Author: Michael Good
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823224422
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
An “exceptional” historical detective story that follows one man’s quest to find the German commander who saved his mother—and many other Jews (Booklist). Part detective story, part personal quest, Michael Good’s book is the story of the German commander of a Lithuanian work camp who saved hundreds of Jewish lives in the Vilnius ghetto —including the life of Good’s mother, Pearl. Who was this enigmatic officer Pearl Good had spoken of so often? After five years of research—interviewing survivors, assembling a team that could work to open German files untouched for fifty years, following every lead he could, Good was able to uncover the amazing tale of one man’s remarkable courage. And in April 2005, Karl Plagge joined Oskar Schindler and 380 other Germans as “Righteous among Nations,” honored by the State of Israel for protecting and saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. This expanded edition features new photographs and a new epilogue on the impact of the discovery of Karl Plagge—especially the story of eighty-three-year-old Alfons von Deschwanden, who, after fifty years of silence, came forward as a veteran of Plagge’s unit. His testimony is now part of this growing witness to truth. “A rewarding tale of redemption in the face of horror.” —Kirkus Reviews
The Search for Major Plagge
Author: Michael Good
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823224422
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
An “exceptional” historical detective story that follows one man’s quest to find the German commander who saved his mother—and many other Jews (Booklist). Part detective story, part personal quest, Michael Good’s book is the story of the German commander of a Lithuanian work camp who saved hundreds of Jewish lives in the Vilnius ghetto —including the life of Good’s mother, Pearl. Who was this enigmatic officer Pearl Good had spoken of so often? After five years of research—interviewing survivors, assembling a team that could work to open German files untouched for fifty years, following every lead he could, Good was able to uncover the amazing tale of one man’s remarkable courage. And in April 2005, Karl Plagge joined Oskar Schindler and 380 other Germans as “Righteous among Nations,” honored by the State of Israel for protecting and saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. This expanded edition features new photographs and a new epilogue on the impact of the discovery of Karl Plagge—especially the story of eighty-three-year-old Alfons von Deschwanden, who, after fifty years of silence, came forward as a veteran of Plagge’s unit. His testimony is now part of this growing witness to truth. “A rewarding tale of redemption in the face of horror.” —Kirkus Reviews
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823224422
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
An “exceptional” historical detective story that follows one man’s quest to find the German commander who saved his mother—and many other Jews (Booklist). Part detective story, part personal quest, Michael Good’s book is the story of the German commander of a Lithuanian work camp who saved hundreds of Jewish lives in the Vilnius ghetto —including the life of Good’s mother, Pearl. Who was this enigmatic officer Pearl Good had spoken of so often? After five years of research—interviewing survivors, assembling a team that could work to open German files untouched for fifty years, following every lead he could, Good was able to uncover the amazing tale of one man’s remarkable courage. And in April 2005, Karl Plagge joined Oskar Schindler and 380 other Germans as “Righteous among Nations,” honored by the State of Israel for protecting and saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. This expanded edition features new photographs and a new epilogue on the impact of the discovery of Karl Plagge—especially the story of eighty-three-year-old Alfons von Deschwanden, who, after fifty years of silence, came forward as a veteran of Plagge’s unit. His testimony is now part of this growing witness to truth. “A rewarding tale of redemption in the face of horror.” —Kirkus Reviews
Daniel Half Human
Author: David Chotjewitz
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0689857470
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
In 1933 Germany, Daniel Kraushaar is horrified to discover that his mother is Jewish. Daniel realizes he is half-Jewish--and half-human in Aryan eyes. Daniel keeps this secret to himself. But when his friends join the Hitler Youth, it carries fateful consequences for Daniel's family.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0689857470
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 313
Book Description
In 1933 Germany, Daniel Kraushaar is horrified to discover that his mother is Jewish. Daniel realizes he is half-Jewish--and half-human in Aryan eyes. Daniel keeps this secret to himself. But when his friends join the Hitler Youth, it carries fateful consequences for Daniel's family.
