Book Reviews : Empire of Fear. By VLADIMIR and EVDOKIA PETROV. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1956. Pp. 351. $5.00.)

• Date: 01 September 1958
• Author: Phillip S. Spoerry
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295801100343
• Subject Matter: Articles

742

domestic

affairs.

But

this

omission

only

reflects

the

fact

that

in

the

Ger-

many

of

today

domestic

and

international

affairs

are

closely

intertwined.

Though

it

is

impossible

to

make

an

adequate

summary

of

such

a

cozy-

lective

work,

we

may

note

several

major

conclusions.

The

first

is

an

inward

turning

of

German

attitudes

and

a

depoliticization

of

their

content.

Many

Germans

had

their

fingers

burned

from

their

political

association

with

Nazidom;

the

evidence

of

the

decade

after

1946

is

that

roughly

one-third

to

ane-half

of

the

German

population

looks

back

to

the

era

of

National

Social-

ism

as

a

period

&dquo;in

which

the

good

outweighed

the

bad.&dquo;

At

the

same

time

the

results

of

war

and

ensuing

occupation

proved

that

National

Socialism

was

politically

inexpedient.

The

conclusion

drawn

by

many

Germans

has

been

the

need

to

withdraw

from

political

affairs

altogether.

Secondly,

and

correlatively,

there

has

been

a

renewed

stress

on

economic,

social,

and

cultural

life.

From

the

very

first

year

of

the

occupation,

&dquo;national

or

per-

sonal

economic

matters&dquo;

have

seemed

to

many

(perhaps

most)

Germans

to

be

problems

outweighing

such

political

issues

as

reunification

and

rearma-

ment.

Thirdly,

it

is

not

surprising

that

West

Germans

are

not

ready

to

make

great

sacrifices

to

achieve

reunification.

While

&dquo;more

than

nine

out

of

ten ...

are

in

favor

of

the

reunification

of

their

country

...

relatively

few

are

willing

to

sacrifice

their

form

of

government,

their

economic

system,

their

security,

or

their

peaceful

existence

to

attain

it.&dquo;

West

German

Leadership

and

Foreign

Policy

provides

a

comprehensive

and

reasonably

up-ta-date

survey

of

German

attitudes

and

must

commend

itself

to

all

interested

in

German

affairs.

University

of

California,

Los

Angeles.

R.

N.

ROSECRANCE.

Empire

of

Fear.

By

VLADIMIR

and

EVDOKIA

PETROV.

(New

York:

Frederick

A.

Praeger,

1956.

Pp.

351.

$5.00.)

The

authors

of

this

volume

gained

considerable

fame

in

1954,

when

as

agents

of

the

MVD

in

the

Soviet

Embassy

in

Canberra

they

defected,

were

granted

asylum,

and

testified

before

an

Australian

Royal

Commission

on

the

&dquo;unofficial&dquo;

activities

of

the

Soviet

Embassy

and

its

personnel

in

that

country.

The

similarities

of

the

Petrov

case

with

that

of

Yuri

Rastvorov,

also

an

MVD

agent

who

defected

earlier

in

1954

while

stationed

in

Japan,

are

obvious.

The

list

of

such

MVD

defectors

is

gradually

increasing,

and

with

it

our

knowledge

of

the

organization

and

activity

of

organs

such

as

the

MVD.

But

it

is

not

as

a

further

contribution

to

our

knowledge

of

Soviet

espionage

that

Empire

of

Fear

is

primarily

important.

Instead,

in

this

reviewer’s

opinion

the

contribution

of

this

volume

is

the

description

of

the

Soviet

system

of

government

from

the

vantage

point

of

members

of

the

MVD.

Colonel

and

Mrs.

Petrov

emphasize

the

reign

of