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Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Canada's Greatest Spy
The thrilling true story of Agent A12, the earliest enemy of the Nazis
In public life, Dr. Winthrop Bell of Halifax was a Harvard philosophy professor and wealthy businessman. As MI6 secret agent A12, he evaded gunfire and shook off pursuers to break open the emerging Nazi conspiracy in 1919 Berlin. His reports, the first warning of the Nazi plot for WWII, went directly to the man known as C, the mysterious founder of MI6, and to prime ministers. But a powerful fascist politician quietly worked to suppress his alerts. Nevertheless, his intelligence sabotaged the Nazis in ways only now revealed. Bell became a spy once again in the face of WWII. In 1939, he was the first to crack Hitler’s deadliest secret code: the Holocaust. At that time, the führer was a popular politician who said he wanted peace. Could anyone believe Bell’s shocking warning? Fighting an epic intelligence war from Ukraine, Russia and Poland to France, Germany, Canada and Washington, DC, A12 was the real-life 007, waging a single-handed fight against madmen bent on destroying the world. Without Bell’s astounding courage, the Nazis might just have won the war.
Informed by recently declassified documents, Cracking the Nazi Code is the first book to illuminate the astounding exploits of Winthrop Bell, Agent A12.
In public life, Dr. Winthrop Bell of Halifax was a Harvard philosophy professor and wealthy businessman. As MI6 secret agent A12, he evaded gunfire and shook off pursuers to break open the emerging Nazi conspiracy in 1919 Berlin. His reports, the first warning of the Nazi plot for WWII, went directly to the man known as C, the mysterious founder of MI6, and to prime ministers. But a powerful fascist politician quietly worked to suppress his alerts. Nevertheless, his intelligence sabotaged the Nazis in ways only now revealed. Bell became a spy once again in the face of WWII. In 1939, he was the first to crack Hitler’s deadliest secret code: the Holocaust. At that time, the führer was a popular politician who said he wanted peace. Could anyone believe Bell’s shocking warning? Fighting an epic intelligence war from Ukraine, Russia and Poland to France, Germany, Canada and Washington, DC, A12 was the real-life 007, waging a single-handed fight against madmen bent on destroying the world. Without Bell’s astounding courage, the Nazis might just have won the war.
Informed by recently declassified documents, Cracking the Nazi Code is the first book to illuminate the astounding exploits of Winthrop Bell, Agent A12.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published October 26, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
February 29, 2024
3.1/2 / 5
This is the story of Dr. Winthrop Bell of Halifax NS Canada (no relation to the author).
Winthrop was a student in Germany and was stuck there when WWI started. He had developed a deep interest in Phenomenology (the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view). I mention this because I had never heard of it before and I suspect it informed much of his thinking and actions going forward.
The book takes us through WWI and WWII. Thanks to long held classified documents becoming public the author has been able to trace a historical record of a remarkable Canadian hero of which, I suspect, many Canadians have never heard. He was likely one of the first people to recognize Hitler’s plans but his warnings were not taken seriously.
To make a short review of a rather heavy read is my goal. This is such an important story, in fact, it should be taught in schools, but I have to admit to skimming parts of the book due to the heavy-handed writing style. As interested as I was in the subject I found the writing a bit too academic for me.
However, I do not want to deter anyone from reading this book because Dr. Winthrop Bell’s story is interesting, fascinating, and important and should be told.
This is the story of Dr. Winthrop Bell of Halifax NS Canada (no relation to the author).
Winthrop was a student in Germany and was stuck there when WWI started. He had developed a deep interest in Phenomenology (the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view). I mention this because I had never heard of it before and I suspect it informed much of his thinking and actions going forward.
The book takes us through WWI and WWII. Thanks to long held classified documents becoming public the author has been able to trace a historical record of a remarkable Canadian hero of which, I suspect, many Canadians have never heard. He was likely one of the first people to recognize Hitler’s plans but his warnings were not taken seriously.
To make a short review of a rather heavy read is my goal. This is such an important story, in fact, it should be taught in schools, but I have to admit to skimming parts of the book due to the heavy-handed writing style. As interested as I was in the subject I found the writing a bit too academic for me.
However, I do not want to deter anyone from reading this book because Dr. Winthrop Bell’s story is interesting, fascinating, and important and should be told.
April 10, 2024
Spies come in many different forms. Some are the James Bond types who are constantly in shootouts with death knocking at their door. Some are more subtle. Jason Bell introduces us to Winthrop Bell (no relation) in his book Cracking the Nazi Code.
First things first, this is not really a spy book. The spy Bell mostly went around Germany after World War I posing as a journalist while reporting back to MI6. The derring-do is about his determination to learn information and present it to leadership rather than physical danger, although there is some. A good portion of the book is really about how Nazis didn't just show up out of thin air in the personification of Adolf Hitler. Bell, the author, traces how the end of World War I is when this horrible movement started to truly take hold.
I have two criticisms of the book which are not huge. It does feel repetitive at times. Bell the spy consistently pushes his views and they don't change drastically. It means Bell the author will cover the same ground often. The other criticism is Bell the author places a LOT of influence on Bell the spy. It comes off as an author who fell in love with his subject so much that he sees him as the conduit for all good things. I felt at times like the author attributed too much to Bell the spy without solid evidence. I don't think anything is made up at all, I just questioned the level of influence Bell ultimately had on greater actions of the governments in the book.
I think for anyone who wants a better understanding of the political world right after World War I, this is definitely a book you want to look at.
(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by the publisher.)
First things first, this is not really a spy book. The spy Bell mostly went around Germany after World War I posing as a journalist while reporting back to MI6. The derring-do is about his determination to learn information and present it to leadership rather than physical danger, although there is some. A good portion of the book is really about how Nazis didn't just show up out of thin air in the personification of Adolf Hitler. Bell, the author, traces how the end of World War I is when this horrible movement started to truly take hold.
I have two criticisms of the book which are not huge. It does feel repetitive at times. Bell the spy consistently pushes his views and they don't change drastically. It means Bell the author will cover the same ground often. The other criticism is Bell the author places a LOT of influence on Bell the spy. It comes off as an author who fell in love with his subject so much that he sees him as the conduit for all good things. I felt at times like the author attributed too much to Bell the spy without solid evidence. I don't think anything is made up at all, I just questioned the level of influence Bell ultimately had on greater actions of the governments in the book.
