Unknown Enemy by Charles Dick tells the horrendous story of Organisation Todt and their role in the massive death tolls from Nazi occupation during World War II.

Organisation Todt was not simply an engineering and construction organization, though that is certainly what they officially were. What I knew of them was from Dick's book several years ago, and I was afraid this was nothing but a rehashing of that work. While there is absolutely overlap, the approach here is different and the wealth of new information makes this account much deeper, and darker.

Not only did they build (or supervise the building of) places and machines of death (concentration camps, plane factories, etc) but the also utilized forced labor. That sounds bad enough on the surface, but they abused the laborers, literally working them to death, exposing them to extreme cold, underfeeding or starving them, and outright killing them or sending them to be gassed. The name familiar to most readers interested in this period of time is Albert Speer and when he applied his "organizational skill" to supporting the Reich he was fully aware of what he was doing.

While this is a well written book it is still hard to hear what a human being is willing to do to another human being. The survivors' stories are horrifying and no amount of time lapsed or distance removed can make reading about it any easier.

This is valuable as a history book, but also as a warning about how easily "ordinary people" can willingly do harm to others for no justifiable reason. This is another cautionary tale for our times and what could happen if the small-minded and hateful wannabe dictators succeed in gaining complete unfettered control of the entire government, in any country.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.