Автор: John H. Waller
Название: The Devil's Doctor: Felix Kersten and the Secret Plot to Turn Himmler Against Hitler
Издательство: Wiley
Год: 2002
ISBN: 978-047139672
Язык: English
Формат: pdf, epub
Размер: 11,3 mb
Страниц: 320

Acclaimed historian and former OSS officer John Waller tells a vivid tale of treachery compounded by moral depravity; of the failing loyalty of high-ranking Nazi zealots; and of one man’s efforts in the face of grave personal danger to hasten the defeat of Hitler’s Reich, thereby saving thousands of Nazi concentration-camp inmates condemned to die.

Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s most trusted acolyte and the man in charge of carrying out the Holocaust, suffered excruciating attacks of stomach pain, which only Kersten’s "magic hands" could relieve by their remarkably effective massages. Pressed into service as Himmler’s personal medical adviser and physical therapist, Kersten found himself in a unique position from which to gather information to be passed on to the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS). More importantly, he discovered that he could manipulate Himmler’s psyche as well as ease his chronic pain. And, by exploiting Himmler’s addiction to astrology and appealing to his sense of survival as Nazi Germany faced certain defeat, Kersten could steer Himmler toward high treason against his Führer.

The Devil’s Doctor tells the amazing story of how Kersten convinced Himmler to resist Hitler’s plan to enslave 8 million recalcitrant Dutch and Flemish citizens and ultimately resettle them in a conquered Eastern Europe. It reveals the details of a conspiracy in which Kersten convinced Himmler to plot to overthrow Hitler, after which he would surrender German troops to British and American forces while leading Germany in a continued war against the Russians in the East. And it recounts Kersten’s finest moment when, with the war’s end just weeks away, he saved the lives of more than 60,000 Jews in concentration camps by persuading Himmler to disobey Hitler’s direct order to kill them all.

With this inspiring story of the victory of one man’s humanity over the depraved barbarity of history’s worst criminals, Waller convincingly shows that the name Kersten should be enshrined alongside those of Wallenberg, Schindler, and Sugihara.