Voices From The Third Reich: An Oral History - Softcover

Steinhoff, Johannes; Pechel, Peter; Showalter, Dennis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306805944 ISBN 13: 9780306805943

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1994

Synopsis

A major historical document, this book contains interviews with more than 150 Germans who witnessed, participated in, or resisted the rise of Adolph Hitler.

The testimony comes from well-known figures like Manfred Rommel and Helmut Kohl; former soldiers and ordinary civilians; and victims of the criminal policies of the Nazi regime. Haunting and extraordinary tales of horror, courage, grim determination, and moral confusion fill these pages. Voices from the Third Reich takes the material of epic history and presents it in the form of the individual human experiences of men, women, and children subjected to the pressures of total war in a fascist state.
Preface by Helmut Schmidt

About this title

About the Author:

Johannes Steinhoff (General, U.S. Army) served as chairman of the NATO Military Committee. Peter Pechel has been a foreign correspondent for German television. Dennis Showalter has served as guest lecturer at Yale University, the Naval War College, and the Air War College.

From Publishers Weekly:

The result of a collaborative editorial effort by two German veterans of WW II and an American college professor, these recollections from more than 150 Germans cover a wide range of experience, civilian and military, during the Nazi era. Many of those interviewed, who were children or teenagers when Hitler came to power, speak frankly about the allure of National Socialism and of the "adaptations" forced on them, internally and externally, during the war. As the editors point out, heroism and self-sacrifice are evident in many of the statements, but so are egoism and self- deception. The book challenges certain assumptions common among non-Germans: that most citizens of the Third Reich were fully aware of the crimes perpetrated by the regime; that the survivors of that generation are conscious of a burden of guilt; and finally that older Germans are happy to forget the war. The men and women included here recall their attitudes and behavior in compelling and painful detail.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0306805944
• ISBN 13: 9780306805943
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 592