Book picks similar to
Ernst Jünger and Germany: Into the Abyss, 1914-1945 by Thomas R. Nevin
biography
history
european-history
ww1
If This Is a Man • The Truce
Primo Levi - 1987
He was profoundly in touch with the minutest workings of the most endearing human events and with the most contemptible. What has survived in Levi's writing isn't just his memory of the unbearable, but also, in The Periodic Table and The Wrench, his delight in what made the world exquisite to him. He was himself a magically endearing man, the most delicately forceful enchanter I've ever known' - Philip Roth.
Road to Huertgen: Forest in Hell
Paul Boesch - 1962
“Pure unadulterated hell. That’s the only word for it. It’s hell.”
The Battle of Huertgen Forest was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Second World War. Fought between American and German forces between 19th September to 16th December it was the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. During those three months six American Infantry Divisions — the 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th, 28th and 83rd — and part of the 5th Armored Division fought against the battle-hardened Germans. Lt. Paul Boesch provides an eyewitness account of the horrors that he and his men saw as they struggled through the rain and mud, avoiding artillery, mortars and mines. This book is a remarkable account of one of the most vicious battles in World War Two told honestly by a man who was there. “A true but little-told account of what it means to be an Infantryman.” Major General William G. Weaver “To an old soldier this book will arouse memories; to the man in uniform who has never heard a shot fired in anger this book will stimulate reflexes which are life savers when the chips are down; to the youngster who eventually will be given the opportunity and privilege of wearing the uniform of his country, this book demonstrates the heights of heroism Americans can reach under the most deadly and difficult circumstances.” Major General P. D. Ginder Paul Boesch was awarded two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and the French Croix de Guerre for his bravery and leadership through the course of the Battle of Huertgen Forest. At the outbreak of the war he volunteered for the join the army and served with the 8th infantry Division. After the war he became a professional wrestler and promoter, most famous for his work as an announcer and promoter for Houston Wrestling. His book Road to Huertgen was first published in 1962 and he passed away in 1989.
Born Under a Lucky Star: A Red Army Soldier's Recollections of the Eastern Front of World War II
Ivan Philippovich Makarov - 2020
That was on his first day at the front.Thrown into an open field to face German tanks and artillery fire, with only rifles and machine guns to defend themselves with, almost 2,000 men of his regiment were wiped out in only six days at the Eastern Front. At this rate, Ivan struggled to comprehend how he would survive the hundreds of battles that lay before him, with death seeming to be the only certainty.In his raw and trenchant memoir, Ivan recounts the terror and despair faced by a Red Army soldier on the Eastern Front.He has no sympathy for Stalin and his incompetent commanders, who sought awards and recognition at the expense of their soldiers’ lives. He simply wanted to serve his country.It is rare to find first-hand accounts of the Great Patriotic War from Red Army soldiers, as many did not survive to tell the tale. For the first time, Ivan reveals his gripping recollections of battles, times, places, and people encountered throughout World War II, from when he was drafted in 1941 until their victory in 1945.These recollections he dared not put on paper until 1992.
Infantry Attacks
Erwin Rommel - 1937
Even when the legend surrounding his invincibility was overturned at El Alamein, the aura surrounding Rommel himself remained unsullied. As a leader of a small unit in the First World War, he proved himself an aggressive and versatile commander, with a reputation for using the battleground terrain to his own advantage, for gathering intelligence, and for seeking out and exploiting enemy weaknesses. Rommel graphically describes his own achievements, and those of his units, in the swift-moving battles on the Western Front, in the ensuing trench warfare, in the 1917 campaign in Romania, and in the pursuit across the Tagliamento and Piave rivers. This classic account seeks out the basis of his astonishing leadership skills, providing an indispensable guide to the art of war written by one of its greatest exponents.
