Guido Knopp's Book Die Befreiung

Discussions on books and other reference material on the WW1, Inter-War or WW2 as well as the authors. Hosted by Andy H.
Post Reply
User avatar
Doug Nash
Member
Posts: 95
Joined: 12 Jun 2003, 10:23
Location: Northern Virginia

Guido Knopp's Book Die Befreiung

#1

Post by Doug Nash » 07 Jul 2006, 23:39

Hi -
Does anyone have a copy of Guido Knopp's book "Die Befreiung?" It has a zitation in it about Major i.G. Gerhard Hoeptner, where he is apparently quoted about something or other. If anyone has it, could they get it touch with me? I know that Knopp is very controversial in Germany these days, being the latest revionist author "Deconstructing" the Wehrmacht.
Cheers,
Doug Nash

User avatar
Dieter Zinke
In memoriam
Posts: 9841
Joined: 02 Dec 2003, 10:12
Location: Koblenz / germany

Re: Guido Knopp's Book Die Befreiung

#2

Post by Dieter Zinke » 07 Jul 2006, 23:52

Doug Nash wrote:.....being the latest revionist author "Deconstructing" the Wehrmacht.
Cheers,
Doug Nash
You are mistaken. Your statement is nonsense. Sorry!
Dieter Zinke


User avatar
Doug Nash
Member
Posts: 95
Joined: 12 Jun 2003, 10:23
Location: Northern Virginia

I'm asking a question...

#3

Post by Doug Nash » 08 Jul 2006, 00:50

Hey, I'm asking a question - as a historian using this site I expect better. I know that Knoop is very controversial - I keep up to date on the German media - but my question was DOES ANYONE HAVE THIS BOOK???? The reason I ask is because there is a quote in it by Major i.G. Gerhard Hoeptner, whose activities after he left the 272.VGD I am trying to track. Can anyone out there help?
Thanks -
Douglas E. Nash
Oberst i.G.
US Armee

harmel
Member
Posts: 3621
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 21:18
Location: leicestershire UK

Guido Knopp

#4

Post by harmel » 08 Jul 2006, 02:09

Hi Colonel,on 30/12/1944 became Ia of
the 67th Army Corps(Otto Hitzfeld)

Hoeptner,or Hoptner as some Docs say
was Born 3/6/1917
Promoted to Major 1/5/1944(4a)
Have his service list fromSept 39
Regards Harmel

Ludger
Member
Posts: 1383
Joined: 14 Jul 2003, 17:07
Location: Oer-Erkenschwick / Germany

Re: Guido Knopp's Book Die Befreiung

#5

Post by Ludger » 13 Jul 2006, 15:03

Dieter Zinke wrote:
Doug Nash wrote:.....being the latest revionist author "Deconstructing" the Wehrmacht.
Cheers,
Doug Nash
You are mistaken. Your statement is nonsense. Sorry!
Dieter Zinke
Well said, Dieter!!!!!

Greetings from

Ludger

User avatar
logibear64
Member
Posts: 365
Joined: 05 Aug 2004, 17:34
Location: Centreville, VA

#6

Post by logibear64 » 16 Jul 2006, 02:01

I think you misunderstand his statement "revisionist". When Col. Nash states revisionist
he means the author is looking at the subject in a new way. He does not mean Knopp is a
revisionist in the sense of a "Holocaust denier."

User avatar
Doug Nash
Member
Posts: 95
Joined: 12 Jun 2003, 10:23
Location: Northern Virginia

Thanks Logibear

#7

Post by Doug Nash » 17 Jul 2006, 17:00

Yes, exactly. Sometimes language can be an obstacle.
What I meant to relay to our German friends is that Knopp does not rely on the 60-year old body of literature created by the established German historians. He has taken a new perspective, a different path and has questioned the old shibboleths. That has made him controversial. That is not a bad thing. And this is not a gotcha! kind of forum, or at least I don't think it is. But what I was looking for, was whether anyone has a copy of Knopp's die Befreiung because I was looking for an individual who was referenced in it. I was not calling Knopp's scholarship into question, fellas.
Thanks again Logibear for the assist.

Jan-Hendrik
Member
Posts: 8695
Joined: 11 Nov 2004, 13:53
Location: Hohnhorst / Deutschland

#8

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 18 Jul 2006, 17:36

My comment on Knopp and his "work" : most of it is rather worthless for serious historical studies as he did no real research , just letting a staff of writers ( for example Sönke Neitzel ) recollect material from older works and present it in a "modern" way , which I would call "history light" :roll:

Dear Doug , as I am known for my interest on Eastern Front in 1945 I just had it borrowed from my library to test if it is really worth buying it . So I don't have at hand anymore and could not look up the requested information . Sorry .

