Believe & destroy: intellectuals in the SS war machine.

Traces the stories of about 80 German "intellectuals" in their thirties who joined the SS (Schutzstaffel) and SD (Sicherheitsdienst) and subsequently the Einsatzgruppen when Hitler came to power. Based on archival research Ingrao tells the story of these children of the Great War, focusing on the networks of fellow activists, academics and friends in which they moved, studying the way in which they envisaged war and the 'world of enemies'. The mechanisms of their political commitment are revealed, as well as their roles in Nazism and mass murder.