German authors

[George L Gregory]

I have a few books by Peter Longerich and Volker Ullrich.

Can you name some other German authors who have written books about WW2, the Third Reich, the Holocaust, the Nazi Party, etc.

Thanks.

[Hans1906]

Joachim Clemens Fest: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Fest

Sebastian Haffner: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Haffner

Just two of many names, I find worth mentioning, a complete list would go beyond this scope...

Kategorie:Zeithistoriker (Historians who deal mainly with the period from about 1917.)
Link: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Zeithistoriker


Hans

[Hans1906]

Sebastian Haffner: "Anmerkungen zu Hitler" (Reading)




Hans

[George L Gregory]

Hi Hans,

I read Haffner’s book quite a few years ago. I read all of Fest’s books many years ago.

[George L Gregory]

Hans, can you think of any controversial German historians? I am not referring to any revisionists (deniers). I am referring to historians who question a general consensus about a specific event of the Third Reich, etc.

[Hans1906]

George,

Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) is the very best example. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Jünger

In den Gräben der Geschichte | Der Schriftsteller Ernst Jünger | ARTE-Doku 2019
In the Trenches of History | The Writer Ernst Jünger | ARTE Documentary 2019

The writer Ernst Jünger is considered one of the most important and at the same time most controversial German writers of the 20th century. His life's journey between the "thunderstorms of steel" and aesthetic outsiderness earned him both passionate admiration and contempt. Political representatives such as Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand came to see him. They admired the aged "witness of the 20th century" - and overlooked the fact that he understood war as a test of endurance and a parable of existence. To this day, Jünger is associated with the image of a nationalist and despiser of democracy; his radical, anti-liberal writings from the time of the Weimar Republic are cited again by the extreme right. At the same time, Jünger is regarded as an author of aesthetically brilliant writings who inspires many artists.Who was Ernst Jünger? What shaped him? Why is it worthwhile to look at the biography of a man whose life was so closely linked to the German and European history of the 20th century? In his documentary, director Falko Korth soberly and unpathetically traces important stages in the life of this difficult figure of the century using historical images and interview documents. At the same time, he allows those to have their say who have repeatedly dealt with Jünger, such as the biographers Helmuth Kiesel and Heimo Schwilk, the historian Volker Weiß, and the literary critic Iris Radisch.

As a present-day German citizen with both a historical National Socialist family background, and a democratic present-day background, very typical of many Germans of my generation, we post-war generations are still caught between two worlds.

Even as the sons, the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren, this time will always haunt us, even in the proverbial "1000" years, that is our heritage.

One is very proud, and at the same time very sick, that is how I personally feel about the nature of German history.


Hans

[von thoma]

Heinz Höhne

[Hans1906]

Heinz Höhne is very praiseworthy, but unfortunately, a little too short jumped...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Höhne

Günther Eich (1907–1972)
Paul Celan (1920–1970)
Günter Grass (1927–2015)
Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973)
Ilse Aichinger (1921–2016)
Heinrich Böll (1917–1985)
Wolfdietrich Schnurre (1920-1989)

And many other german authors should also be mentioned, an almost endless list...

Heinrich Böll - Ansichten eines Anarchisten (Portrait)


Böll's books shaped my life, after I learned to think, and that was late in life.


Hans

[Hans1906]

Eugen Kogon: "Der SS-Staat – Das System der deutschen Konzentrationslager" / "The SS State - The System of German Concentration Camps"

Eugen Kogon had been a prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp since 1939 - with several interruptions when he was imprisoned in a Gestapo prison in Vienna. After the liberation of Buchenwald Concentration Camp by the 3rd U.S. Army, he prepared an initial report on "the exceedingly complicated internal conditions" of the camp within four weeks on behalf of the Psychological Warfare Division for the Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF). This was done "in constant touch with the camp and the numerous groups of former prisoners." His testimony included a 125-page main report and nearly 120 accounts of the experiences of individual prisoners. The book that grew out of this and other reports "is a new manuscript," as Kogon points out in the introduction. "But the difference is clear: instead of Buchenwald as an individual case, the system of German concentration camps, instead of 12 chapters, now 23. ... Significant documentary material was added." Kogon wrote the book from June 15 to December 15, 1945. He points out at the end of his introduction that he "did not have to write a history of the German concentration camps, nor a compendium of all the atrocities committed, but a predominantly sociological work whose human, political, and moral content, established as true, has exemplary significance."[1] The book appeared in the spring of 1946 in three editions for the various occupation zones of Germany. It has since been considered a standard work on Nazi crimes.

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_SS-Staat

Eugen Kogon: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_Kogon

Radio broacast from the year 1953: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Lezo7Vg4Q


Hans

[Westphalia1812]

I have a few books by Peter Longerich and Volker Ullrich.

Can you name some other German authors who have written books about WW2, the Third Reich, the Holocaust, the Nazi Party, etc.

Thanks.

[Westphalia1812]

I have a few books by Peter Longerich and Volker Ullrich.

Can you name some other German authors who have written books about WW2, the Third Reich, the Holocaust, the Nazi Party, etc.

Thanks.

I can only recommend those to you that I own:
Christian Gerlach - Kalkulierte Morde
Christian Hartmann - Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg
Carlo Gentile - Waffen-SS und Wehrmacht in Italien 1943-45
Andreas Kunz - Wehrmacht und Niederlage
Stephan Lehnstaedt - Der Kern des Holocaust
Peter Lieb - Konventioneller Krieg oder NS Weltanschauungskrieg?

Then of course Roman Töppel - Kursk (he has also written some great articles, some were translated into english: https://independent.academia.edu/RomanToeppel)

PS: Blitzkrieg Legend by Karl-Heinz Frieser is a must read!

[steve248]

Götz Aly, "Endlösung"
Matthias Gafke, "Heydrichs Ostmärker"

For the role of the Gestapo, any of the books by
Gerhard Paul
Klaus Michael Mallmann
Andrej Angrick
Martin Küppers
Michael Wildt

[Sheldrake]

Here are some others.

I am a fan of Matthais Strohn, having worked with him (at a much more junior level) on the British Army WW1 Centenary programme.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Matthias ... ias+Strohn
https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/research/h ... ows/strohn

Karl-Heinz Frieser https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Karl-Hei ... nz+Frieser

[Sheldrake]

Here are some others.

I am a fan of Matthais Strohn, having worked with him (at a much more junior level) on the British Army WW1 Centenary programme.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Karl-Hei ... nz+Frieser
https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/research/h ... ows/strohn

Karl-Heinz Frieser https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Karl-Hei ... nz+Frieser

[Hans1906]

John C. G. Röhl https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._G._Röhl

Die Geheimnisse des Kaisers



Hans