James Wyllie

The Women at the Top of Hitler's Germany

Nazi Wives

Lacy W

Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

A special thank you goes to St Martins Press (my most favorite publishing company) and Netgalley for allowing me to read this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

tw: incest-ish (niece/uncle relationship), suicide (graphically described), death by illness, attempted suicide, assault, sexual harassment and assault, drug abuse, domestic abuse, toxic relationships, cheating, anti Semitism, violence against jews, mentions of the concentration camps, misogyny, severe illness, forced euthanasia, medical experiments done without consent

As you all might know, I am a huge World War II buff. I read just about anything relating to World War II. It’s one of my favorite periods of history to study because there is just so much to it. So when I was surfing Netgalley, instead of reading all the books I own, I saw this book. I don’t hear a lot about the wives of Hitler’s top men so I thought this would be a nice change of pace from my usual World War II books I read. Plus it’s from my all time favorite publisher, St Martin’s Press. So I knew that I would like this book. 

One of the things I look for in nonfiction books is readability. Is the book easy to read? Am I understanding the information that is being presented to me? I’m going to say yes but with exceptions. I was able to understand what was happening but that was because of my extensive knowledge in World War two. I’m not bragging but simply stating that I know quite a bit about World War two. If someone who was just starting out with World War two was diving into this book, they would be so lost. While the author does take time to explain what is happening on the warfront, it seemed to me that they expected you to have some sort of understanding of World War two. 

But if I am being honest, there were times where I was a bit lost but that was because of the names. All the names were similar sounding or the same. There were about six wives or so that I had to try and keep track of. I think at one point, I just restarted the book and I found that helped a lot. 

But I did learn a lot. I learned that the wives got off way too easy. I was absolutely infuriated that they got almost no time in prison. They should have been punished just as severely as their husbands, especially a couple of them. They all had a hand in Hitler’s world and they deserved to be punished. 

Overall, this was a good book. I learned a lot about the wives, as they often aren't mentioned in a lot of World War two books. I think it’s a great book to check out if you want to expand your knowledge about World War two.

Nazi Wives The Women at the Top of Hitler's Germany

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