I think for anyone who wants a better understanding of the political world right after World War I, this is definitely a book you want to look at.
(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by the publisher.)
February 25, 2024
It's not too often that history books come out and actually have previously unknown material that can actually change the established historical narrative of a particular time period. Cracking the Nazi Code has the potential to do that. Thanks to newly declassified material, the incredible story of Canadian spy Winthrop Bell can now be told. The author, Jason Bell, no relation to the spy, shows the significant impact that this Canadian spy had on the Treaty Versailles negotiations and how he was the first international figure to fully understand the threat posed by the Nazis after they emerged from the wreckage of the Great War. Bell had lived in Germany before and during WWI and had many connections with that country's ruling class, so he was uniquely qualified to analyze the political situation during and after this crucial period. He advocated for a Marshall Plan approach after WWI and WWII, long before that plan was conceived. Bell also was well-connected to people high up in both the British and Canadian governments. He even issued the earliest published warning about the Holocaust in 1939. He influenced the decisions of world leaders, but if they had heeded his warnings much earlier, the history of the 20th century may have been much less bloody. Normally, the remarkable story that this book tells would have merited a 5 star rating, but I could only give it four for a few reasons. First, I thought there was not enough about Bell's personal life in the book to make him really come alive. Perhaps the sources for this don't exist, but either way, the author should have addressed it in the book or in a foreward. Secondly, I sometimes felt that the author pushed his conclusions a bit further than the evidence in the book warranted. For example, when he talked about Bell's reports having a big impact on government policy, I would have liked to have heard about some evidence from government sources to back that up. His conclusions in these cases are certainly plausible, but more sources from the government decision-making process would have made his conclusions iron-clad. Perhaps historians of the world wars and interwar years will delve further into that side of things and thereby alter some of the accepted narrative on the rise of the Nazis. Overall, despite some shortcomings, I still highly recommend this book and the fascinating story that it tells.
November 11, 2023
This book is well-written and is such an eye-opener. The critically important role that Winthrop Bell played in the world really needs to be taught in our schools. He was brilliant!
July 13, 2024
Interesting reading if you like to read history (which I do). Learned many new things I wasn’t aware of in that time period ( early 1900 to post world war 2). It’s hard to imagine a Canadian was so involved in both world wars, and I hadn’t heard of him.
February 9, 2024
What a remarkable story about Winthrop Bell an unknown ( at least to the public) World War I and beyond Canadian hero. Bell was an exceptionally intelligent person with a relentless determination to improve the outcome of our devastating World Wars. This should be taught in school.
April 8, 2024
Interesting and enlightening but a bit dry; but, of course, it is non-fiction!
July 23, 2024
A fascinating read on the Canadian who was (as far as current research shows) the first to warn the Allies back in 1919 of the emergence of the Nazis. The research of the connection between the two wars was really well done even though I feel like some things could have been summarized a bit better.
May 16, 2024
Sound discussion of Nazi genocide and extermination plans dating back to 1919, much earlier than thought, and more extensive also. Plans included world dominance and not just Europe.
May 15, 2024
HE PREDICTED THE HOLOCAUST — IN 1919, AND AGAIN IN 1939
Common-sense observers, most historians included, assert that the roots of World War II lay in the rubble of the Great War a quarter-century earlier. Most ascribe the fault to the draconian Treaty of Versailles that imposed such harsh terms on Germany, and that seems indisputable. But few find the origins of the second war’s signature event, the Holocaust, in the events of 1914 to 1920. And Canadian professor Jason Bell seeks to correct what he regards as that misunderstanding in the life and work of a remarkable earlier-generation Canadian professor with whom he shares a surname. In Cracking the Nazi Code, he traces the ideological origins of the Holocaust to the German General Staff in the closing years of World War I.
THE TRUE SOURCE OF HITLER’S IDEOLOGY
Bell’s subject is Winthrop Bell. “Code-named A12,” he writes, “he was a Canadian-born British secret agent who dodged gunfire and explosions in Berlin in 1919 to become the first Western secret agent to fight the Nazis.” In fact, as Bell explains, his subject identified the ideological forebears of Hitler’s National Socialists to the men who led Germany’s war in World War I.
The central figure in propagating the virulent antisemitic propaganda later adopted by the Nazis was the man who was effectively Germany’s dictator in the closing years of the war: General Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937). The general, Bell asserts, bankrolled and inspired the Freikorps of right-wing demobilized soldiers who ran rampant in Germany as the terms of the peace agreement became clear. The thugs in the Freikorps became the basis of Hitler’s movement. But they had begun killing Jews even before Adolf Hitler joined what later became the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in September 1919.
BELL’S LOGIC
Jason Bell is a professor of philosophy who specializes in phenomenology, as did his subject, Winthrop Bell. (No relation.) And that field is grounded in straightforward logic, finding hidden meaning in the words of an argument. So it’s hard to fault the author’s logic. It’s his profession, and his thinking is rigorous. Here, then, is the gist of Bell’s argument . . .
1. A GERMAN GENERAL’S RAVINGS
General Ludendorff advanced plans to kill Jews en masse when it was clear Germany would lose the Great War. He regarded the wholesale murder of Jews in Germany as the first phase in a race war—a second world war—that would leave “Aryans” alone in the world. Slavs, Blacks, Asians—anyone at all who didn’t fit his definition of Aryan would be exterminated. By all accounts, Ludendorff had gone off the deep end by then and was widely understood to be out of his mind. Following his delusion to its logical conclusion would have required killing billions of people, not millions. But others in the military either believed his antisemitic rantings or found it convenient to act as though they did. The Freikorps, among many others, adopted them wholesale.
2. ANTISEMITISM TOOK NEW FORM
Right-wing Prussian militarists and their supporters among German industrialists spread the newly codified ideology of antisemitism throughout Europe. Hitherto, antisemitism was widespread on the Continent. But it was localized, and personal. Ludendorff and his followers elevated it to official military and government policy. And soon others began acting on the general’s lunatic ideas. (Admittedly, they needed little encouragement.) For example, the generals’ ally, White Russian general Anton Denikin, led a large-scale pogrom in Ukraine in which tens of thousands of Jews died. And the Young Turks who led another of Germany’s allies, the Ottoman Empire, carried out an even more horrific genocidal policy, murdering more than one million Armenians, Greeks, and Jews. All this happened up to a decade before Hitler wrote Mein Kampf.
