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The Past is Myself
 
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The Past is Myself (Paperback)

by Christabel Bielenberg (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Frequently Bought Together

The Past is Myself + The Road Ahead: Complete & Unabridged + When I Was a German, 1934-1945: An Englishwoman in Nazi Germany
Price For All Three: £50.93

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Product details

  • Paperback: 286 pages
  • Publisher: Corgi Books; New edition edition (16 Sep 1988)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0552990655
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552990653
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 24,080 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #14 in  Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Germany
    #18 in  Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Germany
    #25 in  Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Europe

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Product Description

About the Author

Christabel Bielenberg
Christabel Bielenberg, a niece of Lord Northcliffe, married a German lawyer in 1934. She lived through the war as a German citizen and wrote about her experiences in her memoir, The Past is Myself, and in its sequel, The Road Ahead. The Past is Myself was adapted for television by Dennis Potter under the title Christabel. In 1988, the Federal Republic of Germany awarded her the Commander's cross of the Order of Merit for her contribution to German-English understanding. She and her husband, Peter, have three sons and live in Ireland.

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best memoirs to come out of World War II., 24 Jul 2000
By A Customer
Christabel Bielenberg's account of her life in Germany from the time of Hitler's extraordinary rise to power and influence to his ultimate downfall makes compelling reading. Born to a wealthy and politically influential Irish/English family Bielenberg marries and commits herself to her husband's country - Germany - five years before the outbreak of World War II. She finds herself caught up in the horrors of Nazi Germany, sustained by her husband's group of friends who, refusing to believe that Hitler speaks for all Germans, work secretly throughout the war to keep alive channels of communication with England. Involved in the July 20th plot of 1944 to assassinate Hitler, Bielenberg's husband is imprisoned, all but sharing the fate of his co- conspirators. The account of his rescue is thrilling reading, but the overall theme of the book is that no nation has a monopoly on good or evil, that humanity and inhumanity co-exist in every race, and that goodness can be found in the most unlikely places. One of my all-time favourite books.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant - An Englishwomans struggle in Nazi Germany, 10 Jan 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Past is Myself: Complete & Unabridged (Audio Cassette)
A brilliant thought provoking book of an Englishwomans struggle to survive in Nazi Germany with a husband and young children. Through the course of the book we follow her path from an educated priviledged background in England, her acceptance into German academic society - she lives through the traumas of seeing her family doctor dissappearing most probably to a concentration camp, her husband's closest friend executed for treason and her husband's eventual imprisonment in a concentration camp.

Throughout her time in Nazi Germany she maintains her "Englishness" whilst gaining acceptance as a German Housewife - leading to her house arrest in a rural part of Germany (during the time her husband was imprisoned) and then towards the end of the war her trip to see the SS to convince them of her husband's innocence.

Overall the book is well written and has a gripping story line - difficult to put down.

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, 4 Aug 2000
This is an absolutely wonderful book describing the life of a young English woman living in Germany, mainly Berlin, during the war. Our view of WW2 is coloured by all the propaganda we have read. This book shows that people are just people, at least when they are out of uniform. She lived the same life as any other resident of Germany with all its restrictions and dangers during the war, but no more than everyone else. Hardly the usual view of Hitler's Germany. I have read it twice and am now ordering a copy for a friend.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful autobiography
This powerful and moving story of the life of Chris (an English woman) and her family in wartime Germany is gentle, honest and compelling. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Village Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Shared memories of an earlier Europe - or one to come
Having lived and worked in Germany from 1968 to 1993 my father gave me this book with the note that "I wish that everyone you know in Germany could read this"... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. R. A. Flood

5.0 out of 5 stars Life in Germany during WWII
An interesting view of the home front in Germany written by the wife of a German. Elegiac, fascinating, humourous and brilliantly written it gives a great piacture of those on the... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mrs. Jane C. Kirk

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book, but not amazing or compelling
This is a good book, but is not amazing or compelling as some of the other reviewers state. Christabel Bielenberg certainly has an interesting story to tell but I feel that the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by R. A. Hooker

5.0 out of 5 stars A Time Witness
Spellbinding personal testimony of Christabel of her years in Germany under the Hitler regime. I have found echos of stories from my own family's experience in her book. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Antyllus

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly compelling
Memoirs of life inside the wartime Third Reich from an outside perspective are understandably thin on the ground. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. Richard N. Walker

5.0 out of 5 stars A haunting book
I bought it by chance from an airport bookshop on my way to Sweden, and then could not put it down. When I'd finished it once I read it again, and every few years I come back to... Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2007 by android

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
The Past is Myself by Christabel Beielenberg is a fantastic book about the life of a english woman,her children and german husband Peter during Nazi Germany. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2005 by Snail

5.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't anyone remember the BBC series of this book?
This is one of the most powerful autobiographies I have read about Nazi Germany, and believe me I have read many. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2004 by Martine B.

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but the writing fails to bring the story to life
A memoire from Nazi Germany from an English lady married to a German should provide an interesting view on this time. Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2001

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