The Virtuous Wehrmacht

The Virtuous Wehrmacht PDF Author: David A. Harrisville
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150176005X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Virtuous Wehrmacht explores the myth of the German armed forces' innocence during World War II by reconstructing the moral world of German soldiers on the Eastern Front. How did they avoid feelings of guilt about the many atrocities their side committed? David A. Harrisville compellingly demonstrates that this myth of innocence was created during the course of the war itself—and did not arise as a postwar whitewashing of events. In 1941 three million Wehrmacht troops overran the border between German- and Soviet-occupied Poland, racing toward the USSR in the largest military operation in modern history. Over the next four years, they embarked on a campaign of wanton brutality, murdering countless civilians, systemically starving millions of Soviet prisoners of war, and actively participating in the genocide of Eastern European Jews. After the war, however, German servicemen insisted that they had fought honorably and that their institution had never involved itself in Nazi crimes. Drawing on more than two thousand letters from German soldiers, contextualized by operational and home front documents, Harrisville shows that this myth was the culmination of long-running efforts by the army to preserve an illusion of respectability in the midst of a criminal operation. The primary authors of this fabrication were ordinary soldiers cultivating a decent self-image and developing moral arguments to explain their behavior by drawing on a constellation of values that long preceded Nazism. The Virtuous Wehrmacht explains how the army encouraged troops to view themselves as honorable representatives of a civilized nation, not only racially but morally superior to others.

Reluctant Accomplice

Reluctant Accomplice PDF Author: Konrad H. Jarausch
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400836328
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 413

Get Book Here

Book Description
An ordinary German soldier’s letters home from Poland and Russia during World War II Reluctant Accomplice is a volume of the wartime letters of Dr. Konrad Jarausch, a German high-school teacher of religion and history who served in a reserve battalion of Hitler's army in Poland and Russia, where he died of typhoid in 1942. He wrote most of these letters to his wife, Elisabeth. His son, acclaimed German historian Konrad H. Jarausch, brings them together here to tell the gripping story of a patriotic soldier of the Third Reich who, through witnessing its atrocities in the East, begins to doubt the war's moral legitimacy. These letters grow increasingly critical, and their vivid descriptions of the mass deaths of Russian POWs are chilling. They reveal the inner conflicts of ordinary Germans who became reluctant accomplices in Hitler's merciless war of annihilation, yet sometimes managed to discover a shared humanity with its suffering victims, a bond that could transcend race, nationalism, and the enmity of war. Reluctant Accomplice is also the powerful story of the son, who for decades refused to come to grips with these letters because he abhorred his father's nationalist politics. Only now, late in his life, is he able to cope with their contents—and he is by no means alone. This book provides rare insight into the so-called children of the war, an entire generation of postwar Germans who grew up resenting their past, but who today must finally face the painful legacy of their parents' complicity in National Socialism.

The Accomplice

The Accomplice PDF Author: Joseph Kanon
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 1501121421
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Gripping and authentic…Kanon’s imagination flourishes [and] the narrative propulsion is clear. A thoroughly satisfying piece of entertainment that extends a tentacle into some serious moral reflection.” —The New York Times Book Review The “master of the genre” (The Washington Post) Joseph Kanon returns with a heart-pounding and intelligent espionage novel about a Nazi war criminal who was supposed to be dead, the rogue CIA agent on his trail, and the beautiful woman connected to them both. Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich, Max Weill has never forgotten the atrocities he saw as a prisoner at Auschwitz—nor the face of Dr. Otto Schramm, a camp doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max’s family to the gas chambers. As the war came to a close, Schramm was one of the many high-ranking former-Nazi officers who managed to escape Germany for new lives in South America, where leaders like Argentina’s Juan Perón gave them safe harbor and new identities. With his life nearing its end, Max asks his nephew Aaron Wiley—an American CIA desk analyst—to complete the task Max never could: to track down Otto in Argentina, capture him, and bring him back to Germany to stand trial. Unable to deny Max, Aaron travels to Buenos Aires and discovers a city where Nazis thrive in plain sight, mingling with Argentine high society. He ingratiates himself with Otto’s alluring but wounded daughter, whom he’s convinced is hiding her father. Enlisting the help of a German newspaper reporter, an Israeli agent, and the obliging CIA station chief in Buenos Aires, he hunts for Otto—a complicated monster, unexpectedly human but still capable of murder if cornered. Unable to distinguish allies from enemies, Aaron will ultimately have to discover not only Otto, but the boundaries of his own personal morality, how far he is prepared to go to render justice. “With his remarkable emotional precision and mastery of tone” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Joseph Kanon crafts another compelling and unputdownable thriller that will keep you breathlessly turning the pages.

