Bookvica

[SHORTLY BEFORE THE COLD WAR] Total’nyi shpionazh [i.e. Total Espionage]

Riess, K.

Moscow: Voennoe izdatel’stvo Narodnogo Komissariata Oborony, 1945. Item #1865

226, [2] pp. 20x13,5 cm. In original cardboards with letterpress design by V. Selenginskii. Binding rubbed, bumped and soiled, ink stain on upper edge, tears of t.p. along the spine repaired, some sections partly detached from each other, otherwise good.

Wartime and the only Russian edition. The book passed censorship on March 1, 1945. The work by German-American journalist Kurt Riess was translated from English by G. Vladimirskii.
Feeling the upcoming victory, the Soviet Jewish journalist David Zaslavskii occasionally argues with the author in the foreword: “According to Kurt Riess, the Hitlerites had the best information about the war at this stage. Meanwhile, they lost the war. ‘Total espionage’ hasn’t helped them… Is it actually that strong? Didn’t it discover its weaknesses in the same way as the Hitlerites’ strategy, their tactics, propaganda, foreign and domestic policies saw them? Hitler’s total espionage suffered a complete defeat in the same place where Hitler’s armies were first defeated – in the Soviet country. Total espionage revealed its inconsistency, like the entire total war of the Nazis.<...>
Riess avoids the question of fascist espionage in the USSR in almost complete silence. Here he lacks knowledge and uses sources that are not trustworthy. <...> Counter-revolutionary and sabotage organizations created by Trotskyists, Zinovievites and Bukharinites and all sorts of other despicable scum of Soviet society became cells of the fifth column organized by Hitler’s Germany, strongholds of total espionage. All these organizations were destroyed by Soviet intelligence, and bandits were liquidated. Hitler’s Germany received a severe blow even before the war…”
Zaslavskii states that it wasn’t enough to eliminate Germany’s internal spy centers, it was necessary to uproot their branches in other countries. In addition, the Riess’ book taught mechanics and structure of ‘total espionage’ that was crucial for vigilant life.
Worldcat doesn’t track this edition.

Price: $950.00