The Search for Major Plagge
Author: Michael Good
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 9780823224401
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
On April 11, 2005, in Jerusalem, Karl Plagge will be named a ôRighteous Among the Nationsö hero by the State of Israel. He joins Oskar Schindler and some 380 other similarly honored Germans who protected and saved Jews during the Holocaust. Karl Plagge's story is of a unique kind of courage-that of a German army officer who subverted the system of death to save the lives of some 250 Jews in Vilna, Lithuania. One of those he saved was Michael Good's mother. Haunted by his mother's stories of the mysterious officer who commanded her slave labor camp, Michael Good resolved to find out all he could about the enigmatic ôMajor Plagge.ö For five years, he wrote hundreds of letters and scoured the Internet to recover, in one hard-earned bit of evidence after another, information about the man whose moral choices saved hundreds of lives. This unforgettable book is the first portrait of a modest man who simply refused to play by the rules. Interviewing camp survivors, opening German files untouched for more than fifty years, and translating newly discovered letters, Good weaves an amazing tale. An engineer from Darmstadt, Plagge joined, and then left, the Nazi Party. In Vilna, in whose teeming ghetto tens of thousands of Jews faced extermination, he found himself in charge of a camp where military vehicles were repaired. Time after time, he saved Jews from prison, SS death squads, and the ghetto by issuing them work permits as ôindispensableö laborers essential to the war effort. Karl Plagge never considered himself a hero, describing himself as a fellow traveler for not doing more to fight the regime. He said that he saved Jews-and others- because ôI thought it was my duty.ö This book also reminds us of the many ways human beings can resist evil. ôThere are always some people,ö Pearl Good said of the man who saved her life when he didn't have to, ôwho decide that the horror is not to be.ö
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 9780823224401
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
On April 11, 2005, in Jerusalem, Karl Plagge will be named a ôRighteous Among the Nationsö hero by the State of Israel. He joins Oskar Schindler and some 380 other similarly honored Germans who protected and saved Jews during the Holocaust. Karl Plagge's story is of a unique kind of courage-that of a German army officer who subverted the system of death to save the lives of some 250 Jews in Vilna, Lithuania. One of those he saved was Michael Good's mother. Haunted by his mother's stories of the mysterious officer who commanded her slave labor camp, Michael Good resolved to find out all he could about the enigmatic ôMajor Plagge.ö For five years, he wrote hundreds of letters and scoured the Internet to recover, in one hard-earned bit of evidence after another, information about the man whose moral choices saved hundreds of lives. This unforgettable book is the first portrait of a modest man who simply refused to play by the rules. Interviewing camp survivors, opening German files untouched for more than fifty years, and translating newly discovered letters, Good weaves an amazing tale. An engineer from Darmstadt, Plagge joined, and then left, the Nazi Party. In Vilna, in whose teeming ghetto tens of thousands of Jews faced extermination, he found himself in charge of a camp where military vehicles were repaired. Time after time, he saved Jews from prison, SS death squads, and the ghetto by issuing them work permits as ôindispensableö laborers essential to the war effort. Karl Plagge never considered himself a hero, describing himself as a fellow traveler for not doing more to fight the regime. He said that he saved Jews-and others- because ôI thought it was my duty.ö This book also reminds us of the many ways human beings can resist evil. ôThere are always some people,ö Pearl Good said of the man who saved her life when he didn't have to, ôwho decide that the horror is not to be.ö
The Good Nazi
Author: Dan Van der Vat
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN: 9780395924945
Category : Architects
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Biography of Nazi leader Albert Speer who served Hitler as a minister of wartime production, looking at Speer's knowledge of Holocaust activities, discussing his personal role in the exploitation of slave labor, and questioning his denial of war crimes.
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN: 9780395924945
Category : Architects
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Biography of Nazi leader Albert Speer who served Hitler as a minister of wartime production, looking at Speer's knowledge of Holocaust activities, discussing his personal role in the exploitation of slave labor, and questioning his denial of war crimes.