World War II Stalingrad: A History From Beginning to End
Hourly History - 2017
The Soviet Union, which had climbed to power from the shambles of the 1917 Revolution that saw communism overthrow the czar, and Germany, which had risen from the ashes of World War I's Treaty of Versailles, certainly had a complicated history. Stalingrad was a battle between the Allies and the Axis Powers; it was a struggle between the Soviet Union and Germany for victory; and it was also a test of wills between Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler, two totalitarian dictators who were willing to do whatever was necessary to demonstrate the supremacy of their systems of government.Inside you will read about...✓ Josef Stalin: Man of Steel ✓ Adolf Hitler: A Quest for Vengeance ✓ Operation Barbarossa ✓ The Stalingrad Street Fighting Academy ✓ The Heroes of Stalingrad And much more!Stalin had succeeded Vladimir Lenin as the leader of the Soviet Union, and his entry upon the world stage ushered in a reign of absolute power as he bent a battered nation to conform to his will. Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, was elected chancellor of Germany in 1933 and promptly turned the beleaguered nation into a launch pad for Aryan domination. As their armies met at Stalingrad for a long and bloody struggle that would ultimately tally two million civilian and military casualties, the world would watch as two brutal regimes challenged one another while the fate of the free world hung in the balance.
The Holocaust: A New History
Laurence Rees - 2017
How, and why, did it happen?Laurence Rees' masterpiece is revealing in three ways. First, it is based not only on the latest academic research, but also on 25 years of interviewing survivors and perpetrators, often at the sites of the events, many of whom have never had their words published before. Second, the book is not just about the Jews - the Nazis would have murdered many more non-Jews had they won the war - and not just about Germans. Third, as Rees shows, there was no single 'decision' to start the Holocaust - there was a series of escalations, most often when the Nazi leadership interacted with their grassroots supporters.Through a chronological narrative, featuring the latest historical research and compelling eyewitness testimony, this is the story of the worst crime in history.
The Nazi Hunters
Andrew Nagorski - 2016
Many of the lower-ranking perpetrators quickly blended in with the millions who were seeking to rebuild their lives in a new Europe, while those who felt most at risk fled the continent. The Nazi Hunters focuses on the few who refused to allow their crimes to be forgotten—& who were determined to track them down. The Nazi Hunters reveals the experiences of the young American prosecutors in the Nuremberg & Dachau trials, Benjamin Ferencz & Wm Denson; the Polish investigating judge Jan Sehn, who handled the case of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss; Germany’s judge & prosecutor Fritz Bauer, who repeatedly forced his countrymen to confront their country’s record of mass murder; the Mossad agent Rafi Eitan, in charge of the Israeli team that nabbed Eichmann; & Eli Rosenbaum, who rose to head the US Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations that belatedly sought to expel war criminals who were living in the USA. But some of the Nazi hunters’ most controversial actions involved ambiguous cases, such as former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim’s attempt to cover up his wartime history. Or the fate of concentration camp guards who have lived into their 90s, long past the time when reliable eyewitnesses could be found to pinpoint their exact roles. The story of the Nazi hunters is coming to an end. It was unprecedented in many ways, especially the degree to which the initial impulse of revenge was transformed into a struggle for justice. The Nazi hunters have transformed fundamental notions of right & wrong. Nagorski’s book is a richly reconstructed odyssey, a tale of gritty determination, at times reckless behavior & relentless pursuit.
Kriegie: Prisoner of War
Kenneth Simmons - 2014
Pilot to crew. Bail out! Bail out!”
On 19th October, 1944, 2/Lt Kenneth W. Simmons was forced to jump from the damaged B-24 aircraft while in a bombing raid over Germany. Once he landed he quickly became a ‘kriegie’, a prisoner of war, which he remained until General Patton’s men freed him in late April 1945. Much of these seven months of captivity were spent in the dismal conditions of the prison camp Stalag Luft II. Simmons provides fascinating insight into what life was like be an American prisoner of war in Nazi Germany, from undergoing interrogations to suffering cruelty and abuse from the guards. He records not only the mundane day to day life of the prisoners but also their private projects, from forging documents to using the latrine to dispose of waste material from their tunneling projects. “steadily interesting … due to the small details of everyday existence” Kirkus Reviews “The march of death … is one of the most impressive scenes to be portrayed of World War II.” Houston Chronicle “a story of hellish and holy experiences undergone by the men who became PW of the Nazis.” Daily Democrat Kenneth Simmons was an American airman with the 8th Air Force who was forced to bail out of his plane just north of Bad Kreuznach in Germany. His work Kreigie records his experiences as a prisoner of war and was first published in 1960. Simmons passed away in 1969.
