin Laden.Reading this book and seeing how good people today can go down that same path is disturbing.

This is a book everyone should read because it is a history lesson everyone should understand.If we do not learn the lessons of history, we will be forced to repeat them.This is, indeed, one of those lessons that should be learned from history not from experience.

Graphic Account of Poland Invasion
This book goes into great detail of how Germany invaded Poland by employing its "blitzkrieg" tactics and the atrocities that accompanied the invasion.Some of the horrors inflicted on the Polish, particularly Polish Jews, are unthinkable.I really liked how Rossini describes the various factions within the SS and the major players involved throughout the entire process to create "Lebensraum" (living space) for the German peoples. I also find it quite ironic that the Polish are described by many of the SS barbarians as "violent."My only complaint was that the author could have described the military tactics from the Polish perspective a bit more.In other words, why was the German army able to steamroll the Polish military so easily.A few accounts from Polish officers would have helped, though we did get quite a few accounts from Polish civilians.

The Nazis Strike Poland
Rossino's book, Hitler Strike's Poland, strikes a key note in understanding Germany political, military, and ideological objectives during the Second World War.For too long, histories of the war have tended to separate these three pillars of Hitler's national socialism, as if each were a distinctive "war" waged by separate armies.Students of Operation Barbarossa (The German attack on the Soviet Union) realize that this isn't the case, but for those who concentrate on the "clean" wars in the west and in the Mediterranean, the Wehrmacht carries a different reputation than it ought to.

Rossino's meticulous research brings the reader to the conclusion that ideological and racial considerations influenced German military operations and strategic aims.For example, German army units (not SS or secret police) deliberately encroached on the Soviet zone in order to evict Jews and prevent their entry into German occupied territory.Also, it is striking how many valuable resources -- transportation, manpower, fuel, and ammunition -- of which the Germans did not have an overabundance, the Germans committed to their extermination and suppression campaigns against Poland's non-Jewish civilians.From a strictly military standpoint, it was overkill, but from Hitler's perspective, military force was simply another, albeit more final, method to achieve political control over eastern Europe.

What I would have liked to have seen to make this a "five-star" book: A chapter on Polish resistance.The author only alludes to this facet of the campaign, which according to his German sources, played into Nazi propaganda and long-standing German animosity towards the Poles.It is unfortunate that the Poles, just as the Germans would have wished to view them, are "shadowy" characters in this tragic story.Second, some military terminology and concepts are either misrepresented or wrongly applied.For example, Poland was no "blitzkrieg," as we use the term.True, the Germans had tanks, but this campaign was won by hard marching and fighting infantry, artillery, and some aircraft.Tanks provided mobility, and they made some impressive gains, but of themselves were not decisive to the outcome (however, the 1st Panzer Division does have a more unsavory side to it in this campaign).Also, a "strategy of annihilation" as described by Karl v. Clausewitz was not a forerunner, doctrinal basis, or prescription for the "war of annihilation" as practiced by the Third Reich.The former refers to the destruction in battle or capture of an enemy's means to resist (his armies and navies); the latter seeks the eradication of racial and ideological enemies.Lastly, as reflected in the title of this review, I feel that it is more appropriate to emphasize that the wanton destruction inflicted on Poland's civilians, Jew and Gentile alike, was not the work of Hitler alone.In fact, Hitler was not much involved in the formation and employment of Einsatzgruppen or German army units.Other individuals -- Heydrich, Himmler, Halder, Brachitsch, and a host of other Generals and police functionaries -- had far more practical influence.Hitler certainly gave breath to anti-Polish and anti-Semetic attitudes, but he had other do the dirty work.

This book ought to become a classic in World War II literature.It shows that from the very start, German political and military objectives and means were thoroughly infused with racial, biological, and ideological motivations.It should prompt a reexamination of German army operations in the Balkans, Scandinavia, and western Europe. ... Read more

Product Description
From the Middle Ages until World War II, Poland was host to Europe’s largest and most vibrant Jewish population. By 1970, the combination of Nazi genocide, postwar pogroms, mass emigration, and communist repression had virtually destroyed Poland’s Jewish community. Although the Poles themselves were subjected to enormous cruelties in the twentieth century, questions about the extent of their antisemitism and its role in the fate of Polish Jewry are today hotly disputed.

