Defying HitlerDefying Hitler
a Memoir
Title rated 3.95 out of 5 stars, based on 20 ratings(20 ratings)
Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, 1st American ed, All copies in use.Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, 1st American ed, All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formatsA memoir on the rise of Nazism in Germany and the lives of ordinary German citizens between the two world wars find the author witnessing such developments as the rise of the First Free Corps, the Hitler Youth movement, the Stresemann years, and Hitler's coming to power.
A memoir on the rise of Nazism in Germany and the lives of ordinary German citizens between the two world wars finds the author witnessing such developments as the rise of the First Free Corps, the Hitler Youth movement, and Stresemann years, and Hitler's coming to power. 12,500 first pirnting.
When the German historian Sebastian Haffner died in 1999 aged 91, his son discovered the manuscript for this book hidden in a chest of drawers. It had been written in 1939 in England but abandoned when the war broke out. The reasons which made Haffner put it aside - its rawness, its revelations, its closeness to the events it describes - are precisely what makes it such compelling reading today.
This memoir of growing up in Berlin between 1914 and 1933 shows how his generation of German youth were seduced by Hitler and the Nazis. The First World War turned Sebastian Haffner, aged seven in 1914, into a fanatical jingoist. The numbing shock of defeat in 1918 is followed by the confusion of revolution and republic, and then the hyperinflation of 1923. The currency is stabilised but, as the 1920s continue, the Weimar Republic fails to capture the imagination of the Germans - whose capacity for private happiness, Haffner believes, has been fatally sapped by the events of 1914-1924. Under the illusion of normality, the Nazi revolution is steadily gaining ground.
In 1938, a non-Jewish upper-middle-class lawyer fled Germany for England and began writing an account of his daily life under Nazi rule (using the pen-name Sebastian Haffner). The manuscript was not discovered until after his death in 1999, and it was published in Germany in 2000. This first English-language edition, translated by Oliver Pretzel (the author's son), contains six additional chapters recently uncovered by archivists. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
A unique and compelling eyewitness account of Germany between the wars. A huge bestseller in Germany, Defying Hitler is a memoir about the rise of Nazism in Germany and the lives of ordinary German citizens between the wars. This fresh and astute account offers a unique perspective on this era of twentieth-century history. Covering the years from 1907 to 1933, Haffner's personal memories form the basis for questioning, analyzing, and interpreting much of Germany's history. His eyewitness account of groups such as the First Free Corps -- the right-wing voluntary military force set up to suppress communism during the revolution of 1918 -- which would provide training for many of the later Nazi storm troopers; the Hitler Youth movement, which swept the nation; the apocalyptic year of 1923 when inflation crippled the country; the peaceful Stresemann years; and Hitler's coming to power all contribute to the portrait of a country in a constant state of flux. Sebastian Haffner elucidates how the educated average German grappled with a rapidly changing society, while chronicling day-to-day changes in attitudes, beliefs, politics, and prejudices. Available for the first time in English, this highly illuminating work is a unique portrait of a time, a place, and a people.
A memoir on the rise of Nazism in Germany and the lives of ordinary German citizens between the two world wars finds the author witnessing such developments as the rise of the First Free Corps, the Hitler Youth movement, and Stresemann years, and Hitler's coming to power. 12,500 first pirnting.
When the German historian Sebastian Haffner died in 1999 aged 91, his son discovered the manuscript for this book hidden in a chest of drawers. It had been written in 1939 in England but abandoned when the war broke out. The reasons which made Haffner put it aside - its rawness, its revelations, its closeness to the events it describes - are precisely what makes it such compelling reading today.
This memoir of growing up in Berlin between 1914 and 1933 shows how his generation of German youth were seduced by Hitler and the Nazis. The First World War turned Sebastian Haffner, aged seven in 1914, into a fanatical jingoist. The numbing shock of defeat in 1918 is followed by the confusion of revolution and republic, and then the hyperinflation of 1923. The currency is stabilised but, as the 1920s continue, the Weimar Republic fails to capture the imagination of the Germans - whose capacity for private happiness, Haffner believes, has been fatally sapped by the events of 1914-1924. Under the illusion of normality, the Nazi revolution is steadily gaining ground.
In 1938, a non-Jewish upper-middle-class lawyer fled Germany for England and began writing an account of his daily life under Nazi rule (using the pen-name Sebastian Haffner). The manuscript was not discovered until after his death in 1999, and it was published in Germany in 2000. This first English-language edition, translated by Oliver Pretzel (the author's son), contains six additional chapters recently uncovered by archivists. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
A unique and compelling eyewitness account of Germany between the wars. A huge bestseller in Germany, Defying Hitler is a memoir about the rise of Nazism in Germany and the lives of ordinary German citizens between the wars. This fresh and astute account offers a unique perspective on this era of twentieth-century history. Covering the years from 1907 to 1933, Haffner's personal memories form the basis for questioning, analyzing, and interpreting much of Germany's history. His eyewitness account of groups such as the First Free Corps -- the right-wing voluntary military force set up to suppress communism during the revolution of 1918 -- which would provide training for many of the later Nazi storm troopers; the Hitler Youth movement, which swept the nation; the apocalyptic year of 1923 when inflation crippled the country; the peaceful Stresemann years; and Hitler's coming to power all contribute to the portrait of a country in a constant state of flux. Sebastian Haffner elucidates how the educated average German grappled with a rapidly changing society, while chronicling day-to-day changes in attitudes, beliefs, politics, and prejudices. Available for the first time in English, this highly illuminating work is a unique portrait of a time, a place, and a people.
Title availability
About
Details
Publication
- New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002.
Opinion
More from the community
Community lists featuring this title
There are no community lists featuring this title
Community contributions
There are no quotations from this title
There are no quotations from this title
From the community