3. HITLER ADOPTED LUDENDORFF’S IDEAS
In his autobiography, Adolf Hitler only set down in print the ideas propagated by Ludendorff and his followers. A careful reading of Mein Kampf—which few did outside Germany before World War II—makes abundantly clear, in Bell’s view, that Hitler fully intended to exterminate the Jews of Europe. They became his scapegoat for the war. But it was not just Jews who were on the Führer‘s hit list.
When most people speak or write about the Holocaust, they refer to the wholesale slaughter of more than six million Jews from 1942 to 1945. It’s a fair definition. But the Nazis’ systematic murder of innocents was far more extensive than that. According to the latest estimates, the Nazis murdered a total of more than twenty million civilians. Jews, of course, But also Slavs (including 3.3 million Soviet POWs), Roma, homosexuals, the disabled, Black people, and others.
4. WINTHROP BELL FORESAW THE HOLOCAUST IN 1919
As a graduate student of philosophy in Göttingen, an internee in Germany for four years during the war, and as secret agent A12 for what later came to be called MI6, Winthrop Bell witnessed the unraveling of German society and the emergence of the newly aggressive antisemitism propagated by General Ludendorff. In his reports to “C” in London, Captain Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, and in many of his dispatches from the Continent as a Reuters correspondent, he called attention to the right wing’s new-found emphasis on antisemitism. His editors typically discounted or disregarded his warnings. And when he wrote a book exposing Nazi plans for the Holocaust, laying out the evidence in careful, methodical fashion, MI6 refused to allow him to publish it.
Tragically, much the same happened twenty years later in 1939 when Bell, now a private citizen, wrote a lengthy article predicting the wholesale murder of Europe’s Jews. Magazine editors rejected it as fanciful. Only one Canadian magazine agreed to publish it. Though popular in Canada, the magazine had little reach elsewhere. Thus, Winthrop Bell was the first person—by several years—to bring the Holocaust to the world’s attention. But precious few knew anything about the Nazis’ master plan until word began reaching Allied leaders after the Wannsee Conference in January 1942.
HOW CREDIBLE IS THIS STORY?
Even a casual reading of this book will raise questions. The author repeatedly describes some events or circumstances as “likely” or “probable” or “almost certain.” Other than passages quoted from others’ books or memoirs, there are few direct quotes except from Winthrop Bell’s own writing. And certain statements smack of hyperbole. For example, it does seem a little much to describe Bell as “quite possibly history’s greatest spy” despite his admittedly considerable accomplishments.
Nearly all of Bell’s contributions to the Allies were as a diplomat, not a spy. (He appears to have played an instrumental role in preventing the resumption of war on the Eastern Front shortly after World War I.) However, Bell notes, his authoritative reports from Berlin helped persuade the Allies to moderate the terms they were proposing for the peace treaty. (Amazingly, what they first proposed was even more onerous than what they eventually demanded.) But much of what Bell turned up in his role as one of MI6’s earliest officers in the field—particularly his early claims about the Holocaust to come—was either entirely ignored at the time or disregarded by policymakers. Thus, the author’s disregard of the rules of historical practice mar what is, overall, a compelling portrait of an extraordinary man who, without question, was the most clear-headed early observer of Adolf Hitler’s mad schemes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Google Books tells us that “Jason Bell, PhD, is a professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick. He has served as a Fulbright Professor in Germany (at Winthrop Bell’s alma mater, the University of Göttingen), and has taught at universities in Belgium, the United States, and Canada. [Bell] was the first scholar granted exclusive access to Winthrop Bell’s classified espionage papers. He lives in New Brunswick, Canada.” Bell holds a doctorate in philosophy from Vanderbilt University.
Common-sense observers, most historians included, assert that the roots of World War II lay in the rubble of the Great War a quarter-century earlier. Most ascribe the fault to the draconian Treaty of Versailles that imposed such harsh terms on Germany, and that seems indisputable. But few find the origins of the second war’s signature event, the Holocaust, in the events of 1914 to 1920. And Canadian professor Jason Bell seeks to correct what he regards as that misunderstanding in the life and work of a remarkable earlier-generation Canadian professor with whom he shares a surname. In Cracking the Nazi Code, he traces the ideological origins of the Holocaust to the German General Staff in the closing years of World War I.
THE TRUE SOURCE OF HITLER’S IDEOLOGY
Bell’s subject is Winthrop Bell. “Code-named A12,” he writes, “he was a Canadian-born British secret agent who dodged gunfire and explosions in Berlin in 1919 to become the first Western secret agent to fight the Nazis.” In fact, as Bell explains, his subject identified the ideological forebears of Hitler’s National Socialists to the men who led Germany’s war in World War I.
The central figure in propagating the virulent antisemitic propaganda later adopted by the Nazis was the man who was effectively Germany’s dictator in the closing years of the war: General Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937). The general, Bell asserts, bankrolled and inspired the Freikorps of right-wing demobilized soldiers who ran rampant in Germany as the terms of the peace agreement became clear. The thugs in the Freikorps became the basis of Hitler’s movement. But they had begun killing Jews even before Adolf Hitler joined what later became the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in September 1919.
BELL’S LOGIC
Jason Bell is a professor of philosophy who specializes in phenomenology, as did his subject, Winthrop Bell. (No relation.) And that field is grounded in straightforward logic, finding hidden meaning in the words of an argument. So it’s hard to fault the author’s logic. It’s his profession, and his thinking is rigorous. Here, then, is the gist of Bell’s argument . . .
1. A GERMAN GENERAL’S RAVINGS
General Ludendorff advanced plans to kill Jews en masse when it was clear Germany would lose the Great War. He regarded the wholesale murder of Jews in Germany as the first phase in a race war—a second world war—that would leave “Aryans” alone in the world. Slavs, Blacks, Asians—anyone at all who didn’t fit his definition of Aryan would be exterminated. By all accounts, Ludendorff had gone off the deep end by then and was widely understood to be out of his mind. Following his delusion to its logical conclusion would have required killing billions of people, not millions. But others in the military either believed his antisemitic rantings or found it convenient to act as though they did. The Freikorps, among many others, adopted them wholesale.
