SOCIAL SCIENCES

Secret Reports on Nazi Germany: The Frankfurt School Contribution to the War Effort

by Franz Neumann
& others. Princeton Univ. Jun. 2013. 704p. ed. by Raffaele Laudani. notes. index. ISBN 9780691134130. $45. HIST
COPY ISBN
Editor Laudani (history & human cultures, Univ. of Bologna) provides researchers and other readers with a fascinating collection of primary sources: intelligence reports produced by German Jewish refugees—Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirschheimer—when they worked for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to the CIA) in its Central European research division. Laudani argues that the documents are significant in part because all three men were members of the famed neo-Marxist Frankfurt School, and thus their insights into such topics as the nature of totalitarian regimes, plans for postwar de-Nazification, and the legal and philosophical basis of the Nuremberg war crimes tribunals shaped postwar political theories.
VERDICT The history of wartime intelligence is a developing field, and this material is a welcome addition. If Laudani is correct that many of these reports (most of which are published here for the first time) had a limited impact on policy formulations, then a more forceful assertion as to their historical significance for the nonspecialist is required. While each document is given a brief editorial explanation, the collection would have benefited from a more detailed introduction providing the context and significance of the material. Recommended for specialists.
Reviewed by Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati Clermont Coll. , Jun 01, 2013
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