Sources
Websites and books that have been useful in my research.
Books – Non-fiction
Beachy, Robert, 2015, Gay Berlin. Birthplace of A Modern Identity. Vintage, New York.
A comprehensive history of the development of the acceptance of homosexuality as normal sexual expression. It includes royal gay scandals and those of the Nazi years. Beachy also provides an interesting insight into the times.
Boyd, Julia, 2017, Travellers in the Third Reich. The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People. Elliott and Thompson, London.
The story of how Germany’s transformation from the chaos after the Great War to the chaos of the end of World War Two told through the eyes of international visitors in intense detail and engaging prose. I recommend this to anyone interested in Germany between the wars. It doesn’t deliver on the sub-title – ‘everyday people’ are few – but the accounts of American and English diplomats, socialites and journalists are insightful.
Evans, Richard J, 2003, Coming Of The Third Reich. Allen Lane, London.
The first of a trilogy. The Third Reich In Power, 1933–1939 and The Third Reich at War: How the Nazis Led Germany from Conquest to Disaster. Evans traces the Nazis’ rise to the development of German society in the nineteenth century. The Nazi government was not inevitable, but one of many possibilities.
Bryant, Nick, 2020. When America Stopped Bring Great. A History of the Present. Penguin Random House Australia.
Fritzsche, Peter, 1999, Germans into Nazis Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Historians and other writers say there were three reasons the Nazis came to power. Germany lost the Great War. The Allies forced the country to pay repressive reparations and the Great Depression. Fritzsche disagrees. He says they were factors but not the principal reasons. He believes the Nazis provided a vehicle for the working and middle class to express their nationalism and demand a less rigid society. When the German government declared war in August 1914, hundreds of thousands of people showed their support in the streets of cities and towns throughout the country. Fritzsche argues it’s a landmark in German history because classes and occupations united in their public expression for the first time. Nazi policies didn’t differ from other far right parties but its quest for national unity, national pride and a new society set the party apart from others. Non-political party organisations formed after the Great War provided a vehicle for the expression of middle class and working class demands. They wanted to restore national pride, a less rigid society, and a hopeful future. The Nazis tapped the sentiment. The Great Depression and ill-feeling about the Great War defeat helped but weren’t the primary causes of the Nazi’s rise. This well-written and accessible book prosecutes a convincing argument. It is also an enlightening introduction to the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism.
Friedländer, Saul, 1998, Nazi Germany and the Jews. The Years of Persecution 1933-39. Phoenix Giant, London.
This is an account of the Nazis’ persecution of innocent people by the state. Rich in factual detail, it will be helpful for anyone seeking an understanding about what it was like to be Jewish in Nazi Germany.
Hancock, Eleanor, 2008, Ernst Röhm. Hitler’s Chief of Staff. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
A readable scholarly biography that’s a detailed account of the Nazi’s life. Hancock shows how the gay stormtrooper leader ascended to one of the most powerful roles in the Nazi party and Germany, along with his role in making Hilter Chancellor.
Hett, Benjamin Carter, 2008, Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put the Nazis on the Witness Stand. Oxford University Press, USA.
Part biography, part account of how brilliant lawyer Hans Litten exposed the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, as a liar in May 1931. Hitler was a national political personality in Germany; the Nazis had made considerable gains in the national elections of 14 September 1930. In the same month Hitler testified in court the Nazis were a law-abiding political party. Two months later, on 22 November, Nazi storm troopers attacked a dance hall popular with left-wing workers. Three workers were killed and 20 injured. Litten subpoenaed Hitler to give evidence and during cross-examination, part of which is included in the book, Hitler lost his temper and revealed himself a liar. There were many unsung anti-Nazi resistors of which Hans Litten is one. Crossing Hitler is an important book for its history of the pre-Nazi period and of course of one of Germany’s most brilliant legal minds.
Hett, Benjamin Carter, 2018, The Death of Democracy. Hitler’s Rise to Power.
