Originally written in 1899, Rilke wrote them upon returning to Germany from his first trip to Russia. His experience of the East shaped him profoundly. He found himself entranced by Orthodox churches and monasteries, above all by the icons that seemed to him like flames glowing in dark spaces. He intended these poems as icons of sorts, gestures that could illumine a way for seekers in the darkness. As Rilke here writes, "I love the dark hours of my being, for they deepen my senses." Translated by Mark S. Burrows.

    The novel chronicles the activities of Radulf, an architect and writer living in Germany, a man whose psyche is in a state of constant trauma about the fact that he has no real moral compass. He vents this frustration by viewing the world as a selfish place despite his success. In a kind of desire for revenge, Radulf perfects his skills of manipulation by gaining the trust of victims by exploiting their innocence and dreams with promise and illusion. Radulf's actions reveal shocking truths about the trusting nature of humanity and about our own perspectives on what's actually real in the world we live. A moving cautionary tale about a progressive-elitist on the prowl for nihilism.

    The story of Irena Sendler, a Catholic woman who saved at least 2,500 chilren from death during the Holocaust.

    When her family was sent to the Warsaw ghetto, Elsa joined a community farm and was recruited by the Underground. Despite her deep belief in destiny, Elsa refused to bow to her fate as a Jew in war-torn Poland.

    Full of tragic and compelling experiences such as life in Siberia, Warsaw before World War II, the German occupation, the Warsaw Rising, and life in the Soviet Ostashkov prison, Kaia was deeply involved with the battle that decimated Warsaw in 1944 as a member of the resistance army and the rebuilding of the city as an architect years later. Kaia's father was expelled from Poland for conspiring against the Russian czar. She spent her early childhood near Altaj Mountain and remembered Siberia as a "paradise". In 1922, the family returned to free Poland, the train trip taking a year. Kaia entered the school system, studied architecture, and joined the Armia Krajowa in 1942. After the legendary partisan Hubal's death, a courier gave Kaia the famous leader's Virtuti Militari Award to protect. She carried the medal for 54 years. After the Warsaw Rising collapsed, she was captured by the Russian NKVD in Bialystok and imprisoned. In one of many interrogations, a Russian asked about Hubal's award. When Kaia replied that it was a religious relic from her father, she received only a puzzled look from the interrogator. Knowing that another interrogation could end differently, she hid the award in the heel of her shoe where it was never discovered. In 1946, Kaia, very ill and weighing only 84 pounds, returned to Poland, where she regained her health and later worked as an architect to the rebuild the totally decimated Warsaw.

    After fleeing Germany with his family, he escaped to the United States. He then worked as a chicken farmer, joined the army, trained as an interrogator, jumped as a D-Day paratrooper, helped liberate a concentration camp, and fought to rescue the country of his birth. Following a distinguished career as a history professor in the U.S., he chose to retire in Berlin, where he spent his last years talking to German schoolchildren about what it was like to grow up Jewish under the Third Reich, and working to promote tolerance and peace. Winner of a 2013 Independent Publisher Book Award: Gold Medal, Best Adult Non-Fiction Personal Ebook.

    Incredibly, he lives in plain sight among his enemies for almost three years.Eighteen-year-old Sasha flees from the Nazi-occupied Dubno ghetto days before the mobile killing squads of the SS massacre the remaining Jewish inhabitants. He attempts to save himself by posing as a gentile in the very heart of Hitler's Germany. Close calls, unexpected challenges, and hair-raising encounters punctuate each day on the run. As he moves from town to town and job to job, Sasha's quick wit and some twists of fate allow him to survive--at least until the next time. Meeting no other Jews, he fears he may be the only Jew still alive in Europe.Sasha, a Jewish youth from Ukraine, runs from the Dubno ghetto in October of 1942, at the urging of his mother, who knows that any day the Germans will come for them and kill them. To survive, he uses falsified identity documents to join a transport of non-Jews conscripted for compulsory labor in Germany. In the homeland of his enemy, he hides in plain sight for almost three years.He is repeatedly forced to flee when suspicions and rumors that he might be Jewish threaten his life. Each day he faces new challenges: whether he is being questioned by the Gestapo after running away from a job or being examined by a German physician who may well discover that he is circumcised.He lives with the loneliness and isolation of not being able to share with anyone the secret of who he really is, as well as his daily fear of being discovered. He must constantly remain on guard with everyone: his co-workers, his German bosses, and even the woman who professes to love him.This incredible memoir documents one young man's determination to remain alive during the Holocaust. It is a narrative of anguish, identity confusion, triumph over adversity, and ultimately a final escape to the West to reclaim the identity and ideals of his youth.Sam Genirberg immigrated to the United States with his wife and child in 1948. Settling in California, his career path progressed from chicken farmer, to owner and manager of a popular ice cream store, to highly successful land developer. Over the years, he has been active in the Jewish community and has remained a steadfast supporter of Israel. He and his wife, Rose, have raised three children. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, continues to be involved in property management, and frequently talks about his Holocaust experiences to Jewish groups and high school students in his community.

    Few today would doubt Hesse's artistry or his importance to millions of devoted readers. But just who was the author of Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, and Demian?Gunnar Decker weaves together previously unavailable sources to offer a unique interpretation of the life and work of Hermann Hesse. Drawing on recently discovered correspondence between Hesse and his psychoanalyst Josef Lang, Decker shows how Hesse reversed the traditional roles of therapist and client, and rethinks the relationship between Hesse's novels and Jungian psychoanalysis. He also explores Hesse's correspondence with Stefan Zweig—recently unearthed—to find the source of Hesse's profound sense of alienation from his contemporaries.Decker's biography brings to life this icon of spiritual searching and disenchantment who galvanized the counterculture in the 1960s and feels newly relevant today.

    This book presents the lives of eight women who, at profound risk to themselves, chose to challenge the Third Reich. Hailing from diverse regions of the world the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and North America the women shared privileged backgrounds of financial and social prominence as well as a profound sense of social justice. As to their deeds with the Resistance, they ranged from forging documents and hiding persecuted Jews to orchestrating sabotage operations and crafting a nonviolent protest movement within Nazi Germany itself. As could be expected, the costs were great, capture and execution among them, but the women s achievements did succeed in helping to win the war."

    Is this good or bad for the rest of us? This book, written by a British journalist connected to Germany since an early age, offers some answers. As a historical memoir covering the last century, it gives insights into Germans on the basis of direct experience. This is a story of divided allegiance. The author’s German mother celebrated her 100th birthday on 21 June 2012. She emigrated to England after falling foul of the Nazis. His British father fought in World War II, and the young boy grew up proud of Britain’s victory over Hitler. Yet from an early age, the author became acquainted with kindly German relatives and the German economic miracle. With a foot in both camps, the author judges the merits and failings of Britons and Germans over the last century. Writing in a heartfelt, easily-accessible style, he resolves a nagging conflict of personal loyalty only in the ruins of Dresden (in the Cold War, he lived as a Reuters correspondent in Communist East Germany).Based on years of research and interviews, the book traces the dramatic changes which have taken place in German attitudes, including a swing to pacifism, while Britain continues to focus on its military heritage. The author concludes that the rise of a central European power dedicated to peace, thrift, social stability, wealth-creation – and a touch of generosity – is no bad thing for the rest of Europe.