Nonfiction review: history books
by Peggy McMullen, The Oregonian
Friday December 12, 2008


The cover of Paul Garson's "Album of the Damned: Snapshots From the Third Reich" is a photo of an infant in a baby carriage, an anxious look on his young face, a Wehrmacht officer's cap on his head. It's a jarring image, the pampered innocence with the uniform linked to the horrific deaths of millions of people. Garson compiled nearly 400 photos for the book, taken during World War II, mostly by German soldiers, some by civilians, some by professionals embedded with the troops. The photos purport to show everyday life -- sports, weddings, social events -- people at work and play. Few, however, escape the ominous presence of a uniform, or swastika. There are numerous disturbing photos of men brandishing weapons in "playful" games of mock hangings and fighting; worse are the ones of them happily dispatching animals (one involving kittens and knives is especially horrifying). Even the ones of a benign glimpse of life are chilling, seeing the smiling, joking, pleasant faces of men who so readily killed others who simply did not fit their Aryan profile.

Details: ALBUM OF THE DAMNED
Paul Garson, Academy Chicago Publishers, $50, 410 pages