2. ANTISEMITISM TOOK NEW FORM
Right-wing Prussian militarists and their supporters among German industrialists spread the newly codified ideology of antisemitism throughout Europe. Hitherto, antisemitism was widespread on the Continent. But it was localized, and personal. Ludendorff and his followers elevated it to official military and government policy. And soon others began acting on the general’s lunatic ideas. (Admittedly, they needed little encouragement.) For example, the generals’ ally, White Russian general Anton Denikin, led a large-scale pogrom in Ukraine in which tens of thousands of Jews died. And the Young Turks who led another of Germany’s allies, the Ottoman Empire, carried out an even more horrific genocidal policy, murdering more than one million Armenians, Greeks, and Jews. All this happened up to a decade before Hitler wrote Mein Kampf.
3. HITLER ADOPTED LUDENDORFF’S IDEAS
In his autobiography, Adolf Hitler only set down in print the ideas propagated by Ludendorff and his followers. A careful reading of Mein Kampf—which few did outside Germany before World War II—makes abundantly clear, in Bell’s view, that Hitler fully intended to exterminate the Jews of Europe. They became his scapegoat for the war. But it was not just Jews who were on the Führer‘s hit list.
When most people speak or write about the Holocaust, they refer to the wholesale slaughter of more than six million Jews from 1942 to 1945. It’s a fair definition. But the Nazis’ systematic murder of innocents was far more extensive than that. According to the latest estimates, the Nazis murdered a total of more than twenty million civilians. Jews, of course, But also Slavs (including 3.3 million Soviet POWs), Roma, homosexuals, the disabled, Black people, and others.
4. WINTHROP BELL FORESAW THE HOLOCAUST IN 1919
As a graduate student of philosophy in Göttingen, an internee in Germany for four years during the war, and as secret agent A12 for what later came to be called MI6, Winthrop Bell witnessed the unraveling of German society and the emergence of the newly aggressive antisemitism propagated by General Ludendorff. In his reports to “C” in London, Captain Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, and in many of his dispatches from the Continent as a Reuters correspondent, he called attention to the right wing’s new-found emphasis on antisemitism. His editors typically discounted or disregarded his warnings. And when he wrote a book exposing Nazi plans for the Holocaust, laying out the evidence in careful, methodical fashion, MI6 refused to allow him to publish it.
Tragically, much the same happened twenty years later in 1939 when Bell, now a private citizen, wrote a lengthy article predicting the wholesale murder of Europe’s Jews. Magazine editors rejected it as fanciful. Only one Canadian magazine agreed to publish it. Though popular in Canada, the magazine had little reach elsewhere. Thus, Winthrop Bell was the first person—by several years—to bring the Holocaust to the world’s attention. But precious few knew anything about the Nazis’ master plan until word began reaching Allied leaders after the Wannsee Conference in January 1942.
HOW CREDIBLE IS THIS STORY?
Even a casual reading of this book will raise questions. The author repeatedly describes some events or circumstances as “likely” or “probable” or “almost certain.” Other than passages quoted from others’ books or memoirs, there are few direct quotes except from Winthrop Bell’s own writing. And certain statements smack of hyperbole. For example, it does seem a little much to describe Bell as “quite possibly history’s greatest spy” despite his admittedly considerable accomplishments.
Nearly all of Bell’s contributions to the Allies were as a diplomat, not a spy. (He appears to have played an instrumental role in preventing the resumption of war on the Eastern Front shortly after World War I.) However, Bell notes, his authoritative reports from Berlin helped persuade the Allies to moderate the terms they were proposing for the peace treaty. (Amazingly, what they first proposed was even more onerous than what they eventually demanded.) But much of what Bell turned up in his role as one of MI6’s earliest officers in the field—particularly his early claims about the Holocaust to come—was either entirely ignored at the time or disregarded by policymakers. Thus, the author’s disregard of the rules of historical practice mar what is, overall, a compelling portrait of an extraordinary man who, without question, was the most clear-headed early observer of Adolf Hitler’s mad schemes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Google Books tells us that “Jason Bell, PhD, is a professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick. He has served as a Fulbright Professor in Germany (at Winthrop Bell’s alma mater, the University of Göttingen), and has taught at universities in Belgium, the United States, and Canada. [Bell] was the first scholar granted exclusive access to Winthrop Bell’s classified espionage papers. He lives in New Brunswick, Canada.” Bell holds a doctorate in philosophy from Vanderbilt University.
January 17, 2024
W Bell’s is a great story. Not sure this book did it justice.
September 4, 2024
How did World War II begin? The simplified historic narrative: Germany was severly punished in the aftermath of WWI, went into a deep financial depression, which led to the rise of Hitler, which led to his evil plot to invade first his European neighbors, then every other country in Europe. While this isn't entirely incorrect, real history is much m0re complicated. And Jas0n Bell's "Cracking the Nazi C0de" brings the period from 1919 to 1939 into clearer focus.
Like something out of a James Bond movie, Canadian Winthrop Bell (no relati0n to the author) played a huge role in European events as spy "A12" for Britain's MI-6. Most of Bell's derring-do was unknown (he was, after all, an undercover agent) until author Jason Bell dug up some amazing documentation detailing Wintrhop Bell's relentless efforts to prevent Nazi aggression before it even got started.
In a riveting narrative, Bell tells a story of how Winthrop Bell, a college professor, finds himself in Berlin in 1919. The circumstances of Bell's road from academia to spycraft are too complicated to retell here, but he adroitly befriends the right people in the right place at the right time. The secrets he gathers place him in the discussions about how to punish Germany for their aggression in WWI. His work in Berlin leads Bell to uncover the rise of the Nazi Party, Hitler and his plans for what became known as the Holocaust -- the latter being the "Nazi Code" of the book's title. Sadly, his warnings are too often ignored by the Allied powerful. If only they had listened.
