Ein Volk, Ein Reich Nine Lives Under the Nazis

by Hagen, Louis

• ISBN13: 9780752459790
• ISBN10: 0752459791
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-01
• Publisher: The History Press

Summary

'A series of striking and extraordinarily well-written life-stories ... they are often monstrous, but about their authenticity there can be no doubt.' Harold Nicolson, TheObserver 'A terrifyingly vivid and convincing picture.' Herald Tribune When Louis Hagen returned to Berlinimmediately after the war, having survived not only incarceration and torture in a German concentration camp but also the Battle of Arnhem, it was through a desire to see the great German eagle toppled, its talons drawn. The son of a wealthy Jewish banker, he had seen his family flee their home, and many of his relatives had died at the hands of the Third Reich. He wanted to understand the German people; why had so many welcomed the Nazi Party, and were they now humbled and wiser? Hageninterviewed nine people he had known before the war who represented a wide spectrum of German society. They were an SA officer, a businessman, a doctor, a socialite, a journalist, a professional soldier, an SS wife, a member of the Hitler Youth and a mischling, or half Jew. Four were Nazis, three were collaborators, and two were anti-Nazi. The very fact that none of these people was a high-ranking Nazi official or a survivor of the Holocaust provides an insight into the Third Reich that is a revelation even for those who know this period of history intimately. How could the Baroness sent to Theriesenstadt concentration camp hold salons for ex-Nazis after the war? Through the lives of nine ordinary Germans, tracing their experiences of Nazism from the first hopeful days until the horrors of the Russian occupation of Berlin, Louis Hagen provides a salutary and unforgettable record of the German people in the shadow of the swastika.

Author Biography

Louis Hagen (1916–2000), born into a Jewish banking family, was sent to Schloss Lichtenburg concentration camp for writing an anti-Nazi joke on a postcard to his sister. A high-ranking Nazi judge and friend of the family got him out and he escaped to England. He eventually became a glider pilot, fighting for the British at Arnhem. He is the author of several books, including Arnhem Lift based on that experience. He went on to be a successful journalist and film producer.

Table of Contents

About the Author	p. 7
Foreword	p. 10
Fritz Muehlebach	p. 13
Dr Franz Wertheim	p. 41
Erich Dressier	p. 62
Herman Voss	p. 89
Werner Harz	p. 115
Tassilo-von Bogenhardt	p. 148
HildegardTrutz (nee Koch)	p. 194
Claus Fuhrmann	p. 220
Baroness Mausi von Westerode	p. 250
Conclusion	p. 279
Index	p. 287
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