Books about WW2 from a German perspective

[Chasseur]

While it has more of a military perspective than a civilian one, I'd recommend the works of the brother team Stephen Hart and Russell Hart on German soldiers. They should have a forthcoming book "Ruins of the Reich" about the final year of Nazi Germany 1944-45 and I believe that should have more on the homefront than their previous works.

 

[TM]

Regarding "Hitler's Willing Executioners", I would not recommend it either. If you read "Explaining Hitler" by Ron Rosenbaum you will see that most Holocaust scholars tend to discredit it due to serious misinterpretations the author made.

http://www.amazon.com/Explaining-Hitler-Search-Origins-Evil/dp/0571276857/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363229110&sr=1-1&keywords=explaining+hitler

Tony

 

[Story]

An interview with former infantryman Heinz Otto Fausten : "When his division set out the next morning, he thought he was doing it for family and fatherland, because it was his duty, because he was obeying orders, and because doing anything else would have been inconceivable."

http://www.spiegel.de/international...f-a-german-world-war-ii-veteran-a-891462.html

 

[W-D Forties]

Hello all and thanks for your reccomendations - I haven't been on for a while!

I know there are a lot of books out there about the War from a military perspective but what I was really asking about was something like a German version of 'Nella Lasts War'. Just how ordinary women and families coped, especially during 'their' blitz, courtesy of my father and his crews.

I have a pretty good idea of how we coped here - from books, films - and also because my family went through it and my mother spent every thunderstorm of my childhood huddled under the stairs, shaking. Given that some of our raids German cities were far more devastating, I'm interested in how ordinary people were affected. The records we have from Mass Observation have given us a priceless archive of contemporary accounts and I wondered if there was a German version.

 

[Story]

In editing Max von Zatorski's diary, I can tell you that his mother worried (like any mother), she had her doubts about the war (like any mother) and that Max regretted afterwards arguing about that and politics in general with her.

 

[Story]

Speaking of which -

Her aunt was executed by the Nazis, her uncle was a far-right political leader and her father told her stories of nighttime battles on the Eastern Front. SPIEGEL's Marianne Wellershoff traces her family's complicated place in World War II history.

http://www.spiegel.de/international...ted-world-war-ii-family-history-a-894667.html

 

[Guttersnipe]

Personally, I wouldn't recommend 'Hitler's Willing Executioners'. I felt that the author had a theory and tried to fit the 'facts' (that part is at times debatable) onto his theory.

I found 'Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland' by Christopher Browning to be a much more convincing read. In later versions of 'Ordinary Men' there are annexes addressing the arguments put forward in 'Hitler's Willing Executioners'. It's safe to say that the two authors are not friends!
Much detailed argument about the merits of the two books can be found on the internet.

Ordinary Men and Hitler's Willing Executioners essentially make the same underlying point: a diverse cross section of German society participated or aided in Genocide. The authors' respective theories regarding the underlying reasons for this are divergent. However, the notion that the Holocaust would not have been posdible without a pervasive culture of anti-Semitism in accepted across all disciplines (history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, etc.).

Personally I think Executioners overstates the case and makes too broad generalizations. However, you can't throw the baby out with the bath water. The fact that both these books inspire lots of debate probably means the strike very close to deep truths (the benality of evil and destructive nature of ultranationalism/racism).

 

[Story]

Not so much a book (although the material is there), but a good website on the aftermath of the war on German infrastructure
http://www.thirdreichruins.com/index.htm

 

[Story]

Not so much a book (although the material is there), but a good website on the aftermath of the war on German infrastructure
http://www.thirdreichruins.com/index.htm

 

[Metatron]

For the aviation enthusiasts there is 'I flew for the Fuhrer' by Heinz Knoke, a war diary by a Luftwaffe ace mostly on the Western front.
Very riveting read, though definitely affected by the propaganda of the time (We had to invade Russia because the Soviets were poised to attack us)
Not quite as good in a literary aspect as the Free French/RAF 'The Big Show' by Pierre Clostermann, but there may be an equivalent out there.

 

[Luftwaffles]

If you're interested in the Panzer crews, I would recommend "Knight's Cross Panzers". It consists of memoirs of various crewman who served in France and Russia.

 

[ursaworks]

"der fragebogen" or " the questionnaire" - ernst von salomon

 

[One Bullet Barney]

I just finished a recently published book, "A Higher Call" by Adam Makos - Luftwaffe Fighter Ace Franz Stigler makes many points about the German citizens opinion of the Allied Bombing Campaign! Early in the book he points out problems he had even after the war had ended when other Germans realized he was one of the fighter pilots that "failed" to stop the bombers. One of the best WW2 books I've read in some time!

