- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Brassey's Inc (1 May 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0028811216
- ISBN-13: 978-0028811215
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
Hitler's Prisoners
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More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
Author Erich Friedrich was a brave, obedient soldier. He won the Iron Cross for valour and was wounded on the Eastern Front. He was not a Nazi: he was fighting for his country and his comrades. Yet, despite his excellent war record, Friedrich was arrested for failing to give the Nazi salute and for making disparaging remarks about Hermann Goering. Charged with subversion, he was brought back to Germany and thrown into a cell in a former insane asylum with six other non-Jewish prisoners of the Reich, including a suspected spy, a Jehovah's Witness, an alleged homosexual and a socialist. To help pass the Christmas holiday between brutal interrogation sessions, each man took a turn telling why he awaited torture and possibly death.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought "Hitler's Prisoners" primarily because I was interested to read about the Jehovah's Witness' stand against Nazism as viewed from the interesting angle of a German soldier; however I got so much more from this book.
To hear how people from totally different backgrounds interact under the most extreme hardship was fascinating and deeply moving. Unfortunately, when at war nationalistic fervour causes people to have a blanket hatred for entire nations of people. This book reminds us that nations are made up of diverse individuals with the same fears,vulnerabilities, hopes and sadly, capacity for violence.
Probably the most powerful section of the book dealt with the author's firsthand battle experiences which in no way attempt to glamourize warfare, or portray this decorated soldier as a hero.
On completion of this book, I felt many emotions. It is all too easy to dismiss this period of history as a tragedy that should never happen again; but this account reminds us that there are individuals suffering the same victimisation right now in war zones around the globe.
To hear how people from totally different backgrounds interact under the most extreme hardship was fascinating and deeply moving. Unfortunately, when at war nationalistic fervour causes people to have a blanket hatred for entire nations of people. This book reminds us that nations are made up of diverse individuals with the same fears,vulnerabilities, hopes and sadly, capacity for violence.
Probably the most powerful section of the book dealt with the author's firsthand battle experiences which in no way attempt to glamourize warfare, or portray this decorated soldier as a hero.
On completion of this book, I felt many emotions. It is all too easy to dismiss this period of history as a tragedy that should never happen again; but this account reminds us that there are individuals suffering the same victimisation right now in war zones around the globe.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Hitler's Prisoners
9 Oct 2000
Format:Paperback
Having grown up in Germany during the Third Reich - I was nine when World War II ended- I have read obsessively about this subject. The question, " How did it happen"? has perhaps no answer. But this book offers a salutary counterbalance to Goldhagen's one-sided "Hitler's Willing Executioners." How many of us would follow our conscience into such a prison as Franzl, the Jehova's Witness and Conscientious Objector, Fritz Römer, the Socialist, or Erich Friedrich, the author, endured for their convictions? Friedrich was arrested for not giving the Nazi salute, and for making disparaging remarks about Hermann Goering. The government acted legally, because what these prisoners did was against German law at that time. This book shows the American reader, who has no personal experience of a totalitarian regime, what it means to resist such a government.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Seven Germans who defied or offended the Nazi regime and paid for it
16 Aug 2005
Format:Paperback
Persons interested in the rise of Nazism and World War II, who have read the general histories of the era will appreciate these personal stories by citizens who lived in Germany at the time. "Hitler's Prisoners," told by Erich Friedrich (edited by his daughter Renate)about his imprisonment for criticizing Hermann Goering and aspects of the war, also is the story of six others who defied or offended the regime in various ways. None were Jews or committed Nazis: Franz's "crime" was that as a Jehovah's Witness he opposed war; Fritz was a socialist, Gerhard an aristocrat, Alex a dilettante. Willi deserted from the Wehrmacht, so there may be some justification for his fate, but
Richard's chapter is titled The "Good German." All the men experienced the pre-World War I years and the political, social and economic unrest that spawned Hitler's rise and Germany's militaristic conquest of Europe and Russia. These true accounts, from notes kept by the author, are written in the form of a novel: each man in turn tells the story of his life as he awaits trial and sentencing - usually execution. The author is last to tell of his upbringing in Thuringia, campaign service and wounding on the Russian front, and harrowing return to Germany, where he was subsequently arrested and imprisoned until July 1944. After the war's end, Friedrich was employed as a detective and civil servant, before moving to Virginia with his wife to live with their daughter's family. A must read for understanding the gradual eroding of law, justice and civility in the Germany of 1933-45.
Richard's chapter is titled The "Good German." All the men experienced the pre-World War I years and the political, social and economic unrest that spawned Hitler's rise and Germany's militaristic conquest of Europe and Russia. These true accounts, from notes kept by the author, are written in the form of a novel: each man in turn tells the story of his life as he awaits trial and sentencing - usually execution. The author is last to tell of his upbringing in Thuringia, campaign service and wounding on the Russian front, and harrowing return to Germany, where he was subsequently arrested and imprisoned until July 1944. After the war's end, Friedrich was employed as a detective and civil servant, before moving to Virginia with his wife to live with their daughter's family. A must read for understanding the gradual eroding of law, justice and civility in the Germany of 1933-45.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A Poignant Insight into the Lives of Seven Courageous Men
15 April 2000
Format:Paperback
This book is a remarkable account of the life and trial of seven individuals caught in the terror of the reign of the Third Reich. The author conveys the ordeals of these prisoners in such a way of convincing pathos that you feel the despair, pain and uncertainity that each character must have felt. If you enjoy reading World War II books this is a must read. Also, the book reminds me of experiences found in the movie Stalingrad.
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