German Memoirs

Almost all accounts of D-Day are told from the Allied perspective, with the emphasis on how German resistance was overcome on June 6, 1944. But what was it like to be a German soldier in the bunkers and gun emplacements of the Normandy coast, facing the onslaught of the mightiest seaborne invasion in history? What motivated the German defenders, what were their thought processes - and how did they fight from one strong point to another, among the dunes and fields, on that first cataclysmic day?

Written from the "other side" and told as much as possible through the words of the veterans, this is an important book on one of the most controversial campaigns of the Second World War.

The author could be described as a veteran in every sense of the word, even though he was only age 21 when the war ended. Armin Scheiderbauer served as an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German army, and saw four years of bitter combat on the Eastern Front, being wounded six times. This is an outstanding personal memoir, written with great thoughtfulness and honesty.

The first book of D Day Through German Eyes has fascinated listeners around the world with its insight into the German experience of June 6, 1944. Now, book 2 contains a completely different set of astonishing German testimonies from the same archive. These newly translated eyewitness statements by German veterans show the defenders to be determined but psychologically insecure, often deluded in their thinking, and all too human in their shock at the onslaught they faced.

May 1945: In the aftermath of the Second World War, the first British War Crimes Investigation Team is assembled to hunt down the senior Nazi officials responsible for the greatest atrocities the world has ever seen. One of the lead investigators is Lieutenant Hanns Alexander, a German Jew who is now serving in the British Army. Rudolf Höss is his most elusive target. Hanns and Rudolf reveals for the very first time the full, exhilarating account of Höss' capture, an encounter with repercussions that echo to this day.

It is sometimes difficult to remember that in war there are innocents on all sides who suffer. German citizens who had no connection to the atrocities committed by their countrymen nonetheless endured great hardships because of them.

After World War II, 50 percent of Americans polled said they didn’t believe Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun had committed suicide in their bunker in 1945, as captured Nazi officials claimed. Instead, they believed the dictator faked his death and escaped, perhaps to Argentina. This wasn’t a crazy opinion: Joseph Stalin told Allied leaders that Soviet forces never discovered Hitler’s body and that he personally believed the Nazi leader had escaped justice. At least two German submarines crossed the Atlantic and landed on the coast of Argentina in July 1945.

Gunter K. Koschorrek was a machine-gunner on the Russian front in WWII. He wrote his illicit diary on any scraps of paper he could lay his hands on. As keeping a diary was strictly forbidden, he sewed the pages into the lining of his thick winter coat and deposited them with his mother on infrequent trips home on leave. The diary went missing, and it was when he was reunited with his daughter in America some 40 years later that it came to light and became Blood Red Snow.

Im August 2021 wird der junge Oberleutnant Marc Hinzmann kurzfristig mit einem zusammengewürfelten Team von Feldjägern nach Afghanistan befohlen. An den Flughafen, an dem zu diesem Zeitpunkt bereits Chaos herrscht und der als letzter Zufluchtsort gilt. Während sich tausende Menschen vor den Toren drängen, liegt es plötzlich in seiner Verantwortung zu entscheiden, wer einen Platz im Evakuierungsflieger der Bundeswehr bekommen würde und wer nicht – ohne Dolmetscher, ohne klare Vorgaben und ohne rechtlichen Beistand.

The complete war memoirs of the resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who led France out of its darkest hour during the Nazi occupation during World War II. “Faced with the political disaster, I had to become France.” This was how Charles de Gaulle answered the call of history. One of the few...

In December 1943, with the rising realization that the Allies are planning to invade Fortress Europe, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is assigned the title of General Inspector for the Atlantic Wall. His mission is to assess their readiness. His superior, theater commander, crusty old Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who had led the Reich to victory in the early years of the war, is now fed up with the whole Nazi regime. He lives comfortably in a plush villa in a quiet Paris suburb, waiting for the inevitable Allied invasion that will bring about their final defeat.

Mit 69 Jahren war Ozzy Osbourne auf einer triumphalen Abschiedstournee, spielte vor ausverkauften Stadien und erhielt begeisterte Kritiken auf der ganzen Welt. Dann das Desaster. Innerhalb weniger Wochen musste er nach einem Krankenhausaufenthalt wegen einer Fingerinfektion seine Tournee – und sein gesamtes öffentliches Leben – aufgeben, da er vom Hals abwärts fast vollständig gelähmt war.

Rekordhitze, Schlangen, Erdrutsche und Taifune halten Christine Thürmer in Japan, Taiwan und Südkorea ordentlich auf Trab. Auf ihren dreizehn Trails stößt sie auf buddhistische Tempel und Shinto-Schreine von einzigartiger Schönheit, verspeist eine Überdosis Kimchi, zupft Blutegel von ihren Beinen und erlebt das schwerste Erdbeben in Taiwan seit vierzig Jahren! Einfühlsam erzählt sie von der Wanderung in Japan entlang der vom Tsunami 2011 zerstörten Küste, spricht mit Überlebenden und läuft im Abstand von lediglich vier Kilometern um den havarierten Reaktor herum.

In seinem neuen Abenteuer erklimmt er die Säulen des Meeres, von der Felsnadel im französischen Étretat bis zum Totem Pole in Tasmanien, von den Färöer-Inseln bis zum Kap Hoorn begibt er sich auf eine Reise um die Welt, um jene Felspfeiler zu besteigen, die wie steinerne Mahnmale vor den Küsten in den Himmel ragen. An den Schnittpunkten von Meer, Wind, Sonne und Stille sucht Tesson nicht nur die Herausforderung des Aufstiegs zu entlegenen, vom Menschen unberührten Orten.

Als eine junge, rebellische Hotelerbin Anfang der 2000er Jahre mit Partyexzessen und frechen Sprüchen die Klatschspalten und das Programm der Jugendsender bestimmte, rollten Eltern allerorts mit den Augen: Was war das schon wieder für ein schlechtes Vorbild für die Jugend? Zwanzig Jahre später gibt Paris Hilton selbst eine Antwort, die viele überraschen wird.

Few perspectives epitomize the sheer drama and sacrifice of combat more perfectly than those of the fighter pilots of World War II. As romanticized as any soldier in history, the World War II fighter pilot was viewed as larger than life: a dashing soul waging war amongst the clouds. In the 65-plus years since the Allied victory, stories of these pilots' heroics have never been in short supply. But what about their adversaries - the highly skilled German aviators who pushed the Allies to the very brink of defeat?

With intimate detail, author Maria Riva reveals the rich life of her mother, Marlene Dietrich, the charismatic star of stage and screen whose career spanned much of the 20th century. Opening with Dietrich's childhood in Schöneberg, Riva's biography introduces us to an energetic, disciplined, and ambitious young actress whose own mother equated show business with a world of vagabonds and thieves.

Johannes Calvin gilt als eine der einflussreichsten Persönlichkeiten der christlichen Geschichte, ein Theologe, dessen Ideen den Verlauf der protestantischen Reformation prägten und bis heute Einfluss auf Kirchen, Politik und Kultur haben. Von seinen frühen Jahren in Frankreich über sein Exil, seine Reformbemühungen in Genf bis hin zu seinem bleibenden Vermächtnis bietet dieses Buch eine tiefgehende Erkundung von Calvins Leben, Theologie und der Welt, die er mitgestaltete.

Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamt of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen SS unit. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and just 17-years-old, Erwin fulfilled his dream on Mayday 1941, when he gave up his apprenticeship at the Glaser bakery in Memeler Strasse and walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw, volunteer recruit.

When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942, the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue, and constant deprivation. Posted to the elite Grosse Deutschland division, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive.