Royals and the Reich : the princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany /

The development and denouement of Third Reich German culture continues to be a vital area of interest for historians and history readers alike. In a huge literature, some books stand out as particularly intriguing, and this is one of them. Petropoulos (European history, Claremont McKenna Coll.; The Faustian Bargain: The Art World in Nazi Germany) examines the German aristocracy and its relations with Nazi Germany. Focusing on the princely Von Hessen family, he unpacks what he describes as "myths and taboos" surrounding aristocratic involvement in the Nazi regime. In the Von Hessen family, active support of the regime and participation in its bureaucracy and programs culminated in a falling out with Hitler that led to imprisonment of princely family leaders in German concentration camps and, in the postwar period, to trials and further imprisonment. Petropoulos has accessed an impressive archive of documents and interviewed key figures to create a thoughtful, readable, and balanced assessment of why and how aristocratic Germans became involved with the Nazi regime and of the impact that era had on today's German aristocracy. For all academic libraries and for public libraries with interested readers.-Barbara Walden, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Madison (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.