Download or read book The Perfect Nazi written by Martin Davidson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-03-31 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if you found out that your grandfather had been a Nazi SS officer? This is the confession that Martin Davidson received from his mother upon the death of demanding, magnetic grandfather Bruno Langbehn. The Perfect Nazi is Davidson's exploration of his family's darkest secret. As Davidson dove into his research, drawing on an astonishing cache of personal documents as well as eyewitness accounts of this historical period, he learned that Bruno's story moved lock-step in time with the rise and fall of the Nazi party: from his upbringing in a fiercely military environment amid the aftermath of World War I, to his joining the Nazi party in 1926 at the age of nineteen, more than six years before Hitler came to power, to his postwar involvement with the Werewolves, the gang of SS stalwarts who vowed to keep on after the defeat of Nazism. Davidson realized that his grandfather was in many ways the "perfect Nazi," his individual experiences emblematic of the generation of Germans who would plunge the world into such darkness. But he also realized that every fact he uncovered was a terrible truth he himself would have to come to terms with...

Download or read book How Hitler Was Made written by Cory Taylor and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on German society immediately following the First World War, this vivid historical narrative explains how fake news and political uproar influenced Hitler and put him on the path toward dictatorial power. How did an obscure agitator on the political fringes of early-20th-century Germany rise to become the supreme leader of the "Third Reich"? Unlike many other books that track Adolf Hitler's career after 1933, this book focuses on his formative period--immediately following World War I (1918-1924). The author, a veteran producer of historical documentaries, brings to life this era of political unrest and violent conflict, when forces on both the left and right were engaged in a desperate power struggle. Among the competing groups was a highly sophisticated network of ethnic chauvinists that discovered Hitler and groomed him into the leader he became. The book also underscores the importance of a post-war socialist revolution in Bavaria, led by earnest reformers, some of whom were Jewish. Right wing extremists skewed this brief experiment in democracy followed by Soviet-style communism as evidence of a Jewish-Bolshevik plot. Along with the pernicious "stab-in-the-back" myth, which misdirected blame for Germany's defeat onto civilian politicians, public opinion was primed for Hitler to use his political cunning and oratorical powers to effectively blame Jews and Communists for all of Germany's problems. Based on archival research in Germany, England, and the US, this striking narrative reveals how the manipulation of facts and the use of propaganda helped an obscure, embittered malcontent to gain political legitimacy, which led to dictatorial power over a nation.

Download or read book The Perfect Horse written by Elizabeth Letts and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion, the remarkable story of the heroic rescue of priceless horses in the closing days of World War II WINNER OF THE PEN AWARD FOR RESEARCH NONFICTION In the chaotic last days of the war, a small troop of battle-weary American soldiers captures a German spy and makes an astonishing find—his briefcase is empty but for photos of beautiful white horses that have been stolen and kept on a secret farm behind enemy lines. Hitler has stockpiled the world’s finest purebreds in order to breed the perfect military machine—an equine master race. But with the starving Russian army closing in, the animals are in imminent danger of being slaughtered for food. With only hours to spare, one of the U.S. Army’s last great cavalrymen, Colonel Hank Reed, makes a bold decision—with General George Patton’s blessing—to mount a covert rescue operation. Racing against time, Reed’s small but determined force of soldiers, aided by several turncoat Germans, steals across enemy lines in a last-ditch effort to save the horses. Pulling together this multistranded story, Elizabeth Letts introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters: Alois Podhajsky, director of the famed Spanish Riding School of Vienna, a former Olympic medalist who is forced to flee the bomb-ravaged Austrian capital with his entire stable in tow; Gustav Rau, Hitler’s imperious chief of horse breeding, a proponent of eugenics who dreams of genetically engineering the perfect warhorse for Germany; and Tom Stewart, a senator’s son who makes a daring moonlight ride on a white stallion to secure the farm’s surrender. A compelling account for animal lovers and World War II buffs alike, The Perfect Horse tells for the first time the full story of these events. Elizabeth Letts’s exhilarating tale of behind-enemy-lines adventure, courage, and sacrifice brings to life one of the most inspiring chapters in the annals of human valor. Praise for The Perfect Horse “Winningly readable . . . Letts captures both the personalities and the stakes of this daring mission with such a sharp ear for drama that the whole second half of the book reads like a WWII thriller dreamed up by Alan Furst or Len Deighton. . . . The right director could make a Hollywood classic out of this fairy tale.”—The Christian Science Monitor “Letts, a lifelong equestrienne, eloquently brings together the many facets of this unlikely, poignant story underscoring the love and respect of man for horses.”—Kirkus Reviews

Download or read book The Perfect Nazi written by Martin Davidson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if you found out that your grandfather had been a Nazi SS officer? This is the confession that Martin Davidson received from his mother upon the death of demanding, magnetic grandfather Bruno Langbehn. The Perfect Nazi is Davidson's exploration of his family's darkest secret. As Davidson dove into his research, drawing on an astonishing cache of personal documents as well as eyewitness accounts of this historical period, he learned that Bruno's story moved lock-step in time with the rise and fall of the Nazi party: from his upbringing in a fiercely military environment amid the aftermath of World War I, to his joining the Nazi party in 1926 at the age of nineteen, more than six years before Hitler came to power, to his postwar involvement with the Werewolves, the gang of SS stalwarts who vowed to keep on after the defeat of Nazism. Davidson realized that his grandfather was in many ways the "perfect Nazi," his individual experiences emblematic of the generation of Germans who would plunge the world into such darkness. But he also realized that every fact he uncovered was a terrible truth he himself would have to come to terms with...

