The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau, 1939-1945

Published in Germany in 1980, this well-documented report evaluates previously inaccessible archival material about a little-known German office that during WW II investigated crimes allegedly committed by Allied armies against German soldiers and civilians. De Zayas, a United Nations legal officer for human rights, substantiates that the Allies, particularly the Soviets, perpetrated numerous atrocities. The German bureau appears to have performed creditably without becoming an instrument of Nazi propaganda; however, it is difficult to accept the author's assertion that ``the German military judge . . . saw himself as a protector of generally accepted human values and not until after the German unconditional surrender was he confronted with the full reality of Nazi crimes.'' De Zayas defensively reiterates that his intention is not to weigh Allied excesses against Nazi horrors but to establish the folly of war. The Allied confrontation with Hitler, however, does not bolster his advocacy of pacifism. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)