As we learn in Martina Pluda's brief but insightful volume Animal Law in the Third Reich, these sentiments are not those of Sir David Attenborough, but Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Pluda's book, which examines the paradoxical nature of the animal protection and nature conservation legislation enacted during the Nazi regime, is replete with such surprises and contradictions. Although Pluda adopts a strictly legal perspective, she effectively balances the necessary legalese with enough anecdotal evidence to hold the attention of specialists and laypersons alike.
Despite the public's fascination with Nazi leaders and the mythos surrounding their treatment and utilization of animals (particularly Adolf Hitler's German shepherds), academic monographs on the subject are somewhat scarce, and many trade books that delve into the topic of animals and National Socialism should come prepackaged with gratuitous grains of salt. Animal Law in the Third Reich is thus a welcome contribution to the...