 

[hatguy1]

I recommend Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. It's a pretty dense, academic read but it's worth it. It was fairly controversial when first released 15-20 years ago -- especially in Germany -- because it attacks the post-war revisionism that transferred blame from Germany/Germans as a whole to Hitler/Nazis specifically (you know, the whole "oh we were regular army, not SS." "Don't blame us for our participation in a culture of militarization, obviously violent nationalistic ideology, and a war of aggression all against civilization" arguments). It's pretty widely accepted as an important work now, though.

Agreed. I thought it offered valuable insights into the situation and participants and didn't find it had an agenda at all.

 

[hatguy1]

I would also offer a few additional suggestions:

At Hitler's Side: "The Memoirs of Hitler's Luftwaffe Adjutant", by Nicolaus Von Below, which is a 1st-person account of Hitler's Luftwaffe aid de camp who was constantly at Adolph Hitler's side during the war. It offers a great account of Hitler, his inner circle and the politics and day-to-day workings of Fuhrer HQ.

For another story from the perspective of the German Luftwaffe combat pilot, "DAY FIGHTERS IN DEFENCE OF THE REICH: A War Diary, 1942-45."

And for post-WW1 deterioration of German society and politics into Nazism particularly, I recommend "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas. In addition, those interested in Dietrich Bonhoeffer get a tremendous amount of insight into his beliefs and activities up through his imprisonment and execution "for crimes against the Nazi state."

 

[The Wolf]

"City of Women" by David R. Gilliam is an interesting read from a female civilian's point of view.

Sincerely,
Der Wulf

 

[the hairy bloke]

Aprapos Makos: Did any German civilians feel that the Luftwaffe were in part to blame for Allied bombing, for having done blitzed first?

 

[Old Mariner]

I was searching for a general book list thread to post these, but came across this which is more appropriate. I am listing WWI books here as well. My focus is U-Boats (WWI - Early WWII).

Some of these are listed as print because they didn’t have the Kindle version out yet when I got them. Some have since been made into a Kindle version as well. I hope to get my entire library in Kindle version – thankfully most of it is already, it’s just this subject that I have more print versions of books.

EBooks – WWI

The Grand Scuttle (not really U Boat, but related to Scapa Flow)

U-Boat Stories Great War

The U-Boat War 1914-1918

The Kaiser’s U-Boat Assault on America

U Boat 202: The War Diary of a German Submarine

Print – WWI

The Kaiser’s U-Boote

Raider’s of the Deep

U-Boats Westward!

Der Kapitaen: U-Boat Ace Hans Rose

Fips: Legendary U-Boat Commander 1915-1918

EBooks – WWII

The Hunters and The Hunted

Gunther Prien and U 47

U 47 In Scapa Flow

Print – WWII

Wolfpack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II

Enemy Submarine (note: the 1970’s ed. does not have photographs in – I found that out by buying that edition only to find there were no photos…unless someone managed to carefully take them out)

The U-Boat Wars

Ten Years and Twenty Days

HX: 72 – The First Convoy to Die

The Sea Wolves

Wolf: U-Boat Commanders In World War II

The Royal Oak Disaster

Miscellaneous Print

Count Not the Dead (covers both WWI and II)

The Seafarers – Time Life Books: The U-Boats (covers both WWI and II)

The Great Naval Game (I rented this a few years ago via inter-library loan due to the cost of the book at the time. I don’t currently have a copy but putting it in as a recommendation.)

 

[Turnip]

If you understand German read the row „Das Deutsche Reich Und Der Zweite Weltkrieg“ from German MGFA. This will give you a deep insight about many aspects, military as well as civil, of WWII from a German point of view.

Not to forget mentioning the fab „Echolot“ series by Walter Kempowski.

About the complex Reichssicherheitshauptamt the title „An Uncompromizing Generation“ by Michael Wildt is certainly worth a try.

About the Russian complex the title „Kalkulierte Morde“ by Christian Gerlach is also a good idea, though only in German again, at least from a non revisionistic point of view.

 

[Turnip]

The above mentioned „Ten Years And Twenty Days“ features indeed a very specific German point of view as Mr. Dönitz has been a convinced Nazi until his very last breath. For getting an idea of a backward view through brown toned glasses it is of course worth reading anyway.