Book Reviews and Notices : Under Two Dictators. BY MARGARETE BUBER. (London: Gollancz. 1949. Pp. xii. 331. 21s.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200342
• Published date: 01 September 1949
• Date: 01 September 1949
• Author: L.C. Green
• Subject Matter: Articles

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the work. For the scholar who undertakes the study of a special problem,
the Jahrbuch can serve as a preliminary guide. A detailed table of con-
tents and a substantial index (but not of persons) make easy the search
for special items. A brief Who’s Who (of seven hundred persons) fur-
nishes information on noted Germans who have survived or have arisen
to prominence (especially in politics) since 1945.
OSCAR J. HAMMEN.
Montana State University
Under Two Dictators
.
BY MARGARETE BUBER. (London: Gollancz. 1949.
Pp. xii. 331. 21s.)
In 1947, Dallin and Nicolaevsky published their Forced Labor in
Soviet Russia and met with a storm of abuse from communists, fellow-
travellers and Russophile apologists; now Margarete Buber has provided
an account of a Russian slave camp as seen by one who was entertained
there for two years, and later had the unenviable gift of hospitality from
the Nazis at Ravensbrilck. Under Two Dictators is the account of her
experiences, and from it one can compare red slavery with brown slavery,
and adjudge the one against the other.
The author was the de facto wife of Heinz Neumann, a leading mem-
ber of the German Communist Party which, by 1933, was criticized for
being &dquo;off the Party line,&dquo; and would today probably be condemned as a
&dquo;Titoist.&dquo; In 1935, in order to prevent being extradited by the Swiss to
Nazi Germany, Margarete Buber and Herr Neumann went to Moscow.
Here, as on a previous visit in 1931, they realized that comforts were lack-
ing, but &dquo;what did that matter? Socialism was being built up.... I was
only too willing to gloss over my doubts because I wanted to believe.&dquo;
In 1937, Heinz Neumann was arrested by the G. P. U. and has never
been seen since. A year later Margarete Buber was also seized and con-
demned, without trial, to five years reformatory labor as a socially dan-
gerous element. At this time it appears that the Soviet authorities were
occupied in arresting all the leaders of the...