Jason Bell's fascinating, eye-opening saga exposes a crucial chapter in history. "Cracking the Nazi Code" will leave you wondering what might have been. Winthrop Bell's story is essential reading for anyone iuterested in the origins of the horrors of WWII - and one man's heroic role in trying to stop it from happening.
All that said, there’s a problem here. Maybe it’s a minor quibble on my part, but Bell too often just plain fawns over his main character. He credits Winthrop Bell (repeatedly) with single-handedly ensuring the signing of the Treaty of Versailles ending WWI. In Bell’s narrative, Winthrop Bell – on his own, mind you, nearly destroyed the Nazi Party, prevented the invasion of Poland in 1919 and almost stopped WWII from occurring. Winthrop Bell was undoubtedly a brave and brilliant man, but events of such magnitude simply cannot possibly be credited to one man alone. Washington didn’t win the Revolution by himself. Lincoln didn’t end the Civil War on his own. And James Bond is a fictional character.
OK, I readily admit I’ve never written a book, researched a book or sold a book. I’m just an avid reader. And I'm sure it's tough for any biographer not to gain a great deal of empathy for their subject == especially after years of research. Even the best bio writers (McCullough, Chernow, Meacham, Goodwin to name a few) can display undue affection for their subject, but it's seldom this overt, The hero worship that author Bell thrusts on Winthrop Bell is disruptive to his excellent narrative and becomes downright annoying towards the end. He’s done a wonderful job in researching and writing this book, but his glorification of the undoubtedly heroic Winthrop Bell is way over the top and wholly unnecessary. The movies aside, no single human being can save the world all by himself
No can possibly know, of course, but one could surmise that gifted Mr. Bell himself might have been a bit embarrassed at times by the author’s portrayal. There, I feel better. And this is still great book.
Like something out of a James Bond movie, Canadian Winthrop Bell (no relati0n to the author) played a huge role in European events as spy "A12" for Britain's MI-6. Most of Bell's derring-do was unknown (he was, after all, an undercover agent) until author Jason Bell dug up some amazing documentation detailing Wintrhop Bell's relentless efforts to prevent Nazi aggression before it even got started.
In a riveting narrative, Bell tells a story of how Winthrop Bell, a college professor, finds himself in Berlin in 1919. The circumstances of Bell's road from academia to spycraft are too complicated to retell here, but he adroitly befriends the right people in the right place at the right time. The secrets he gathers place him in the discussions about how to punish Germany for their aggression in WWI. His work in Berlin leads Bell to uncover the rise of the Nazi Party, Hitler and his plans for what became known as the Holocaust -- the latter being the "Nazi Code" of the book's title. Sadly, his warnings are too often ignored by the Allied powerful. If only they had listened.
Jason Bell's fascinating, eye-opening saga exposes a crucial chapter in history. "Cracking the Nazi Code" will leave you wondering what might have been. Winthrop Bell's story is essential reading for anyone iuterested in the origins of the horrors of WWII - and one man's heroic role in trying to stop it from happening.
All that said, there’s a problem here. Maybe it’s a minor quibble on my part, but Bell too often just plain fawns over his main character. He credits Winthrop Bell (repeatedly) with single-handedly ensuring the signing of the Treaty of Versailles ending WWI. In Bell’s narrative, Winthrop Bell – on his own, mind you, nearly destroyed the Nazi Party, prevented the invasion of Poland in 1919 and almost stopped WWII from occurring. Winthrop Bell was undoubtedly a brave and brilliant man, but events of such magnitude simply cannot possibly be credited to one man alone. Washington didn’t win the Revolution by himself. Lincoln didn’t end the Civil War on his own. And James Bond is a fictional character.
OK, I readily admit I’ve never written a book, researched a book or sold a book. I’m just an avid reader. And I'm sure it's tough for any biographer not to gain a great deal of empathy for their subject == especially after years of research. Even the best bio writers (McCullough, Chernow, Meacham, Goodwin to name a few) can display undue affection for their subject, but it's seldom this overt, The hero worship that author Bell thrusts on Winthrop Bell is disruptive to his excellent narrative and becomes downright annoying towards the end. He’s done a wonderful job in researching and writing this book, but his glorification of the undoubtedly heroic Winthrop Bell is way over the top and wholly unnecessary. The movies aside, no single human being can save the world all by himself
No can possibly know, of course, but one could surmise that gifted Mr. Bell himself might have been a bit embarrassed at times by the author’s portrayal. There, I feel better. And this is still great book.
January 23, 2024
Princess Fuzzypants here: This is the fascinating story of a man whose greatest feats were often behind closed doors and in the dark recesses of power. As a young Canadian scholar studying in Germany at the outbreak of WWI he was detained for the entire war in a concentration camp that was different from any other before or after. He had access to some of the finest minds and a ringside seat to see how the German public perceived what was going on. When they were defeated, they could not fathom the vitriol that was heaped on them by the victors. And from the ashes of their humiliation, dark forces that had been there long before, started to take hold.
Winthrop Bell was the one man who saw this and who exhaustively researched and pulled together the information that, had the powers that be followed his suggestions, might have thwarted the Nazis and prevented WWII. It would have required the will and the mindset that the vengeful victors were unwilling to accept. As is the prevailing belief, the foundations for the next war were found in the detritus of the first one. Bell saw that and like Cassandra he warned all who would listen. But often his words were dismissed as being too far out. And often they were kept secret from the public. Few could fathom that the Holocaust was articulated clearly in Nazi papers as far back as 1919. It was beyond their ken.
It was interesting to read some of the recommendations Bell made after WWI that became part of what occurred after WWII in particular, The Marshall Plan. It is also interesting to read about the attempts that Bell made to make the decision makers listen. How different might the twentieth century have been had enough people had the wisdom to take note.
When I first started the book I thought I would read about a cryptographer who busted the cryptic codes. Instead it is a story of one of the few men who could read the tea leaves and figure out what it meant. We could use someone like that today. His life should be required reading for all Canadians. He was amazing. Five purrs and two paws up.