Inside the Third Reich
Author: Albert Speer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781857998566
Category : Germany
Languages : en
Pages : 832
Book Description
'INSIDE THE THIRD REICH is not only the most significant personal German account to come out of the war but the most revealing document on the Hitler phenomenon yet written. It takes the reader inside Nazi Germany on four different levels: Hitler's inner circle, National Socialism as a whole, the area of wartime production and the inner struggle of Albert Speer. The author does not try to make excuses, even by implication, and is unrelenting toward himself and his associates... Speer's full-length portrait of Hitler has unnerving reality. The Fuhrer emerges as neither an incompetent nor a carpet-gnawing madman but as an evil genius of warped conceits endowed with an ineffable personal magic' NEW YORK TIMES
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781857998566
Category : Germany
Languages : en
Pages : 832
Book Description
'INSIDE THE THIRD REICH is not only the most significant personal German account to come out of the war but the most revealing document on the Hitler phenomenon yet written. It takes the reader inside Nazi Germany on four different levels: Hitler's inner circle, National Socialism as a whole, the area of wartime production and the inner struggle of Albert Speer. The author does not try to make excuses, even by implication, and is unrelenting toward himself and his associates... Speer's full-length portrait of Hitler has unnerving reality. The Fuhrer emerges as neither an incompetent nor a carpet-gnawing madman but as an evil genius of warped conceits endowed with an ineffable personal magic' NEW YORK TIMES
We Germans
Author: Alexander Starritt
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316429791
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 157
Book Description
WINNER OF THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE A letter from a German soldier to his grandson recounts the terrors of war on the Eastern Front, and a postwar ordinary life in search of atonement, in this “raw, visceral, and propulsive” novel (New York Times Book Review). A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice In the throes of the Second World War, young Meissner, a college student with dreams of becoming a scientist, is drafted into the German army and sent to the Eastern Front. But soon his regiment collapses in the face of the onslaught of the Red Army, hell-bent on revenge in its race to Berlin. Many decades later, now an old man reckoning with his past, Meissner pens a letter to his grandson explaining his actions, his guilt as a Nazi participator, and the difficulty of life after war. Found among his effects after his death, the letter is at once a thrilling story of adventure and a questing rumination on the moral ambiguity of war. In his years spent fighting the Russians and attempting afterward to survive the Gulag, Meissner recounts a life lived in perseverance and atonement. Wracked with shame—both for himself and for Germany—the grandfather explains his dark rationale, exults in the courage of others, and blurs the boundaries of right and wrong. We Germans complicates our most steadfast beliefs and seeks to account for the complicity of an entire country in the perpetration of heinous acts. In this breathless and page-turning story, Alexander Starritt also presents us with a deft exploration of the moral contradictions inherent in saving one's own life at the cost of the lives of others and asks whether we can ever truly atone.
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316429791
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 157
Book Description
WINNER OF THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE A letter from a German soldier to his grandson recounts the terrors of war on the Eastern Front, and a postwar ordinary life in search of atonement, in this “raw, visceral, and propulsive” novel (New York Times Book Review). A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice In the throes of the Second World War, young Meissner, a college student with dreams of becoming a scientist, is drafted into the German army and sent to the Eastern Front. But soon his regiment collapses in the face of the onslaught of the Red Army, hell-bent on revenge in its race to Berlin. Many decades later, now an old man reckoning with his past, Meissner pens a letter to his grandson explaining his actions, his guilt as a Nazi participator, and the difficulty of life after war. Found among his effects after his death, the letter is at once a thrilling story of adventure and a questing rumination on the moral ambiguity of war. In his years spent fighting the Russians and attempting afterward to survive the Gulag, Meissner recounts a life lived in perseverance and atonement. Wracked with shame—both for himself and for Germany—the grandfather explains his dark rationale, exults in the courage of others, and blurs the boundaries of right and wrong. We Germans complicates our most steadfast beliefs and seeks to account for the complicity of an entire country in the perpetration of heinous acts. In this breathless and page-turning story, Alexander Starritt also presents us with a deft exploration of the moral contradictions inherent in saving one's own life at the cost of the lives of others and asks whether we can ever truly atone.
