THE KERSTEN MEMOIRS

Himmler's personal physician, until recently a discredited pretender to fame as a back-stage humanitarian, is now acknowledged for using his influence to save the lives of Norwegians, Danes, Dutch, and 60,000 Jews. The entries of Kersten's talks with Himmler show him fearlessly defying the policies and ideology of the tyrant, matching wits with him as Socrates might wrestle with the devil. Himmler orates about German destiny, Jewish corruption, bigamy; he discusses life after death, the function of law, arch-conservatism undermining Nazi ideals; and at each lunatic thrust of his intellect, Kersten politely, deftly parries. The disclosures made here are not essentially new or challenging to the prevailing notions of Nazi belief. But the book does help to enlarge and confirm many circumstances, philosophic and factual, which historians will find valuable.