Raking Light from Ashes
Relli Robinson - 2019
two families. and an incredible tale of survival…
Relli, a Jewish girl in Poland, was denied a normal childhood.When Relli was just a baby, the Nazis occupied Poland and she, together with her parents, were imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto, a way station before death.Her parents correctly assessed the new situation and decided to act heroically in order to save their only child. They succeeded in smuggling her out of the Ghetto and entrusted her to a Gentile Polish couple who agreed to hide her for the duration of the war under a false identity.Overnight, Relli became Lala.Yet hope did not remain alive for long.Destruction and devastation engulfed Poland and soon little Lala was forced to escape and hide along with her new parents, merely to survive.This is the amazing story of Relli Robinson, who, thanks to kindhearted, courageous people and a tenacious capacity for survival, was able to get through the most difficult times in the history of humankind. An orphan girl, the sole survivor of her entire family.
Patterns of Childhood
Christa Wolf - 1976
This novel is a testament of what seemed at the time a fairly ordinary childhood, in the bosom of a normal Nazi family in Landsberg.Returning to her native town in East Germany forty years later, accompanied by her inquisitive and sometimes demanding daughter, Christa Wolf attempts to recapture her past and to clarify memories of growing up in Nazi Germany
Izzy's Fire: Finding Humanity in the Holocaust
Nancy Wright Beasley - 2004
All 13 Jews ended up living in a 9?x12?x4? underground hole as World War II raged around them. Some lived underground for about seven months before being liberated by the Russian Army. Dr. Michael Berenbaum, project director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (1988-1993) and author of The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum, says, ?Izzy's Fire is filled with the passion of one woman determined to do justice to the story of another woman who lived in hiding throughout the war years. The war has soul. One feels the intensity of the struggle to survive. One senses the decency of those who were ready to rescue and the evil that haunted a mother and father and their young child in the dangerous world they lived......"
Three Voices
Nora Sarel - 2018
Now an elderly woman with nothing but her memories to guide her – she embarks on a journey to unravel the truth of her past, once and for all.You have never read a story quite like this. Based on real events, Three Voices illustrates the trauma and relief of a woman escaping the atrocities of the Holocaust, traveling the world and eventually reclaiming her childhood. This incredible tale, pieced together from three unique perspectives, weaves past, present and future into a heart-wrenching experience that will change you.
Watch Lena take her life back
Lena remembers everything from her childhood. She doesn’t know that her whole life is about to be turned upside down as she comes face-to-face with another Lena. A once-in-a-lifetime meeting between the two Lena’s and the town's priest, sends shockwaves that reverberate through the truth that was known to her.
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Comedy in a Minor Key
Hans Keilson - 1947
This novella, first published in 1947 and now translated into English for the first time, shows Hans Keilson at his best: deeply ironic, penetrating, sympathetic, and brilliantly modern, an heir to Joseph Roth and Franz Kafka. In 2008, when Keilson received Germany’s prestigious Welt Literature Prize, the citation praised his work for exploring “the destructive impulse at work in the twentieth century, down to its deepest psychological and spiritual ramifications.” Published to celebrate Keilson’s hundredth birthday, Comedy in a Minor Key — and The Death of the Adversary, reissued in paperback — will introduce American readers to a forgotten classic author, a witness to World War II and a sophisticated storyteller whose books remain as fresh as when they first came to light.
Mengele: The Complete Story
Gerald Posner - 1980
With authority and insight, Mengele examines the entire life of the world's most infamous doctor.
Final Witness: My journey from the holocaust to Ireland
Zoltan Zinn-Collis - 2006
In Bergen-Belsen concentration camp he survived the inhuman brutality of the SS guards, the ravages of near starvation, disease, and squalor. All but one of his family died there, his mother losing her life on the very day the British finally marched into the camp. Discovered by a Red Cross nurse who described him as ‘an enchanting scrap of humanity’, Zoltan was brought to Ireland and adopted by one of the liberators, Dr Bob Collis, who raised him as his own son on Ireland’s east coast. Now aged 65, Zoltan is ready to speak. His story is one of deepest pain and greatest joy. Zoltan tells how he lost one family and found another; of how, escaping from the ruins of a broken Europe, he was able to build himself a life – a life he may never have had.