Self-Portrait of a Holocaust Perpetrator by Felix Schnell

Self-Portrait of a Holocaust Perpetrator by Felix Schnell

This book provides an insightful exploration of how a German policeman, Mathias Müller (Police Battalion 309), was involved in Nazi atrocities and mass murder behind the frontline in the Soviet Union during the Second World War. It does this through the analysis of Müller’s own words and the actions he describes in the voluminous correspondence he shared with his wife at the time.

Self-Portrait of a Holocaust Perpetrator examines the correspondence from the perspective of the police unit’s operational history and considers Mathias Müller’s language in relation to discourses and discursive elements of the Third Reich. Schnell reflects on the personalities behind the letters, Mathias and Meta, and the rules of their ‘correspondence game’. He also goes on to consider the narrative strategies Müller uses to convince his wife that he has an important role to fulfil in the East, without openly talking about what he and his comrades actually were doing. For though Müller was very much in line with the ideas and aims of the NS-leadership, his wife was not, and he had to navigate this problem skilfully in the correspondence.

The book is a unique and revealing study of a lower-rank Holocaust perpetrator that will enrich the understanding of all students and scholars of the Holocaust and the Second World War.

This collection sheds new light on the actions and justifications of a likely participant in atrocities such as the Bialystock massacre and subsequent anti-partisan warfareUsing literary analysis, Schnell decodes allusions to reconstruct the hidden meaning of passages relating to the killing of Bolsheviks and Jews. The letters reveal a contrast between Müller’s voice at the front and his persona at home, deconstructing the silence of the perpetrators. It is this explanation of the progression from “political soldier” to “reliable executioner” that makes the book an interesting and original addition to Holocaust scholarship.

Felix Schnell is a historian of modern Europe.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781350603646
ISBN 10	1350603643
Title	Self-Portrait of a Holocaust Perpetrator
Author	Felix Schnell
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Year published	2026-08-20
Number of pages	256
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.