“Goebbels: A Biography” by Peter Longerich – The Face of a Monster

Though the Third Reich may have only lasted a dozen years it remains to this day one of the most scrupulously studied regimes and time periods.

The National Socialist movement paved the way for a tyranny the likes of which we seldom see, of unrivalled cruelty, discrimination, brainwashing and organization... a tyranny that set an ethnic cleansing into motion.

Though Adolf Hitler was certainly at the forefront of the Third Reich, there was another man whose role in the whole thing tends to be overshadowed: Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's most trusted ally and the minister of public enlightenment and propaganda.

One of Germany's most highly-respected Holocaust historians, Peter Longerich, has taken it upon himself to examine the man's life in as great a depth as possible, and his efforts gave way to Goebbels: A Biography.

Now, it goes without saying that this is far from being the first Goebbels biography... but up until this moment, all the other works covering his life have drawn on external sources for information.

Longerich got his hands on Goebbel's personal diary, one in which he details over thirty years of his own existence. In other words, this is the first real look we get at his devious mind, at the inner workings and motivations that pushed him to pursue the life he did.

Longerich structures this biography very neatly and writes it like a story, essentially narrating Goebbel's unlikely life from his childhood years when he was nothing but a club-footed son of a factory worker. He looks into the family who raised him and what he was exposed to during his childhood, without dwelling too much on it of course.

Things quickly progress to his entry into the political world at the lowest levels of the Nazi movement. It chronicles his assent through the ranks of the party, and how he eventually came to be Hitler's closest and most trusted friend, to the point where he became his personally-anointed successor.

While the history lesson is certainly thorough, the most interesting part of the book lies within Longerich's analysis of Goebbel's psyche. He actively tries to define and characterize him and his actions, seeking to learn what really drove him forward, made him agree with the extermination of countless people, the need to brainwash or eradicate all deviants, and why he saw Hitler as someone with nearly godlike powers.

As terrible, cruel and vicious of a person Goebbels may have been, ultimately he was just that: another person. That means he can be studied and understood like anyone else, and that's precisely what this book does.

Longerich knows that there is no need to condemn his actions or that of anyone else... we all know it and the obvious can be skipped over. He does a good job at staying rather neutral throughout the whole thing, exposing Goebbel's rather twisted, frantic and insecure life as it was.

All things considered, Peter Longerich has certainly added a huge chunk to the Goebbels puzzle, offering unprecedented insight into one of the 20th century's vilest people.

If you are interested in the Second World War or the Third Reich in particular, you'll definitely want to add this to your collection.

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Peter Longerich Peter Longerich is a German professor of history and author who is widely-regarded as being one of the best historians in his field: the Holocaust. He has published numerous non-fiction books on the subject, including The Unwritten Order and Heinrich Himmler: A Life.