Reluctant Burglar

Reluctant Burglar PDF Author: Jill Elizabeth Nelson
Publisher: Multnomah
ISBN: 1590526864
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
Desiree's murdered father was an art thief. Can she preserve the family business, please her heavenly Father, avoid death threats, and trust FBI Special Agent Tony Lucano all at the same time?

Broken Lives

Broken Lives PDF Author: Konrad H. Jarausch
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691196486
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 462

Get Book Here

Book Description
The gripping stories of ordinary Germans who lived through World War II, the Holocaust, and Cold War partition—but also recovery, reunification, and rehabilitation Broken Lives is a gripping account of ordinary Germans who came of age under Hitler and whose lives were scarred and sometimes destroyed by what they saw and did. Drawing on six dozen memoirs by Germans born in the 1920s, Konrad Jarausch chronicles the unforgettable stories of people who not only lived through the Third Reich, World War II, the Holocaust, and Cold War partition, but also participated in Germany's astonishing postwar recovery, reunification, and rehabilitation. Bringing together the voices of men and women, perpetrators and victims, Broken Lives offers new insights about persistent questions. Why did so many Germans support Hitler through years of wartime sacrifice and Nazi inhumanity? How did they finally distance themselves from the Nazi past and come to embrace human rights? The result is a powerful portrait of the experiences of average Germans who journeyed into, through, and out of the abyss of a dark century.

The Amateur Cracksman

The Amateur Cracksman PDF Author: Ernest William Hornung
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1387148559
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 136

Get Book Here

Book Description
Arthur J. Raffles is a character created in the 1890s by E. W. Hornung, brother-in-law to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Raffles is, in many ways, a deliberate inversion of Holmes - he is a ""gentleman thief,"" living at the Albany, a prestigious address in London, playing cricket for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. He is called the ""Amateur Cracksman,"" and often, at first, differentiates between himself and the ""professors"" - professional criminals from the lower classes. As Holmes has Dr. Watson to chronicle his adventures, Raffles has Harry ""Bunny"" Manders - a former schoolmate saved from disgrace and suicide by Raffles, whom Raffles persuaded to accompany him on a burglary. While Raffles often takes advantage of Manders' relative innocence, and sometimes treats him with a certain amount of contempt, he knows that Manders' bravery and loyalty are to be relied on utterly.

The Virtuous Wehrmacht

The Virtuous Wehrmacht PDF Author: David A. Harrisville
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150176005X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Virtuous Wehrmacht explores the myth of the German armed forces' innocence during World War II by reconstructing the moral world of German soldiers on the Eastern Front. How did they avoid feelings of guilt about the many atrocities their side committed? David A. Harrisville compellingly demonstrates that this myth of innocence was created during the course of the war itself—and did not arise as a postwar whitewashing of events. In 1941 three million Wehrmacht troops overran the border between German- and Soviet-occupied Poland, racing toward the USSR in the largest military operation in modern history. Over the next four years, they embarked on a campaign of wanton brutality, murdering countless civilians, systemically starving millions of Soviet prisoners of war, and actively participating in the genocide of Eastern European Jews. After the war, however, German servicemen insisted that they had fought honorably and that their institution had never involved itself in Nazi crimes. Drawing on more than two thousand letters from German soldiers, contextualized by operational and home front documents, Harrisville shows that this myth was the culmination of long-running efforts by the army to preserve an illusion of respectability in the midst of a criminal operation. The primary authors of this fabrication were ordinary soldiers cultivating a decent self-image and developing moral arguments to explain their behavior by drawing on a constellation of values that long preceded Nazism. The Virtuous Wehrmacht explains how the army encouraged troops to view themselves as honorable representatives of a civilized nation, not only racially but morally superior to others.