Winthrop Bell was the one man who saw this and who exhaustively researched and pulled together the information that, had the powers that be followed his suggestions, might have thwarted the Nazis and prevented WWII. It would have required the will and the mindset that the vengeful victors were unwilling to accept. As is the prevailing belief, the foundations for the next war were found in the detritus of the first one. Bell saw that and like Cassandra he warned all who would listen. But often his words were dismissed as being too far out. And often they were kept secret from the public. Few could fathom that the Holocaust was articulated clearly in Nazi papers as far back as 1919. It was beyond their ken.
It was interesting to read some of the recommendations Bell made after WWI that became part of what occurred after WWII in particular, The Marshall Plan. It is also interesting to read about the attempts that Bell made to make the decision makers listen. How different might the twentieth century have been had enough people had the wisdom to take note.
When I first started the book I thought I would read about a cryptographer who busted the cryptic codes. Instead it is a story of one of the few men who could read the tea leaves and figure out what it meant. We could use someone like that today. His life should be required reading for all Canadians. He was amazing. Five purrs and two paws up.
July 21, 2024
3 stars [History]
(W 3.07, U 3, T 3.04)
Exact rating: 3.04
A history of the contribution of Winthrop Bell, an agent of British intelligence in WW1 and the interwar period, to the discovery of the formation of German national socialism. This one was quite a mixed bag.
Centrally, Jason Bell did not make his case for a WWI Germany enacting a pre-planned, systematic race war. He provided lots of correlation with little to no causation. Early in his argument he admitted his evidence for Ludendorff being a central race-war plotter as "circumstantial." Thereafter the coalescence of anti-Semitism and national socialism was not demonstrated to have been early and systematic. Joachim Fest's biography of Hitler provided a much more in-depth treatment.
Second, Jason Bell cited some authoritatively-titled books, but seemed to omit key details in his own exposition just when most needed. E.g., the German discoverer of Ottoman genocide is merely called "a German" (p.107).
Third, Jason Bell failed to engage the other side. Neither statements of opposing Germans in the interwar period nor the scholarly works of 60 years of Third Reich scholarship were materially engaged. Instead, it seemed like Bell attempted to piece together the semantic paradigm of Nazi rhetoric in his own estimation without substantial historical corroboration. Compound this with his relaying of Winthrop Bell's uncritical Interventionism, exploring few other options or historical considerations, and an incomplete treatment is the result.
On the positive side, Jason Bell provides a rich description of WW1-era political backgrounding in the beginning of his book. Plus, there are several episodes of rare truth or rare episodes: the Freikorps attack on Riga, Latvia in October 1919; description of Britain's chance to rule well a postwar Germany and the independent Baltic states, lost; and Wilhelm Runge's crucial sabotage of the Nazi radar advantage before WW2 started.
(W 3.07, U 3, T 3.04)
Exact rating: 3.04
A history of the contribution of Winthrop Bell, an agent of British intelligence in WW1 and the interwar period, to the discovery of the formation of German national socialism. This one was quite a mixed bag.
Centrally, Jason Bell did not make his case for a WWI Germany enacting a pre-planned, systematic race war. He provided lots of correlation with little to no causation. Early in his argument he admitted his evidence for Ludendorff being a central race-war plotter as "circumstantial." Thereafter the coalescence of anti-Semitism and national socialism was not demonstrated to have been early and systematic. Joachim Fest's biography of Hitler provided a much more in-depth treatment.
Second, Jason Bell cited some authoritatively-titled books, but seemed to omit key details in his own exposition just when most needed. E.g., the German discoverer of Ottoman genocide is merely called "a German" (p.107).
Third, Jason Bell failed to engage the other side. Neither statements of opposing Germans in the interwar period nor the scholarly works of 60 years of Third Reich scholarship were materially engaged. Instead, it seemed like Bell attempted to piece together the semantic paradigm of Nazi rhetoric in his own estimation without substantial historical corroboration. Compound this with his relaying of Winthrop Bell's uncritical Interventionism, exploring few other options or historical considerations, and an incomplete treatment is the result.
On the positive side, Jason Bell provides a rich description of WW1-era political backgrounding in the beginning of his book. Plus, there are several episodes of rare truth or rare episodes: the Freikorps attack on Riga, Latvia in October 1919; description of Britain's chance to rule well a postwar Germany and the independent Baltic states, lost; and Wilhelm Runge's crucial sabotage of the Nazi radar advantage before WW2 started.
October 23, 2023
They say you should never judge a book by its cover, well that is sort of what I did with this book. I picked it without reading the book’s blurb thinking it had something to do with either the German encoding machine or Bletchley Park which this book is not about. I found out this book is about Doctor Winthrop Bell of Halifax Nova Scotia and the code he broke was the NAZI’s plans for the Holocaust.
The book goes over the interesting life of Dr Bell and how he became well-suited to seeing what was going on in Germany and Europe and how Hitler and the NAZI party were able to come to power. It goes over how Bell found out what the true conditions in Germany were after the First World War and how he saw that the Treaty of Versailles was going to end up causing a second world war, which it did and how he attempted to tamper the punitive points in the treaty and focus of rebuilding. The book also looks at how Bell by visiting places in Europe, reading and analysing Hitler’s writing saw what the overall plan that the Third Reich had for all the non-Aryans.
I thought that this was an interesting book. It highlighted aspects of post-First World War that you don’t read about much and how troubled Germany was during that period. It also brought to the readers' attention, Doctor Bell (no relationship to the author) who is more famous for his teaching of philosophy and work as a historian of Nova Scotia. If you are interested in history then I would recommend this book.
The book goes over the interesting life of Dr Bell and how he became well-suited to seeing what was going on in Germany and Europe and how Hitler and the NAZI party were able to come to power. It goes over how Bell found out what the true conditions in Germany were after the First World War and how he saw that the Treaty of Versailles was going to end up causing a second world war, which it did and how he attempted to tamper the punitive points in the treaty and focus of rebuilding. The book also looks at how Bell by visiting places in Europe, reading and analysing Hitler’s writing saw what the overall plan that the Third Reich had for all the non-Aryans.
I thought that this was an interesting book. It highlighted aspects of post-First World War that you don’t read about much and how troubled Germany was during that period. It also brought to the readers' attention, Doctor Bell (no relationship to the author) who is more famous for his teaching of philosophy and work as a historian of Nova Scotia. If you are interested in history then I would recommend this book.
