This book goes a long way toward elucidating the role a number of German women played as "agents of death" in the Nazi Holocaust.

Before coming to this book, I had thought that the only German women who had willingly taken part in killing Jews and other peoples regarded as "undesirables" by the Nazis were the SS auxiliaries in the concentration camps like Ravensbruck and Bergen Belsen, who acquired a reputation for brutality. But in "Hitler's Furies", the reader learns that there were also German women working in areas as diverse as nursing, teaching, and secretarial work in the East following both the conquest of Poland and Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union who were witnesses to the killings of Jews. Indeed, some, such as Erna Petri and Gertrude Segel, crossed the line and gladly engaged in murder on several occasions.

What is remarkable about this story is how the role of these murderous women in the service of the Third Reich was largely hidden or ignored for close to 70 years after the Second World War. The author explains why this was allowed to happen and endeavors to inform and educate the reader about the role of women in the Third Reich, the Nazis' attitudes about women, and the postwar lives of the women who had chosen to kill in support of the Hitler regime. I'm glad to have read this book, for it gives the reader an added insight into how the Holocaust made some women willing executioners of the Final Solution.

18 books read, 144 read year to date

1 reread, 1 new favorite

Best new fiction:

• Boy Toy
• The Paper Magician (Paper Magician #1)
• Tell the Wolves I'm Home
• Abarat: Absolute Midnight (Abarat #3)

Best new non-fiction:

• A Rage to Kill and Other Stories: Ann Rule's Crime Files vol. 6
• Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields

Favorites re-read:

• Legion (Exorcist #2)

New favorite:

• Abarat #3

It could have been more in depth, though it would have meant the lack of specifc stories and illustrations.

I loved the beginning of this book, found it very informative, appalling but informative. The author asserts that over half a million women were either involved or consciously looked way, during the Holocaust. I must be extremely naive because I had no idea the figures were that high. Than I think, how would I have reacted during this situation, when not going along could get one killed. One thing I know for sure is that I would not have picnicked on the site of a mass burial. 

The beginning explains the different roles women played under Hitler. Nurses, teachers, wives and yes guards. the following chapters, detailing the lives of particular women were not as fascinating. The author was often repetitive, information was related in a very academic fashion, or like a cut and paste job from a biography. Yes, the information was there but not presented in a way to draw in the reader.

So one does get a very clear understanding of this subject and in the last chapter the court cases and trials left most of the women free to go on with their lives. Yes, some of the women were hunted down and punished, but most were not. I am not sure if the author proved her claims on the extensiveness of women's roles but this could be due to the choppiness of the author's writing. A fascinating subject but the style of writing was a disappointment. Do not regret reading this as I did gain more knowledge of this subject and learned a few new items as well.

With all the different programs that the Third Reich was involved with, all these different components running effectively and efficiently at the same time, I often wonder what could have been accomplished if Hitler's motives had been for the good of his people, all his people.

For a book that was nominated for the National Book Award even before it's release date, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.  While I did learn some things I didn't know before, it wasn't a terribly exciting read. 

If you're a holocaust completest or big on women's studies, then by all means, otherwise I'd say you can skip this one.