The Good Man of Nanking
Author: John Rabe
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307428680
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
The Good Man of Nanking is a crucial document for understanding one of World War II's most horrific incidents of genocide, one which the Japanese have steadfastly refused to acknowledge. It is also the moving and awe-inspiring record of one man's conscience, courage, and generosity in the face of appalling human brutality. Until the recent emergence of John Rabe's diaries, few people knew abouth the unassuming hero who has been called the Oskar Schindler of China. In Novemgber 1937, as Japanese troops overran the Chinese capital of Nanking and began a campaign of torture, rape, and murder against its citizens, one man-a German who had lived in China for thirty years and who was a loyal follower of Adolph Hitler-put himself at risk and in order to save the lives of 200,000 poor Chinese, 600 of whom he sheltered in his own home.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307428680
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
The Good Man of Nanking is a crucial document for understanding one of World War II's most horrific incidents of genocide, one which the Japanese have steadfastly refused to acknowledge. It is also the moving and awe-inspiring record of one man's conscience, courage, and generosity in the face of appalling human brutality. Until the recent emergence of John Rabe's diaries, few people knew abouth the unassuming hero who has been called the Oskar Schindler of China. In Novemgber 1937, as Japanese troops overran the Chinese capital of Nanking and began a campaign of torture, rape, and murder against its citizens, one man-a German who had lived in China for thirty years and who was a loyal follower of Adolph Hitler-put himself at risk and in order to save the lives of 200,000 poor Chinese, 600 of whom he sheltered in his own home.
A Small Town Near Auschwitz
Author: Mary Fulbrook
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191611751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440
Book Description
The Silesian town of Bedzin lies a mere twenty-five miles from Auschwitz; through the linked ghettos of Bedzin and its neighbouring town, some 85,000 Jews passed on their way to slave labour or the gas chambers. The principal civilian administrator of Bedzin, Udo Klausa, was a happily married family man. He was also responsible for implementing Nazi policies towards the Jews in his area - inhumane processes that were the precursors of genocide. Yet he later claimed, like so many other Germans after the war, that he had 'known nothing about it'; and that he had personally tried to save a Jew before he himself managed to leave for military service. A Small Town Near Auschwitz re-creates Udo Klausa's story. Using a wealth of personal letters, memoirs, testimonies, interviews and other sources, Mary Fulbrook pieces together his role in the unfolding stigmatization and degradation of the Jews under his authoritiy, as well as the heroic attempts at resistance on the part of some of his victims. She also gives us a fascinating insight into the inner conflicts of a Nazi functionary who, throughout, considered himself a 'decent' man. And she explores the conflicting memories and evasions of his life after the war. But the book is much more than a portrayal of an individual man. Udo Klausa's case is so important because it is in many ways so typical. Behind Klausa's story is the larger story of how countless local functionaries across the Third Reich facilitated the murderous plans of a relatively small number among the Nazi elite - and of how those plans could never have been realized, on the same scale, without the diligent cooperation of these generally very ordinary administrators. As Fulbrook shows, men like Klausa 'knew' and yet mostly suppressed this knowledge, performing their day jobs without apparent recognition of their own role in the system, or any sense of personal wrongdoing or remorse - either before or after 1945. This account is no ordinary historical reconstruction. For Fulbrook did not discover Udo Klausa amongst the archives. She has known the Klausa family all her life. She had no inkling of her subject's true role in the Third Reich until a few years ago, a discovery that led directly to this inescapably personal professional history.
