David McCormack
David had a long career in health and social care as a trained nurse and social worker before enrolling as a mature student at the University of Salford in 2006. In 2009 he graduated with first class honours in Contemporary Military and International History. In 2010, David graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Management, following which he continued to work as a volunteer at the Museum of the Manchester Regiment in Tameside. Since then, he has worked as a private tutor and as a battlefield guide and tour manager with a number of operators. His specialities are the Holocaust and the rise and fall of the III Reich. David’s previous publications include his ‘Berlin’ series of battlefield/historical guides and his successful Japanese Tanks and Armoured Warfare book which made an impact on both the contemporary gaming & modelling scene and with armour enthusiasts on both sides of the Atlantic. Although still a proud Lancastrian, David has lived in Dorset since 2017.
Theodor Eicke: Himmler’s Political Soldier
Following his death during the opening stages of the Third Battle of Kharkov on 26 February 1943, Theodor Eicke was hailed as a hero in the Axis press. There can however be little doubt that the praise lavished on him was given through gritted teeth as he was a highly controversial figure whose egomania, paranoid tendencies, authoritarianism, and uncompromising manner had served to alienate him from much of the Nazi state apparatus. Eicke’s unlikely rise to prominence was founded on Heinrich Himmler’s patronage, his codifying of punishments for prisoners, and his role in the elimination of perceived enemies of the state during the infamous Night of the Long Knives. He went on to play a key role in the militarisation of his camp guards, and following the outbreak of war led his troops into battle in Poland, France, and Russia where he emerged as a moderately successful field commander.
In this absorbing new biography, David McCormack employs a process that can best be characterised as ‘cold empathy’ in order to provide an objective appraisal of how somebody with such a deeply flawed character not only survived the internecine strife within Himmler’s black guard, and the murky Machiavellian politics that characterised the Third Reich, but managed to prosper.
The Great Escapism: The Theatrical Entertainers of Stalag Luft III
There is a long history of theatrical performances in prisoner of war camps as both captors and captives alike have recognised the benefits of encouraging artistic and creative expression. For POWs, the organisation, performance, and patronage of camp theatre served to reduce apathy, stimulate creativity, and produce a powerful sense of solidarity, community, and identity. For the camp authorities, the granting of artistic and performance privileges was regarded as a means towards diverting the prisoner’s mental energy away from escape activities.
The opportunity to either perform on stage or to take part in the production of plays and reviews behind the barbed wire produced not only a sense of purpose, but for some POWs including Peter Butterworth, John Casson, Rupert Davies, Roy Dotrice, and Cy Grant, camp theatricals also provided the foundations for their successful future careers on the stage and screen. At Stalag Luft III, the purpose-built theatre in the North Compound also had a purpose beyond pure entertainment in that it provided useful cover for escape activities, most notably for ‘The Great Escape’ and the construction of a fourth tunnel that was to be reserved for emergency use.