July 6, 2024
I recently finished "Cracking the Nazi Code" and found it to be a surprisingly engaging read. The book tells the story of Winthrop Bell, a Canadian philosophy professor turned spy, whose work played a significant role in countering Nazi Germany's ambitions. What struck me most was how early Bell recognized the threat posed by Hitler and the Nazis. His ability to decipher the true intentions behind Mein Kampf and warn about the potential for genocide years before it became widely acknowledged is both impressive and unsettling. The author, Jason Bell, does a good job of piecing together this little-known tale using declassified documents and unpublished papers. While some parts read like a spy thriller, it's important to remember that these events actually happened. Bell's journey from academic to MI6 agent is certainly intriguing, and his missions in post-WWI Germany add an element of danger to the narrative. The book also highlights his later work during WWII, including his role in deciphering Hitler's "Holocaust code" in 1939. While it might be an overstatement to say Bell was single-handedly responsible for preventing Nazi world domination, the book makes a strong case for his significant contributions to the Allied effort. It's an interesting read for those interested in WWII history or espionage, shedding light on a lesser-known figure who played a crucial role behind the scenes.
October 18, 2023
about Winthrop Bell who advised his government contacts and newspaper editors about Hitler's plan for a worldwide Holocaust. He broke the code to recognize Hitler's intentions "to have only one single race dominating the globe". The warning of Hitler's intentions did not appear in the newspapers until 1942 but by then millions had already been killed, even though Bell's first articles had been in the paper Saturday Night in November 1939.
Most interesting portion for me, so relevant today with the Ukraine/Russia war going on, and Biden visiting Israel today while Israel/Gaza battle is getting more brutal quickly is:
after the November Revolution in Germany the new democracy asked Britain for the next dance but London spurned them. Bell knew that Britain needed to "picture the reality that nations are members of one another. He also needed to destroy the illusion that one nation can profit in the long term from another's destruction. Bell's phenomenological science focused on empathy, the way we gain knowledge of the world by intersubjective and intercultural inquiry...Bell intuitively saw how each nation's good was tied to the success of its neighbours. Yet popular political opinion did not realize this, and punishment and revenge still seemed like good ideas.... Otherwise each stand at the brink of another dangerous conflict." (P 93)
Most interesting portion for me, so relevant today with the Ukraine/Russia war going on, and Biden visiting Israel today while Israel/Gaza battle is getting more brutal quickly is:
after the November Revolution in Germany the new democracy asked Britain for the next dance but London spurned them. Bell knew that Britain needed to "picture the reality that nations are members of one another. He also needed to destroy the illusion that one nation can profit in the long term from another's destruction. Bell's phenomenological science focused on empathy, the way we gain knowledge of the world by intersubjective and intercultural inquiry...Bell intuitively saw how each nation's good was tied to the success of its neighbours. Yet popular political opinion did not realize this, and punishment and revenge still seemed like good ideas.... Otherwise each stand at the brink of another dangerous conflict." (P 93)
January 13, 2024
This has taken a month and a half to listen to - but only because I listened with my husband, so we only listened when we were both in the car.
I thoroughly enjoyed this title. There is so much of what we learn here that I had no idea about - and I’m pretty well read on things historical of the time. And it certainly provoked lots of discussion between my husband and I while listening.
For a general reader though, be forewarned that at times there’s too much here - and it tends to get bogged down in the minutiae of detail (not to mention that there is some repetition).
This is an important title. Certainly one can make the argument that as populist - and fascist/istic - movements/governments are on the rise globally, there are lots of lessons that could be applied in the contemporary context. Perhaps this book can help the public see the immediacy of this existential threat?
Thanks to the publisher for granting me access to an audiobook version.
I thoroughly enjoyed this title. There is so much of what we learn here that I had no idea about - and I’m pretty well read on things historical of the time. And it certainly provoked lots of discussion between my husband and I while listening.
For a general reader though, be forewarned that at times there’s too much here - and it tends to get bogged down in the minutiae of detail (not to mention that there is some repetition).
This is an important title. Certainly one can make the argument that as populist - and fascist/istic - movements/governments are on the rise globally, there are lots of lessons that could be applied in the contemporary context. Perhaps this book can help the public see the immediacy of this existential threat?
Thanks to the publisher for granting me access to an audiobook version.
October 20, 2023
Cracking the Nazi Code is a singular and remarkable archive of immensely important missing history. The story explains how the terrors of antisemitism and the holocaust began nearing the end of WW1. This book connects the missing dots in Hitler and the Nazi’s cruel and terrible rise to power. It also helps to create clarity in many places where none existed in the crucial time between wars and what was really occurring in Europe; particularly how the Nazi’s so successfully lied and played a masterful game of global deception leading up to WW2. History teachers must read this book, and forever change how new generations learn about these years on earth. The role that Canada’s greatest spy played in these horrible times is astounding and inspiring. This book provides “aha” moment one after the other until, what never did regarding the wars, all makes sense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2023
As a writer of historical fiction, I know how crucial it is to read many different historical texts. This book should be essential reading for everyone, not just novelists! Winthrop Bell's insights are supremely relevant in today's political climate, and Jason Bell (no relation) has laid them out skillfully. Bell's observations from within a WW1 prison camp, his linguistic and philosophical skills, and his connections in the halls of power, led to his great, if hidden, influence on the intelligence community and outcomes of both the 20th Century's World Wars. Largely ignored in 1919, but implemented in the late 1940s, reconstruction of Germany was crucial to eliminating the threat of fascist resurgencies in Europe. We need more people of his abilities and integrity today, as neo-fascists are in the ascendancy once more, around the world. We must learn from history, if we can.
June 9, 2024
This was given to me as a gift, and I didn't know anything about it before I started reading. Based on the title, this was not the book I was expecting.
I assumed this would be about a spy in Hitler's Germany during the '30s and '40s.
Instead, this book follows Winthrop Bell's time in Germany through World War 1 and the years immediately after.
Still, I found his prophetic analysis of the situation on the ground at the time utterly fascinating. I often struggle with non-fiction, but this book is so well written that there was no struggle. Luckily, Bell left detailed diaries that gave the author a deep insight into his day to day life and his intimate feelings about what he was witnessing and experiencing.
