German Memoirs

This book presents the remarkable personal journals of German soldier Hans Roth. Writing as events transpired, he recorded the mystery and tension as the Germans deployed on the Soviet frontier in June 1941. In these journals, battles are described in "you are there" detail, as Roth wrote privately, as if to keep himself sane, knowing that his honest accounts of the horrors in the East could never pass through Wehrmacht censors.

Frederick the Great is one of history's most important leaders. Famed for his military successes and domestic reforms, his campaigns were a watershed in the history of Europe, securing Prussia's place as a continental power and inaugurating a new pattern of total war that was to endure until 1916. However, much myth surrounds this enigmatic man's personality and his role as politician, warrior, and king.

With intimate detail, author Maria Riva reveals the rich life of her mother, Marlene Dietrich, the charismatic star of stage and screen whose career spanned much of the 20th century. Opening with Dietrich's childhood in Schöneberg, Riva's biography introduces us to an energetic, disciplined, and ambitious young actress whose own mother equated show business with a world of vagabonds and thieves.

This “elegant and sobering” (The New York Times) history reveals how Germany’s fractured republic gave way to the Third Reich, from the breakthrough of the Nazi party to the rise of Hitler Amid the ravages of economic depression, Germans in the early 1930s were pulled to political extremes...

World War II began with a metallic roar as the German Blitzkrieg raced across Europe, spearheaded by the most dreaded weapon of the 20th century: the Panzer. No German tank better represents that thundering power than the infamous Tiger, and Otto Carius was one of the most successful commanders to ever take a Tiger into battle, destroying well over 150 enemy tanks during his incredible career.

Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamt of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen SS unit. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and just 17-years-old, Erwin fulfilled his dream on Mayday 1941, when he gave up his apprenticeship at the Glaser bakery in Memeler Strasse and walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw, volunteer recruit.

Seit über 500 Jahren prägt Martin Luthers trotzige Herausforderung an die katholische Kirche das Christentum, die Theologie und die westliche Gesellschaft. Dieses Buch bietet eine tiefgründige und nuancierte Erforschung seines Vermächtnisses und untersucht sowohl seine Triumphe als auch seine Kontroversen. Von seinen theologischen Kämpfen und seiner harschen Opposition gegen Andersdenkende bis hin zu den anhaltenden Spaltungen innerhalb des Protestantismus analysieren wir, wie Luthers Ideen weiterhin den modernen Glauben, die Politik und die Bildung beeinflussen.

Legastheniker und Versager. Mit 16 Jahren bricht Richard Branson 1968 die Schule ab. Deren weitsichtige Einschätzung seiner Zukunft: Knacki oder Millionär. Nicht einmal drei Jahre später eröffnet er in der Oxford Street den ersten Virgin-Plattenladen und landet kurz darauf mit einem Plattenvertrag seinen ersten Millionen-Deal. Damit legt Branson den Grundstein seiner Virgin Group, die heute mehr als 20 Milliarden Dollar Umsatz erwirtschaftet und mehr als 50 000 Menschen beschäftigt.

Using his own experiences, log books, and correspondence with other U-boat crewmen, Hans Goebeler offers rich and personal details about what life was like in the German Navy under Hitler. Since his first and last posting was to U-505, Goebeler's perspective of the crew, commanders, and war patrols paints a vivid and complete portrait unlike any other to come out of the Kriegsmarine. He witnessed it all, from deadly sabotage efforts that almost sunk the boat to the tragic suicide of the only U-boat commander who took his life during World War II.

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Featured in Entertainment Weekly, People, The Millions, and USA TODAY “An unforgettable and resplendent novel which will take its place among the great historical fiction written about World War II.” —Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife...

Es geschieht am helllichten Tag, in tiefster Nacht, am Rande der Gesellschaft und mitten unter uns - das Verbrechen. Die Tat teilt uns in Opfer, Täter, Unschuldige, Monster und Menschen. 1972 wird der kleine Steven Stayner von einem fremden Mann entführt. Steven Stayner lebt seit 8 Jahren bei seinem Entführer Kenneth Parnell.

In December 1943, with the rising realization that the Allies are planning to invade Fortress Europe, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is assigned the title of General Inspector for the Atlantic Wall. His mission is to assess their readiness. His superior, theater commander, crusty old Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who had led the Reich to victory in the early years of the war, is now fed up with the whole Nazi regime. He lives comfortably in a plush villa in a quiet Paris suburb, waiting for the inevitable Allied invasion that will bring about their final defeat.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre wurde weltweit bekannt als die wohl mutigste Stimme unter den Opfern von Epstein und Maxwell: Sie war es, die an die Öffentlichkeit ging und dadurch letztlich beide Serientäter ins Gefängnis brachte. Ihr Foto mit Prinz Andrew besiegelte dessen gesellschaftlichen Absturz. Doch ihre Geschichte wurde nie vollständig und in ihren eigenen Worten erzählt – bis jetzt. Im April 2025 nahm sich Giuffre das Leben. Sie hinterließ ein Memoir, an dem sie über Jahre gearbeitet hatte, mit dem klaren Wunsch, es nach ihrem Tod zu veröffentlichen.

Panzer Gunner is a unique memoir of a Canadian serving in a German armored division. Bruno Friesen explains what it was like to fight in a tank on the Eastern Front and provides details on the battlefield performance of the Panzer IV tank. Six months before World War II erupted in 1939, Bruno Friesen was sent to Germany by his father in hopes of a better life. Friesen was drafted into the Wehrmacht three years later and ended up in the 7th Panzer Division. Friesen experienced intense combat against the Soviets in Romania, Lithuania, and West Prussia.

Until recent years, very little was known of the tens of thousands of foreign nationals from Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, and Spain who served voluntarily in the military formations of the German army and the German Waffen-SS. In Kaisergruber's book, the listener discovers important issues of collaboration, the apparent contributions of the volunteers to the German war effort, their varied experiences, their motives, the attitude of the German High Command and bureaucracy, and the reaction to these in the occupied countries.

Als eine junge, rebellische Hotelerbin Anfang der 2000er Jahre mit Partyexzessen und frechen Sprüchen die Klatschspalten und das Programm der Jugendsender bestimmte, rollten Eltern allerorts mit den Augen: Was war das schon wieder für ein schlechtes Vorbild für die Jugend? Zwanzig Jahre später gibt Paris Hilton selbst eine Antwort, die viele überraschen wird.

"Virginia Hall" enthüllt das außergewöhnliche Leben einer bemerkenswerten Frau, die Erwartungen übertraf, Barrieren durchbrach und einen unauslöschlichen Eindruck in der Geschichte hinterließ. In einer Welt, die von Konflikten, Spionage und Intrigen beherrscht wurde, trat Virginia Hall als eine Kraft hervor, mit der zu rechnen war.

Heinz Knoke was one of the outstanding German fighter pilots of the Second World War. This vivid firsthand record of his experiences has become a classic among aviation memoirs and is a fascinating counterbalance to the numerous accounts written by Allied pilots.

Jan Ullrich: The Best There Never Was is the first biography of Jan Ullrich, arguably the most naturally talented cyclist of his generation, and also one of the most controversial champions of the Tour de France. In 1997, Jan Ullrich announced himself to the world by obliterating his rivals in...

Erhard Steiniger joined his Wehrmacht unit on October 12, 1940, as a radio operator, a role which required his constant presence with troops at the Front, right in the midst of combat. On June 22, 1941, he accompanied his division to Lithuania where he experienced the catastrophic first day of Operation Barbarossa. He later witnessed intense clashes during the conquest of the Baltic islands and the battles leading up to Leningrad on the Volkhov and Lake Ladoga.