For all possible buyers of this work : Stay away from it ! I must admit that I had while reading it the impression that the last 30 years of historical research on this topic did not have happened . Absolutly nothing new , more a recollection of stuff you could read in the books from the early 70s , even presented in a "sloppy" way . "Fast food" , quickly produced for a broader market ....

Jan-Hendrik

User avatar
Doug Nash
Member
Posts: 95
Joined: 12 Jun 2003, 10:23
Location: Northern Virginia

Knopp (again)

#9

Post by Doug Nash » 18 Jul 2006, 18:39

Jan-Hendrik,
Thanks for the reply. By the way, the reason I was interested in the book was because it had some quotes attributed to Major i.G. Gerhard Hoeptner, who had been the 1a for the 272nd VGD. I was wondering what he had been quoted saying in the chance it might have been something useful for inclusion in my manuscript "Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp: With the 272nd VGD from the Huertgen Forest to the Heart of the Reich." The manuscript is essentially finished, but while I'm waiting for my proofreader to get his contract from Aberjona Press, I keep going back and inserting little new-found nuggets of information as I find them.
Thanks again - should someone return your book, could you check out the citation listed therein? I figure that if Knopp just quoted Hoeptner verbatim, it should be OK.
Cheers,
Doug

User avatar
Richard Hargreaves
Member
Posts: 1321
Joined: 04 Jul 2003, 23:48
Location: Portsmouth, England

#10

Post by Richard Hargreaves » 18 Jul 2006, 21:50

Hi Doug,

Eagerly await your next book; there's almost nothing on the German viewpoint of the Huertgen Forest, apart from a few post-war MSS produced for the US Army by captured Germans that I know of, so I'm looking forward to your plugging another gap in the history of the Wehrmacht!

Interesting title? Will it remain intact? I ask because: "We Buried our Best on Foreign Soil" became "Death Reaped a Terrible Harvest" became "The German Defeat in Normandy" and finally "The Germans in Normandy". I wasn't even allowed to call it: "The Germans in Normandy: Death Reaped a Terrible Harvest". I've no idea what the subtitle is now. Might as well be "They lost" :-)

I wish publishers sometimes had more guts and stuck to a poetic or literary title, rather than spell it out in A-B-C.

User avatar
Richard Hargreaves
Member
Posts: 1321
Joined: 04 Jul 2003, 23:48
Location: Portsmouth, England

#11

Post by Richard Hargreaves » 18 Jul 2006, 21:53

As for Knopp being a revisionist, I've never really seen him that way; he's very much a "oral" historian, using a lot of first-hand testimonies from participants of both sides. I've always found his works rather simplistic, beat-you-over-the-head-with-a-spade sort of argument. I suppose the only "revisionist" thing I've found about his works is that he won't turn a blind eye to Wehrmacht atrocities or involvement therein... but that's an argument that's been around for 35 years.

User avatar
Doug Nash
Member
Posts: 95
Joined: 12 Jun 2003, 10:23
Location: Northern Virginia

Victory was Beyond Their Grasp

#12

Post by Doug Nash » 18 Jul 2006, 22:08

Halder,
Actually, Kit Bonn, Edward G. Miller and I fought a long runny battle about the title, and this is the one that we thought captured the essence of the division's experiences during the 8 months it existed. Kit is (or was, since he passed away last Dec.) the editor/owner of Aberjona Press, and his wife, who's now running the bizz, is not going to change it. So it looks like the title will stick.
Knopp sounds to me to be the German equivalent of Stephen Ambrose - but of course, he wouldn't be looking for any "Band of Brothers" to laud and praise, would he? Ambrose was slowly becoming a hack before he passed away a couple of years ago, but his early work was very good. He started out doing all his own writing, but by the time he died, he had hired a large stable of ghost writers for him and that got him into trouble. Searching the WWW, I find Guido Knopp referenced all over the place, though usually not in a negative context.
Thanks -
Doug

Larso
Member
Posts: 1974
Joined: 27 Apr 2003, 03:18
Location: Brisbane, Australia

#13

Post by Larso » 20 Jul 2006, 06:16

I've not read any of Knopp's writings but I liked the way he did his TV series'. To me it seemed like he let the veteran's tell their stories firstly and then he fitted them into his text. There seemed to be a great deal of new stuff come out, at least in terms of first person accounts. I also loved the way he always showed which division the veteran was from.

Jan-Hendrik
Member
Posts: 8695
Joined: 11 Nov 2004, 13:53
Location: Hohnhorst / Deutschland

#14

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 20 Jul 2006, 06:32

Sorry that I must destroy your "illusion" :(

Those "vets" get cards with a text what exactly they have to say in front of the camera . This is nothing more than another dramaturgical effect .

If you ask me how I could know this , I was able to talk either with some who cooperated with Knopp and some who denied to appear in front of his camera because they don't want to give the "puppy" .

Jan-Hendrik

Post Reply

Return to “Books & other Reference Material”