Download or read book Max written by Sarah Cohen-Scali and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nazi Germany 1936. The Lebensborn program is going strong as German women are carefully selected by the Nazis and recruited to give birth to new representatives of the Aryan race. Inside one of these women is Max, a fetus waiting to be born and fulfill his destiny as the perfect Aryan. Max is taken away from his birth mother as soon as he enters the world. He will be raised under the leadership and ideologies of the Nazi Party. As he grows up without a mom, without any affection or tenderness, according to Nazi educational precepts, he soon becomes the mascot of the program. But things don't go according to plan. Originally published in French, Sarah Cohen-Scali's touching, illuminating, and heartbreaking book has been translated for an English-speaking audience. A Neal Porter Book

Download or read book Hitler and Nazi Germany written by Jackson J. Spielvogel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-16 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text is based on current research findings and is written for students and general readers who want a deeper understanding of this period in German history. It provides a balanced approach in examining Hitler's role in the history of the Third Reich and includes coverage of the economic, social, and political forces that made the rise and growth of Nazism possible; the institutional, cultural, and social life of the Third Reich; the Second World War; and the Holocaust.

Download or read book A Nazi in the Family written by Derek Niemann and published by Short Books. This book was released on 2018-09-06 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WARTIME BERLIN: The Niemann family - Karl, Minna and their four children - live in a quiet, suburban enclave. Every day Karl commutes to work, a business manager travelling around inspecting his “factories”. In the evenings he returns home to life as a normal family man.Three years ago Derek Niemann, born and raised in Scotland, made the chilling discovery that his grandfather Karl had been an officer in the SS - and that his “business” used thousands of slave labourers in concentration camps, such as Auschwitz, Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. Derek had known little about the German side of his family, but now a lifetime of unsettling hints and clues began to fall into place.With the help of surviving relatives and hundreds of previously unknown family photographs, Derek uncovers the true story of what Karl did. A Nazi in the Family is an illuminating portrayal of how ordinary people can fall into the service of a monstrous regime.

Download or read book The Perfect Nazi written by Martin Peter Davidson and published by Putnam Publishing Group. This book was released on 2011 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the author's research into his family's history after learning that his grandfather had been a Nazi SS officer, describing his discoveries of how his grandfather embodied the persona of an ideal soldier whose fortunes reflected the rise and fall of the Nazi party.

Download or read book State of Deception written by Susan Bachrach and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of Nazi propaganda based on never-before-published posters, rare photographs, and historical artifacts from the USHMM’s groundbreaking exhibition. “Propaganda,” Adolf Hitler wrote in 1924, “is a truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert.” State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda documents how, in the 1920s and 1930s, the Nazi Party used posters, newspapers, rallies, and the new technologies of radio and film to sway millions with its vision for a new Germany—reinforced by fear-mongering images of state “enemies.” These images promoted indifference toward the suffering of neighbors, disguised the regime’s genocidal actions, and insidiously incited ordinary people to carry out or tolerate mass violence.The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is addressing this topic today because, in an age of instant electronic communication, disseminators of messages and images of intolerance and hate have new tools, while at the same time consumers seem less able to cope with the vast amounts of unmediated information bombarding them daily. It is hoped that a deeper understanding of the complexities of the past may help us respond more effectively to today’s propaganda campaigns and biased messages.

Download or read book The Nazi Hunter written by Alan Elsner and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gripping thriller, The Nazi Hunter mixes fierce partisan Washington politics, the search for ex-Nazi criminals, and a crazed, right-wing militia intent on bringing down the government. Nicknamed “the Nazi Hunter,” Marek Cain, deputy director of the Office of Special Investigations at the Justice Department, has for ten years been the point man for tracking down ex-Nazis who have fraudulently entered the United States since World War II and bringing them to justice. One late afternoon, a distraught German woman eludes security and slips into Cain’s office. “I have documents,” she says, “important documents only for the Nazi Hunter.” She promises to bring them the next day. When she doesn’t show, he dismisses her as just another crackpot. But when he reads in the Washington Post the next morning that the woman has been brutally murdered, he senses he’s on to something big. He must find those documents. The trail leads from Washington to Miami to Boston, back to the Belzec concentration camp in Poland, where half a million Jews were murdered in the winter of 1942, and into the lair of America’s fascist militias.