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191611751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440
Book Description
The Silesian town of Bedzin lies a mere twenty-five miles from Auschwitz; through the linked ghettos of Bedzin and its neighbouring town, some 85,000 Jews passed on their way to slave labour or the gas chambers. The principal civilian administrator of Bedzin, Udo Klausa, was a happily married family man. He was also responsible for implementing Nazi policies towards the Jews in his area - inhumane processes that were the precursors of genocide. Yet he later claimed, like so many other Germans after the war, that he had 'known nothing about it'; and that he had personally tried to save a Jew before he himself managed to leave for military service. A Small Town Near Auschwitz re-creates Udo Klausa's story. Using a wealth of personal letters, memoirs, testimonies, interviews and other sources, Mary Fulbrook pieces together his role in the unfolding stigmatization and degradation of the Jews under his authoritiy, as well as the heroic attempts at resistance on the part of some of his victims. She also gives us a fascinating insight into the inner conflicts of a Nazi functionary who, throughout, considered himself a 'decent' man. And she explores the conflicting memories and evasions of his life after the war. But the book is much more than a portrayal of an individual man. Udo Klausa's case is so important because it is in many ways so typical. Behind Klausa's story is the larger story of how countless local functionaries across the Third Reich facilitated the murderous plans of a relatively small number among the Nazi elite - and of how those plans could never have been realized, on the same scale, without the diligent cooperation of these generally very ordinary administrators. As Fulbrook shows, men like Klausa 'knew' and yet mostly suppressed this knowledge, performing their day jobs without apparent recognition of their own role in the system, or any sense of personal wrongdoing or remorse - either before or after 1945. This account is no ordinary historical reconstruction. For Fulbrook did not discover Udo Klausa amongst the archives. She has known the Klausa family all her life. She had no inkling of her subject's true role in the Third Reich until a few years ago, a discovery that led directly to this inescapably personal professional history.
The Nazi's Granddaughter
Author: Silvia Foti
Publisher: Regnery History
ISBN: 1684511089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404
Book Description
Hero–or Nazi? Silvia Foti was raised on reverent stories about her hero grandfather, a martyr for Lithuanian independence and an unblemished patriot. Jonas Noreika, remembered as “General Storm,” had resisted his country’s German and Soviet occupiers in World War II, surviving two years in a Nazi concentration camp only to be executed in 1947 by the KGB. His granddaughter, growing up in Chicago, was treated like royalty in her tightly knit Lithuanian community. But in 2000, when Silvia traveled to Lithuania for a ceremony honoring her grandfather, she heard a very different story—a “rumor” that her grandfather had been a “Jew-killer.” The Nazi’s Granddaughter is Silvia’s account of her wrenching twenty-year quest for the truth, from a beautiful house confiscated from its Jewish owners, to familial confessions and the Holocaust tour guide who believed that her grandfather had murdered members of his family. A heartbreaking and dramatic story based on exhaustive documentary research and soul-baring interviews, The Nazi’s Granddaughter is an unforgettable journey into World War II history, intensely personal but filled with universal lessons about courage, faith, memory, and justice.
Publisher: Regnery History
ISBN: 1684511089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404
Book Description
Hero–or Nazi? Silvia Foti was raised on reverent stories about her hero grandfather, a martyr for Lithuanian independence and an unblemished patriot. Jonas Noreika, remembered as “General Storm,” had resisted his country’s German and Soviet occupiers in World War II, surviving two years in a Nazi concentration camp only to be executed in 1947 by the KGB. His granddaughter, growing up in Chicago, was treated like royalty in her tightly knit Lithuanian community. But in 2000, when Silvia traveled to Lithuania for a ceremony honoring her grandfather, she heard a very different story—a “rumor” that her grandfather had been a “Jew-killer.” The Nazi’s Granddaughter is Silvia’s account of her wrenching twenty-year quest for the truth, from a beautiful house confiscated from its Jewish owners, to familial confessions and the Holocaust tour guide who believed that her grandfather had murdered members of his family. A heartbreaking and dramatic story based on exhaustive documentary research and soul-baring interviews, The Nazi’s Granddaughter is an unforgettable journey into World War II history, intensely personal but filled with universal lessons about courage, faith, memory, and justice.
Hitler's American Friends
Author: Bradley W. Hart
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
ISBN: 1250148960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
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.
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
ISBN: 1250148960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
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.