Antisemitism and Its Opponents in Modern Poland serves as an effective guide to some of the most complex and controversial issues of Poland’s troubled past. Fourteen original essays by a team of distinguished Polish and American scholars explore the different meanings, forms of expression, content, and social range of antisemitism in modern Poland from the late nineteenth century to the present. The contributors focus on both the variations in antisemitic sentiment and those Poles who opposed such prejudices.

Central themes of this significant, balanced, and timely contribution to a contentious and often emotional debate include the deterioration of Polish–Jewish relations in the era of national awakening for both the Poles and the Jews, the meaning of the various forms of violence against the Jews, intellectual movements in opposition to antisemitism, the role of the Catholic Church in promoting antisemitism, and the prospects for the Church to atone for this shameful chapter in its recent history. ... Read more

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Product Description
This is the first English-language history of Poland from the Second World War until the fall of Communism. Using a wide range of Polish archives and unpublished sources in Moscow and Washington, Tony Kemp-Welch integrates the Cold War history of diplomacy and inter-state relations with the study of domestic opposition and social movements. His key themes encompass political, social and economic history; the Communist movement and its relations with the Soviet Union; and the broader East-West context with particular attention to US policies. The book concludes with a first-hand account of how Solidarity formed the world's first post-Communist government in 1989 as the Polish people demonstrated what can be achieved by civic courage against apparently insuperable geo-strategic obstacles. This compelling new account will be essential reading for anyone interested in Polish history, the Communist movement and the course of the Cold War. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Poland Encounters Modernity
Some books are so bad that the publishers should pay the readers to read them. This book is not quite as bad as reading Henry Kissinger in his 19th century diplomatic history. Based on the description, one expects to encounter the arrival of modernity in the Eastern European region at a time of tremendous unrest, when oppotunities were missed to develop modern states. The reader expects a book on this time period to provide adequate explanations for missed opportunities. One would expect, for example, to encounter an explanation for the institutional failure of tsarist rule to accommodate liberal thinking. It is probably too much to expect this author, coming from a backwater of academia, to approach the magnificent works of historians like Morton, who covers Vienna and Austria at the same time. Even worse, Blobaum de-emphasizes the importance of the Catholic and Orthodox religions as counterweights to the programme of modernity. Instead, Blobaum travels down that much visited road of Jewish culture and relations and nascent Marxist Leninism. To get a better picture than Blobaum provides of this approach go to Blockbuster and rent Yentle or maybe Fiddler on the Roof. This books is loaded with names, as though the author tried to drop every conceivable minor figure on the political scene, in hopes their descendants would buy it. This book is too typical and manages to be more of a chronicle, rather than a successful snapshot of society and culture in Eastern Europe at this crucial juncture. This book does have some value to people who are deeply immersed in gathering trivia or Polish and Russian genealogy. ... Read more

Product Description
Formed in 1936, Panzer Regiment 8 served in both the 10th and 15th Panzer Divisions and saw action in Poland, France, and in May 1941 with the famed German Africa Corps, under the legendary Rommel. The regiment went on to serve with high distinction in every major battle fought in Africa until May 1943, when out of fuel and ammunition, the regiment's ability to fight on came to an end. This book sheds new light on the history of the German panzer arm and gives in depth detail of the lives and battles that were fought by these proud Swabian troops. ... Read more

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This is the first academic book which concentrates on the discoveries of medieval date (6th- 13th centuries) from the territory of modern Poland. The book covers the principal research questions, such as the origins of the Slavs, societies of the proto-state period and the origins of the Polish state. The volume also includes a discussion of the most interesting, sometimes controversial, archaeological discoveries or issues. These include pagan Slavonic holy places, the monumental mounds of Little Poland, the first traces of medieval writing, exceptional strongholds, the origins of Polish towns, rural landscapes, archaeology of the oldest monastic complexes, and the question of locals and aliens viewed through archaeological evidence and many other topics.The book is meant mainly for students, archaeologists and historians. It can also be useful for a wider audience interested in the history and archaeology of central Europe. In November 2006 "The Archaeology of Early Medieval Poland" received the KLIO Award from the Association of Polish History Publishers. ... Read more