If you're interested in WWI and II history or the spycraft of that era, I can not recommend this book more.
I assumed this would be about a spy in Hitler's Germany during the '30s and '40s.
Instead, this book follows Winthrop Bell's time in Germany through World War 1 and the years immediately after.
Still, I found his prophetic analysis of the situation on the ground at the time utterly fascinating. I often struggle with non-fiction, but this book is so well written that there was no struggle. Luckily, Bell left detailed diaries that gave the author a deep insight into his day to day life and his intimate feelings about what he was witnessing and experiencing.
If you're interested in WWI and II history or the spycraft of that era, I can not recommend this book more.
July 21, 2024
As a good contribution to World War I and II espionage history, I'd rate this book at 4 stars; because there doesn't really seem to be enough content to keep the book flowing and interesting throughout its length, it's a 3 star to me. Perhaps if the author had turned this into a full-fledged biography of Winthrop Bell it would have been a bit better to me. At any rate, the book tells the story of a previously-unrecorded Canadian spy, primarily during World War I, who reported the nascent Nazi threat as early as 1918, and watched, aghast, as the Allied powers (Britain, France, and the United States) ignored his pleas to lend aid to the defeated German nation, thus creating the environment in which Nazism bloomed and came to power. The result would be tens of millions of deaths twenty years later.
August 3, 2024
Really fascinating - a much deeper dive into what we usually hear is the causes of WWII, as well as other "inspirations". An easy read, but my one gripe is the unnecessary 'artistic' descriptions inserted by the author that have nothing to do with anything - I rolled my eyes quite hard at one aside about a gentleman with the last name 'Harmsworth' and how this man really found causing harm as necessary or something something.... As well, as much as Dr. Bell assuredly provided an incredible amount of very important insight and was very well connected - this book does very much only focus on his being the one to have single-handedly won the war for the Allies. It feels a bit biased and worshipful at times. Regardless, it is an incredible true story and offers a fascinating look at this in-between era in Germany between the two world wars.
December 16, 2023
I’m not sure I would call this a thrilling story but it is a remarkable story based on recently unsealed archives. You can’t help but wonder what other secrets are still being held that offer more explanation on the Nazi’s plans for world domination. The author does a good job describing the context of what was happening around the time Winthrop Bell was a student turned spy in Germany. He provides a link between WWI and WWII and how the Nazi philosophy became a movement. It is kind of maddening that Bell’s warnings (and others?) were not taken more seriously as the Holocaust could have been perhaps prevented…perhaps. Is it too much to hope that politicians, spy agencies and media have learned from this?
November 5, 2023
The fact that the world knew the Nazis were a threat before 1939 is not new, but Jason Bell's diligent research into secret MI6 officer Winthrop Bell (no relation) proves the world was warned way back in 1918/1919 that something sinister was happening in Germany.
Everyone needs to read this book - many of the facts parallel what's happening now in the US and Canada. History may be repeating itself.
What prevents this book from being a 5 star is that it's over detailed in places (I tended to zone in and out occasionally) and it repeats facts often. Therefore, the narrative could have been tightened up a bit.
Everyone needs to read this book - many of the facts parallel what's happening now in the US and Canada. History may be repeating itself.
What prevents this book from being a 5 star is that it's over detailed in places (I tended to zone in and out occasionally) and it repeats facts often. Therefore, the narrative could have been tightened up a bit.
December 27, 2023
Audiobook DNF
Narrator Christopher Grove
I coud only listen to about a third of this book. Unfortunately, I found it very dry and more like a history lesson.
Curious, I found the title, “Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Canada's Greatest Spy”, intriguing. From the recently unsealed archives, this person, Winthrop Bell, (no relation to the author) was a Canadian spy. I found that there were too many characters to keep track of and the story more about WWII from a history standpoint. Found it difficult to keep my focus during the narration. DNF.
Narrator Christopher Grove
I coud only listen to about a third of this book. Unfortunately, I found it very dry and more like a history lesson.
Curious, I found the title, “Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Canada's Greatest Spy”, intriguing. From the recently unsealed archives, this person, Winthrop Bell, (no relation to the author) was a Canadian spy. I found that there were too many characters to keep track of and the story more about WWII from a history standpoint. Found it difficult to keep my focus during the narration. DNF.
January 24, 2024
This is by far one of the most interesting books I have read. Based on true fact, Jason Bell takes us through the experiences and intelligence that Winthrop Bell undergoes from pre WW1 through to WW2.
The analysis is exceptional and unnerving to many who think his views are are extreme. Sadly he is proven to be adept at predicting the future of the politics of that era. Listen carefully to the logic and details Bell shares with those in high places. What was put in play in the last century still has unfinished business today. A good warning at a perilous time.
The analysis is exceptional and unnerving to many who think his views are are extreme. Sadly he is proven to be adept at predicting the future of the politics of that era. Listen carefully to the logic and details Bell shares with those in high places. What was put in play in the last century still has unfinished business today. A good warning at a perilous time.
January 31, 2024
A fascinating book on the impact that Wynthrop Bell made during the post war period of 1919 through to the reconstruction efforts kicked off by the Marshall Plan in 1947. Bell was a generalist who applied his knowledge to economics, technology, diplomacy and the discovery (and outing) of the Nazis “Final Solution.” There is no doubt that his efforts changed the course of history, and thankfully I was able to read this book to learn of a true Canadian hero; a man whom we all should be thankful to.
November 21, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. I am glad to hear about what this amazing academic, spy, and businessman accomplished and alerted the world to the crazy scheme of Hitler, which was global genocide. Thus, I am happy that we won WWII; otherwise, I would most likely not be here.
It is good to hear about the subtle way that the Nazis were spreading their hate. It takes someone knowledgeable to decipher all that.
It is good to hear about the subtle way that the Nazis were spreading their hate. It takes someone knowledgeable to decipher all that.
December 10, 2023
I always reading a story about unknown Canadians and how they influenced the world. The story of Winthrop Bell really surprised me what this one man did during the aftermath of WW I. Jason Bell (no relation) does a really good job of taking us back to those times. What the atmosphere was like in post war Berlin, and the geopolitical forces that were in play. If you're a fan of history and especially a fan of untold Canadian history, this is a great book!!
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