Endgame, 1945: The Missing Final Chapter of World War II

`Endgame, 1945' was an excellent, vivid, though disturbing eye-witness view of the events surrounding the end of WWII in Europe. I read it for some possible insight into the madness that was called Nazism. Could people really be that bad? The answer is: Yes, and worse than I ever thought! Were the evil participants brain-washed and was that the cause? The answer: Maybe part of it was the lack of fresh political and moral air in fascist Germany for over a decade; but most of it was due to the pure rottenness of the people in positions of power, driven by their seared consciences, able to act out their worst tendencies. It is very, very scary!

I liked the first-hand on-the-ground accounts, from, among others, a BBC reporter, an American intelligence officer, a Canadian paratrooper, and a German high society lady held hostage because of a remote connection to the attempt made on Hitler's life. Each scene was like seeing things for the first time, catching some of the amazement, danger, exhilaration, and fear they experienced. You sense the outrage at seeing the concentration camps, the day-to-day uncertainty of someone else (often arbitrarily) calling the shots, and the hope of being reunited with your family. I couldn't help but feel for the guys who received `Dear John' letters; nothing like lack of support when you are putting your life on the line!

The discovery of the concentration camps was, I believe, the most important part of the book. The SS was totally and almost religiously committed to starving the Jews to death. The chapter on the discovery by the Allies was about the hardest thing I have ever read. If it were on TV, it would have had a `view- beware' message preceding it. I only read it because I couldn't physically see what they were talking about. It made me particularly angry how the top echelon of the Nazi Party took cyanide pills to escape justice. They must have believed in `annihilation' of the soul after death. My beliefs, by the way, run directly counter to that; I'm sure a just God will settle accounts with them. His justice for anybody is very, very scary unless that person is in Christ (the view I will take with me into eternity).

Some other highlights were the mass re-arranging of Europe with the fall of the Iron Curtain, with perhaps a hundred-million people sentenced to Bolshevism for a half-century, until the Wall finally came down in 1989. The rampant looting and raping by the Russians was also brought out; as usual, the people who were not directly involved (German civilians) bore the brunt of the wrath. The `Alpine Redoubt' was also new to me: the concept that the Nazis were going to regroup for a later time, a fantasy they propagated. Also, the average German seemed totally unaware or uncaring of the chaos Germany foisted on the rest of the world. That did not sit well at all with the Allies who encountered that attitude.

My one complaint was that the book was a bit too long. I think it could have been a little more efficiently written.

It was a very, very scary book indeed, but well-worth the read.

I liked the book in some ways very much, but it's an ensemblage of individual narratives which for the most part get blended together, and which it is hard to care very much about. It's a nice approach but in a way one is reminded that basically everyone on earth was affected by this horror, and each one had a story. In fact there is a wonderful quote in the book about "historical" events and the average person: it is like a lake which sometimes has storm clouds that pass over, sometimes has winds which ruffle the waters, and sometimes the lake is drained. There are actually a lot of stories here that seem to demonstrate the absolutely accidental character of most events. The objective rightness of your thoughts or beliefs had not much to do with your fate. When the Germans ruled, it was bad to be anything other than German; after that it was bad to be German, and still is to some extent. It was all beyond description, it was all more than we can ever say.

Typically when WWII is studied, the focus is on the European theater right up to V-E Day. Then,the focus abruptly shifts to the Pacific. Like all things, it's never that neat and tidy. Did everyone just lay down their arms on V-E Day? How did the survivors of the concentration camps fare? And what about the German population that was forced to leave their homes in what is today part of other countries? Endgame answers many of these questions and more. Combining an overview of operations with individual stories it is a compelling read.

Endgame, 1945 is a thorough and needed recitation of how the war ended in Europe as seen through the eyes of various participants -- New Zealand commando, British aid worker, refugees, and others. I felt like I was watching hell burning itself out. The scene is enormous - a continent riven with hatred and bloodshed, millions of people driven to exhaustion by inhumanity. The flow of words, like the reality, is unyielding and it takes some time to comprehend the scope. Some editing, some different choices of participants, perhaps. But altogether an epic volume.

The Missing Final Chapter Of World War II
Endgame, 1945 by David Stafford is a well-researched account of the last month of World War II. Stafford concentrates on nine individuals: soldiers, war correspondents, POWs, men, and women. The text begins with Hitler's birthday, April 20, 1945.

Endgame, 1945 captured my attention from the first page. The events came to life as I read of the atrocious events. David Stafford tells the story through the lives of nine individuals: Soldiers, such as: Robert Ellis from Wooster, Ohio and Lieutenant Bryan Samian, a young British Commando, and prisoners. Twenty-six year old Fey von Hassel was an ambassador's daughter imprisoned by the Germans for her father's sentiments. Then, there were the war correspondents, like Robert Reid.

This was not a pleasant read. Stafford's descriptions are so vivid I could see them taking place in my mind's eye. In one chapter, he tells of a woman, hair covered in lice, protruding ribs, so weak that she could not lift herself off the floor as diarrhea bubbled up across her thighs. Stafford describes the Concentration Camps. He includes photographs. Among the photos are Reg Roy, Robert Ellis, Bryan Samain, Fey von Hassel, and Robert Reid. While this book is not for the faint of heart, it tells of an event that should never be forgotten.