The Kersten Memoirs, 1940-1945

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1957. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Good. 314, [6] pages. Occasional Footnotes. Appendix. Index. Slight discoloration inside boards. Felix Kersten (30 September 1898 - 16 April 1960) was before and during World War II the personal physical therapist of Heinrich Himmler. As Heinrich Himmler's personal manual therapist, Dr. Kersten used his powers to intercede on behalf of thousands of Dutchmen, Germans, Jews, and others. Kersten accepted Heinrich Himmler's request to become his personal physical therapist, writing later that he feared for his safety if he had refused. He was able to alleviate Himmler's severe stomach pains with his skills and gained his trust. During the War, Kersten also provided information to the OSS, predecessor of the CIA. Towards the end of the War, Kersten arranged a meeting between Himmler and Norbert Masur, a member of the Swedish branch of the World Jewish Congress, in Hartzwalde, a few miles from Ravensbrück concentration camp. As a result, Himmler agreed to spare the lives of the remaining 60,000 Jews left in concentration camps days before their liberation by the Allies. In December 1945, the World Jewish Congress presented Kersten with a letter thanking him for helping to save Jewish concentration camp victims. Derived from a Kirkus review: Himmler's personal physician, until recently a discredited pretender to fame as a backstage humanitarian, is now acknowledged for using his influence to save the lives of Norwegians, Danes, Dutch, and 60,000 Jews. The entries of Kersten's talks with Himmler show him fearlessly defying the policies and ideology of the tyrant, matching wits with him as Socrates might wrestle with the devil. Himmler orates about German destiny, Jewish corruption, bigamy; he discusses life after death, the function of law, arch-conservatism undermining Nazi ideals; and at each lunatic thrust of his intellect, Kersten politely, deftly parries. The disclosures made here are not essentially new or challenging to the prevailing notions of Nazi belief. But the book does help to enlarge and confirm many circumstances, philosophic and factual, which historians will find valuable.