"Just because one is without power does not mean one needs to be without courage and ultimately without character. Shouldn't one try to find some way to make a difference, even in such hopeless circumstances, without necessarily jeopardizing one's life?" -- Josef Hartinger

Josef Hartinger was a German prosecutor whose jurisdiction included the Dachau concentration camp in the years that the National Socialists (Nazis) came to power. When he received notice that four inmates had been shot while trying to escape, it was his responsibility to investigate. While most simply accepted the flimsy stories from the guards about prisoners killed while attacking or trying to escape, he insisted on autopsies and investigations. And when he had enough evidence of wrong-doing, he attempted to prosecute.

Those sent to the camp were mostly political prisoners. They had been involved in communist activities or had connections to opposition groups. Many, however, were only suspected of complaining about the government, and in a few cases personal grudges were being settled (and more than a few were Jews). They were told they were merely being "detained" while their case was investigated, and that they were being held in "protective custody." But from the beginning, some prisoners were singled out for regular, brutal, and systematic abuse, and those prisoners invariably ended up dead rather quickly. And although Hartinger tried to prosecute a few crimes he found strong proof for, the cases were dropped or derailed by others.

It's hard to understand how something like the Holocaust could happen, and yet it did. How did people *not* know what was going on, and why did they not stop it? This is not a heroic story. Hartinger's contribution was that some of the evidence he prepared was found after the war and became instrumental in the Nuremberg trials. Nonetheless, he was one of the few to stand up and voice his objections to the injustices - and he was one of the even fewer to survive putting his life on the line. This book is a detailing of the early deaths at Dachau - not just the original four mentioned above - and describes (repeatedly) the beatings and torture several of the detainees endured. It explains how many of them were killed, and includes explanations later obtained by the perpetrators themselves. It's not for the faint of heart, and yet it is a small insight into the way the mass murder that later became systemized began, and how it was allowed to continue by those who could have spoken out. ( )

Hitler’s First Victims: And One Man’s Race For Justice is an excellent account of one man’s attempt to find justice for the victims of unseeingly unconnected crimes other than the victims were Jews. This is an account of how a Bavarian prosecutor was able to stop the Nazis killing for a short time. Timothy Ryback has collected together many new details in this book in an engaging way that not just historians will enjoy the book but also the general reader.

This book covers such a short time scale of 1933 and 1934 as Josef Hartinger attempts to investigate the ever increasing deaths at a new government controlled camp at Dachau, at the hands of the camp guards. Nevertheless Hartinger had categorised the deaths as murders and set about the investigation as he wanted to bring the perpetrators to trial, no guard was ever indicted.

When the deaths first came to light in April 1933 Hitler had been Chancellor for ten weeks as the head of a coalition government. Hitler at this time was also consolidating his position and that of the Nazi Party in power. This book reminds us that within weeks of Hitler starting to consolidate his power rumours started to circulate around Germany of Nazis killing Jews.

Hartinger was a social conservative that had served Germany with distinction in World War 1, who was married with a young daughter. We may look back now and think that Hartinger was rather naive along with Dr Flamm who carried out the autopsies. What is clear from this book is that Hartinger recognised the growing power of the state and the evil that Dachau could easily become.

Commandant Wäckerle categorises each of the deaths as an escape attempt and that they were shot from long range but the autopsies show they were executed up close. Both Hartinger and Flamm carefully documented what they discovered what was the beginning of the genocide of what is now called the Holocaust. The documents were kept but used at the Nuremberg trials as evidence of the systematic destruction and murder of Jews and their Jewish communities.

I like the way that Ryback has written the book and set out the facts as a duel between Hartinger on the side of good and Wäckerle on evil. It also shows the pace and pressure that Hartinger was under before the camps came under the SS and Himmler’s complete control.

Ryback through his research and writing brings to life the book by investigating the history and personality of not only Hartinger but of the Nazi guards as well as the administration and the victims are not forgotten either. Burke wrote "All that it takes for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." Hartinger is one of the good men and it is about time we honoured this man a German that tried to warn the world of the coming genocide.

This is one of the best history books that I have read in a long time in what is an extraordinary story told well, gripping and amazing this story has never been told before. Hartinger’s decency and honour may have been forgotten over the years now is the time to recognise not everyone closed their eyes. ( )

There are many what-ifs in history, but few are quite so compelling as those that surround Hitler’s rise to power and slow strangulation of democracy in Germany in the 1930s. There were indeed several opportunities to have stopped Hitler or at least thwarted his plans more thoroughly than occurred. Timothy Ryback looks to shine the spotlight on one of the heroes who did stand up to fight against the increasing stranglehold the Nazis held on German political and police systems. Hitler’s First Victims shows that while he may not have been successful in 1933, his efforts had a profound effect on the post-war trials.

However, this is not a Holocaust story; the 1930s were only the beginnings of the Nazi regime, and what would be known as the Holocaust was still only Hitler’s dream. At that point in time, there were still states’ rights, state police systems, local judicial systems, and a president who had greater authority than Hitler. The Communist party was a major threat to Germany’s fledgling democracy, and political upheaval abounded. Hitler’s First Victims shows how Germany dealt with such upheaval, invoking the idea of protective custody to incarcerate hundreds of political detainees without due process or even any formal charges.

Hitler’s First Victims is as much the evolution of Dachau from an abandoned manufacturing site to the concentration camp it became during the war as it is about the lone prosecutor who tried to stymie the Nazi rule. Named after the nearest train station, Dachau started out its life under the rule of the state police. However, there was a constant push by the Nazis to control all police proceedings, including detention and punishment. As the first of its kind, Dachau and its inhabitants became the victims of a much greater power struggle and one that would have horrendous consequences for millions.

The story Mr. Ryback has to tell in Hitler’s First Victims is fascinating and horrifying. He withholds nothing, and the Nazi atrocities he details are as repulsive and barbaric as one would imagine. What occurred in Dachau six years before the beginning of the war and eight years before the Final Solution went into operation will boggle a reader’s mind and cause one to question the general goodness of humans. That there were people who were willing to risk everything to right the wrongs they saw provides a much-needed sense of relief that all humanity was not lost.

Hitler’s First Victims is meticulously researched and highly respectful of the victims described and the man behind the argument of collective guilt. Each person mentioned gets equal treatment in the form of a detailed background and the path that led him to Dachau. It is at times an intense read, as there is an abundance of information crammed into a fairly short narrative. Mr. Ryback not only details each of the men, he explains the political structure in Germany, the legal system, and history as it pertained to and influenced German citizens before, during, and after 1933. With detailed notes and appendices, one can easily verify Mr. Ryback’s research and use his sources for his or her own research. Herr Hartinger’s story is an important one to tell, and his diligent quest for the truth is a vital reminder to all that while it takes courage to do the right thing, we as humans have a duty to do so. If more people had done so in 1933, the world would be a very different place indeed. ( )