The Accidental Fiancés

The Accidental Fiancés PDF Author: Rose P. Naughtoner
Publisher: Mare Infinitum Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 46

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Accidental Fiancés: A Journey of Love Through the Unexpected In the heart of New York City, where fate and serendipity collide, Eloise Harper and Alex Carter find themselves entangled in a web of pretend engagements, old flames, and new beginnings in "The Accidental Fiancés." Eloise, a rising star in the art world, and Alex, a struggling writer with a hidden depth, embark on a journey filled with humor, heartache, and the healing power of love. Eloise and Alex navigate the complexities of their arrangement with a mix of wit and wariness. But as they play their roles too well, they begin to discover that the line between pretense and reality is as delicate as it is undefined. Just when they think they have mastered the art of feigning love, an unexpected twist forces them to confront the depth of their feelings for one another. Amidst personal growth, professional challenges, and the shadow of past relationships, they learn that love, when real, can overcome the greatest of hurdles. Then, tragedy strikes in an unthinkable turn of events, reshaping their lives and the lives of those around them. Through loss and despair, Eloise and Alex find strength in each other, forging a bond that is as profound as it is unbreakable. "The Accidental Fiancés" is a tale of love’s surprising power to heal and transform. Eloise and Alex’s journey from accidental partners to soulmates is a testament to the unpredictable ways of the heart. Perfect for fans of poignant romance and compelling character-driven narratives, this story promises to be an unforgettable exploration of the beauty that emerges from the chaos of life. Dive into "The Accidental Fiancés" and embark on an emotional rollercoaster, where the end destination is as unexpected as it is beautifully inevitable.

Hitler's Soldiers

Hitler's Soldiers PDF Author: Ben H. Shepherd
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300179030
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 681

Get Book Here

Book Description
A penetrating study of the German army's military campaigns, relations with the Nazi regime, and complicity in Nazi crimes across occupied Europe For decades after 1945, it was generally believed that the German army, professional and morally decent, had largely stood apart from the SS, Gestapo, and other corps of the Nazi machine. Ben Shepherd draws on a wealth of primary sources and recent scholarship to convey a much darker, more complex picture. For the first time, the German army is examined throughout the Second World War, across all combat theaters and occupied regions, and from multiple perspectives: its battle performance, social composition, relationship with the Nazi state, and involvement in war crimes and military occupation. This was a true people's army, drawn from across German society and reflecting that society as it existed under the Nazis. Without the army and its conquests abroad, Shepherd explains, the Nazi regime could not have perpetrated its crimes against Jews, prisoners of war, and civilians in occupied countries. The author examines how the army was complicit in these crimes and why some soldiers, units, and higher commands were more complicit than others. Shepherd also reveals the reasons for the army's early battlefield successes and its mounting defeats up to 1945, the latter due not only to Allied superiority and Hitler's mismanagement as commander-in-chief, but also to the failings--moral, political, economic, strategic, and operational--of the army's own leadership.

And Why Not?

And Why Not? PDF Author: Barry Norman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9780684020884
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 396

Get Book Here

Book Description
Renowned for his laconic wit and opinionated ideas, Barry Norman shares a wealth of stories about his life among Hollywood royalty. One of the United Kingdom's best-known film authorities, journalists, and broadcasters, Barry Norman fronted the seminal BBC film program for nearly thirty years. In And Why Not?, Norman recounts his years of fraternizing with the cinematic greats, including encounters with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Olivier, and Madonna. Honest, clever, funny, and at times poignant, And Why Not? offers an insider's account of the worlds of journalism, broadcasting, and film.

Antiques Fate

Antiques Fate PDF Author: Barbara Allan
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 0758293097
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Get Book Here

Book Description
A village festival offers a Shakespeare play, an antiques sale—and a murder: “Surely one of the funniest cozy series going.”—Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Brandy Borne’s exceedingly eccentric mother, Vivian, has been invited to perform her one-woman interpretation of “the Scottish play” (sometimes called Macbeth)—with different hats for different characters—at the neighboring town of Old York's annual fête. The weekend festival celebrates the quaint village's English flavor. Brandy, sensing a possible theatrical disaster, and savvy shih tzu Sushi, sensing possible doggy treats, tag along with the scene-stealing septuagenarian. As soon as they arrive in the cozy hamlet, tragedy strikes: the theater owner drops dead onstage while giving Vivian the grand tour. That wasn't in the script and before they know it, Brandy and Vivian are entangled in a progressively perilous murder plot. Besides the cream teas and Chippendale chairs, it seems there are skeletons lurking among Old York's charming pubs and enticing antiques stalls … When a second victim turns up mysteriously murdered, the dynamic duo knows they've got to step into the spotlight. But the remorseless killer seems to be well rehearsed for the Borne girls…and won't leave even the smallest detail of their demise to fête! “Brandy and her eccentric mother make a hilarious team of snoops.”—Joan Hess Includes Brandy Borne's tips on antiques fairs!