Robert Gerwarth is professor of modern history at University College Dublin and director of UCD’s Centre for War Studies.
"This admirable biography makes plausible what actually happened
and makes human what we might prefer to dismiss as
monstrous."—Timothy Snyder, Wall Street Journal
"Supremely enlightening."—Jacob Heilbrunn, The New York Times Book
Review
"Gerwarth’s approach is subtle, painstaking and psychologically
acute; it convincingly demonstrates that the historian’s tool of
'cold empathy' best clarifies the enduring question of what brings
forth monsters."—Roy Foster, Times Literary Supplement (Books of
the Year)
"Hitler’s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich by Robert Gerwarth is
superb on the making of evil."—Frank Dikotter, The Daily Telegraph
(Books of the Year)
"At the subsequent grand public funeral, Nazi leaders eulogized
Heydrich as the perfect Nazi. This intelligent and readable
biography shows how he had made himself into one, and Gerwarth
explains persuasively what motivated Heydrich to do so."—Richard J.
Evans, Times Higher Education
". . . two splendid biographies. There have been lives written
before, but nothing to match the exceptional way that Peter
Longerich and Robert Gerwarth . . . have gone about digging in the
sources to root these two awful figures more firmly in the context
that gave rise to some of the worst crimes of the modern age. It is
unlikely that either of these biographies will be
bettered."—Richard Overy, The Sunday Telegraph (reviewed with
'Heinrich Himmler: A Life' by Peter Longerich)
"An excellent inquiry into one of Hitler’s most fearsome paladins,
the aide to Heinrich Himmler who played a key role in implementing
the Holocaust. Gerwarth dispassionately examines Heydrich’s rise
and assassination, which resulted in a horrific series of Nazi
reprisals in Czechoslovakia. The best account of Heydrich."—Jacob
Heilbrunn, The Daily Beast
"[A] probing biography. . . . Gerwarth’s fine study shows in
chilling detail how genocide emerged from the practicalities of
implementing a demented belief system."—Publishers Weekly
"Robert Gerwarth’s Hitler’s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich is the
outstanding definitive scholarly and heartbreakingly horrible
biography of the repellent mastermind of the Holocaust."—Simon
Sebag Montefiore, BBC History Magazine (Books of the Year)
"[Gerwarth] opts for strategy of 'cold empathy,' engaging his
subject with 'critical distance' while attempting to assess his
behaviour in context rather than in the light of what we know it
led to. This approach, in contrast to the sensational popular
biographies, produces some genuine surprises."—David Cesarani,
Literary Review
"In an illuminating account, Robert Gerwarth relates new anecdotes
from Heydrich’s private life and his deeds as head of the Nazi
Reich Security Main Office to shed light on his complex
character."—Gavin Englebrecht, Northern Echo
"With his cold intelligence and utter ruthlessness, it is sometimes
suggested he would have made a redoubtable Fuhrer and formidable
enemy. In this riveting biography, Gerwarth shows just how
plausible that claim is."—Guy Walters, The Mail on Sunday
"To write a truly splendid biography of a truly evil man is a
remarkable achievement. Gerwarth develops a rounded picture of a
personality who set out to establish a centralised SS state. He
displays enough empathy for his subject not exactly to evoke
sympathy (fortunately) but to make the seemingly incomprehensible
comprehensible."—Hew Strachan, Irish Times
". . . as definitive a biography of Hitler’s Hangman as there is
ever likely to be."—Geoffrey Roberts, Irish Examiner
". . . an admirable contribution . . . a unique perspective and
insight into the development and radicalization of the Nazi regime
and its rule."—Dr Dorothy Mas, Reviews in History
"Gerwarth tells this complex take with considerable aplomb. He
writes with real verve, pacing his account well and providing the
perfect mix of narrative and analysis. Pleasingly, he is not shy of
indulging in a few dramatic flourishes when the material and the
circumstances allow, making this a history book that one can
genuinely read almost in a single sitting. . . . He has succeeded
admirably in remedying the lack of a scholarly biography of
Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most pivotal and influential figures
in the history of the Third Reich. [Gerwarth's] work has set a new
standard by which subsequent biographies of Hitler's 'Blond Beast'
will surely be measured."—Roger Moorhouse, History Today
"Drawing on profound research, Robert Gerwarth presents a
penetrating, authoritative analysis of the ruthless personality and
murderous career of the man who directed the Third Reich's police
state and became a driving-force in the programme to exterminate
Europe's Jews."—Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler
"Evil is a word used too lightly in our times and in historical
review. Yet, in his splendid biography of Heydrich, Robert Gerwarth
allows us to see what evil means in its subtlety and complexity,
its seeming reasonableness on occasion, its starkness and its
terror. Reading Hitler's Hangman makes plain why, in our eternal
wrestling with the question where by the grace of God might we be
going, historical reckoning, even for the most appalling of war
criminals, is a more satisfactory and richer approach than is legal
prosecution."—R.J.B. Bosworth, author of Mussolini
"An excellent book on a major figure in the Nazi dictatorship, its
secret police and the Holocaust. Gerwarth’s illumination of the
development of the security complex under Heydrich, his actions in
the Protectorate, and especially the war in the East, is of real
value."—Tim Kirk, author of Nazi Germany
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