Download or read book In the garden of beasts written by Erik Larson and published by Random House Digital, Inc.. This book was released on 2011 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the 'New Germany,' she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance - and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler's true character and ruthless ambition.

Download or read book Hitler s True Believers written by Robert Gellately and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nazi ideology drove Hitler's quest for power in 1933, colored everything in the Third Reich, and culminated in the Second World War and the Holocaust. In this book, Gellately addresses often-debated questions about how Führer discovered the ideology and why millions adopted aspects of National Socialism without having laid eyes on the "leader" or reading his work.

Download or read book Defying the Nazis written by Artemis Joukowsky and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The little-known story of the Sharps whose rescue and relief missions across Europe during World War II saved the lives of countless Jews, refugees, and political dissidents. Official companion to the Ken Burns PBS film. For readers captivated by the story of Antonina Zabinski as told in The Zookeeper's Wife and other stories of rescue missions during WWII, Defying the Nazis is an essential read. In 1939, the Reverend Waitstill Sharp, a young Unitarian minister, and his wife, Martha, a social worker, accepted a mission from the American Unitarian Association: they were to leave their home and young children in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and travel to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to help address the mounting refugee crisis. Seventeen ministers had been asked to undertake this mission and had declined; Rev. Sharp was the first to accept the call for volunteers in Europe. Armed with only $40,000, Waitstill and Martha quickly learned the art of spy craft and undertook dangerous rescue and relief missions across war-torn Europe, saving refugees, political dissidents, and Jews on the eve of World War II. After narrowly avoiding the Gestapo themselves, the Sharps returned to Europe in 1940 as representatives of the newly formed Unitarian Service Committee and continued their relief efforts in Vichy France. A fascinating portrait of resistance as told through the story of one courageous couple, Defying the Nazis offers a rare glimpse at high-stakes international relief efforts during WWII and tells the remarkable true story of a couple whose faith and commitment to social justice inspired them to risk their lives to save countless others.

Download or read book Hitler s American Friends written by Bradley W. Hart and published by Thomas Dunne Books. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book examining the strange terrain of Nazi sympathizers, nonintervention campaigners and other voices in America who advocated on behalf of Nazi Germany in the years before World War II. Americans who remember World War II reminisce about how it brought the country together. The less popular truth behind this warm nostalgia: until the attack on Pearl Harbor, America was deeply, dangerously divided. Bradley W. Hart's Hitler's American Friends exposes the homegrown antagonists who sought to protect and promote Hitler, leave Europeans (and especially European Jews) to fend for themselves, and elevate the Nazi regime. Some of these friends were Americans of German heritage who joined the Bund, whose leadership dreamed of installing a stateside Führer. Some were as bizarre and hair-raising as the Silver Shirt Legion, run by an eccentric who claimed that Hitler fulfilled a religious prophesy. Some were Midwestern Catholics like Father Charles Coughlin, an early right-wing radio star who broadcast anti-Semitic tirades. They were even members of Congress who used their franking privilege—sending mail at cost to American taxpayers—to distribute German propaganda. And celebrity pilot Charles Lindbergh ended up speaking for them all at the America First Committee. We try to tell ourselves it couldn't happen here, but Americans are not immune to the lure of fascism. Hitler's American Friends is a powerful look at how the forces of evil manipulate ordinary people, how we stepped back from the ledge, and the disturbing ease with which we could return to it.

Download or read book The Perfect Nazi written by Martin Davidson and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2011 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After 50 years of family secrecy, Martin Davidson discovers that his grandfather was one of Hitler's most loyal SS officers, serving alongside the masterminds of the Holocaust. In this book, Davidson brings to life just what it was like to grow up as a teenager in Germany during Hitler's rise to power.

Download or read book The Weimar Republic 1919 1933 written by Ruth Henig and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-01-22 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book represents a much-needed reappraisal of Germany between the wars, examining the political, social and economic aims of the new republic, their failure and how they led to Nazism and eventually the Second World War. The author includes: * an examination of the legacy of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles * discussion of the early years of crisis culminating in the Ruhr Invasion and the Dawes Settlement * assessment of the leadership of Stresemann and Bruning * exploration of the circumstances leading to the rise of Hitler * an outline of the historiography of the Weimar Republic.

Download or read book The Nazi Hunters How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World s Most Notorious Nazi written by Neal Bascomb and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling spy mission, a moving Holocaust story, and a first-class work of narrative nonfiction. This Sydney Taylor Book Award- and YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award-winning story of Eichmann's capture is now a major motion picture starring Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley, Operation Finale! In 1945, at the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head of operations for the Nazis' Final Solution, walked into the mountains of Germany and vanished from view. Sixteen years later, an elite team of spies captured him at a bus stop in Argentina and smuggled him to Israel, resulting in one of the century's most important trials -- one that cemented the Holocaust in the public imagination. This is the thrilling and fascinating story of what happened between these two events. Illustrated with powerful photos throughout, impeccably researched, and told with powerful precision, THE NAZI HUNTERS is a can't-miss work of narrative nonfiction for middle-grade and YA readers.