Book Reviews
I have detailed elsewhere in this web page my two favourite books on Hitler’s likely escape routes to a new life in South America. and their confirmatory information.
The following authors and their books were informative whilst navigating through hundreds of books, articles and television programmes, then the Internet, regarding Hitler, his background and character from the early days of National Socialism to the last days of WWII. All sources gave me a feel for the characters in my book including the story’s protagonist.
‘Hitler’
by Ian Kershaw
A fascinating and detailed read tracing the rise and fall of a monster from his early days as a failed art student to his rise to unparalleled power, destroying millions of lives in the process. The depth of information places this book for me, as the definitive biography of Adolf Hitler. For enthusiasts of the era, this is a must read.
‘Berlin: The Downfall 1945:
The authoritative history book uncovering the final days of the Nazi Third Reich’
by Antony Beevor
An outstanding, compelling and finely researched book written in harrowing detail describing the last days of the beleaguered metropolis, and the brutality of the rampaging Red Army. It is also a humane account of the lives of those lived in the ruins, the brave youngsters of the Hitler Youth and the elderly veterans from WWI vainly defending barricades with little ammunition and weapons. The book mirrors those dreadful conditions the Berliners faced each day which those survivors of the era freely described to me, sometimes with tears and silent crying. Their vivid recounting of the events and times were emotional and never to be forgotten.
'Inside Hitler’s Bunker -
the Last Days of the Third Reich'
by Joachim Fest
This book was later the inspiration for the Oscar nominated film, ‘Downfall,’ starring Bruno Ganz. The German historian Fest describes the chaos, the claustrophobic atmosphere of those last bitter days when a drugged and feeble Hitler veered between total despair and wildly optimistic optimism and how the Nazi regime disintegrated amidst betrayal, recrimination and suicide. My book would make an exciting sequel to the film.
‘Hitler’s Fate – The Final Story’
by H D Baumann
and
‘Hitler’s Escape’
by Ron T Hansic.
These were two of the books I read which posed viable questions concerning the accepted history of alleged suicides in the Führerbunker. They expose the rumours, politically inspired falsehoods and conspiracies revolving around the last days of the most despised monster of the twentieth century. Both books plant sufficient doubt the official accounts of Hitler and Eva Braun’s suicide may not be as reliable as the historic record stated.