William Heinemann, London. A well-argued book that debunks much of the conventional wisdom that the Nazi’s rise to power was because of the Great Depression and a yearning for a return to national pride. Carter argues the Nazis came to power because of an economic storm – that didn’t include the Wall Street Crash. Scheming politicians, including President von Hindenburg, were not committed to the Constitution to which they had sworn to uphold, also played a decisive role. This is an enlightening insight into the personalities and politics of late Weimar Germany. It is also a warning from history. The parallels with what was happening in Germany then to what is happening in the UK, US and other countries today are unmistakable.
Liang, Hsi-Huey, 1970, The Berlin Police Force in the Weimar Republic. University of California Press.
This is a well-researched account of the Berlin police in the 1920s and early 1930s. Liang interviewed many of the police serving during that period and includes details about the structure, work and events.
von der Goltz, Anna, 2009, Hindenburg. Power, Myth and the Rise of the Nazis. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
The only elected president in Germany’s history was instrumental to the Nazis gaining power in 1933. Von der Goltz executes a convincing argument that Hindenburg’s power came from Germans’ hero worship of him because of his leadership in winning the Battle of Tannenberg in the Great War. Hindenburg suggested the battle’s name to the Kaiser. Hindenberg, the media and others cultivated, nurtured and propagated the legend from the time the battle ended. The field marshall’s image was a selfless, devoted patriot who always put his country before himself. The facts in this book suggest otherwise.
Kershaw, Ian, 1998, Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris. WW Norton, London.
Another eminent historian considered an international expert on the German dictator. This volume is the first of two. The other is Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis.
Kessler, Harry, 1999, Berlin in Lights. The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler 1918-1937. Grover Press, New York.
A great primary source on the Weimar and Nazi period. The main political and society characters are all here. Kessler wrote the first entries in the days just before the November 1918 revolution. He was an aristocrat, art collector, publisher, and diplomat. His writing is entertaining and there’s abundant information about the period. His alarm is clear as the Nazis get closer to and then attain power.
Levenda, Peter, 2002 2nd ed., Unholy Alliance. A History of Nazi Involvement With the Occult. Bloomsberry, London and New York.
We know Nazism for its crazy vision for the world, and this book confirms the madness, including Himmler’s obsession with the Holy Grail. There are also less well-known claims, such as Hitler contemplating suicide in 1932.
Lovell, Mary S, 2008, The Mitford Girls: The Biography of an Extraordinary Family. Little, Brown Book Group, London.
This well-written biography proves fact is stranger than fiction. Mary Lovell skilfully manages her eight principal characters (including parents Sydney and David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford, the second Baron Redesdale). Unity was in love with Hitler and Berlin was a home away from home. Diana caused a scandal by leaving her husband for the British fascist leader, Walter Mosely, a married father. This extraordinary book reads like a novel. But it’s much more than that. It’s also a history of the 20th century that includes the enormous changes in society wrought by the decline of the English upper class and the rise of Nazism to name a few.
Marhoffer, Lauirie, 2015, Sex and the Weimar Republic. German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo, London.
A well-researched book that covers the history of sexual attitudes in Germany. During the liberal Weimar Republic era, legislators in 1929 considered decriminalising homosexuality. The Nazis came to power in early 1933 and began the systematic and incremental deprivation of rights, including those of gay people.
Metaxas, 2009, Eric, Bonhoeffer. Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Thomas Nelson, Nashville.
An inspiring, insightful and enlightening biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the courageous opponent of the Nazis. This 190k-word book is a detailed chronological account. There’s a lot more than a well-written biography. Metaxas covers the assassination attempts on Hitler and the Protestant churches’ response to the Nazis. Recommended for anyone interested in the Weimar and Nazi era.
McDonough, Frank, 2015, The Gestapo. The Myth and Reality of Hitler’s Secret Police. Hodder and Stroughton, London.
An interesting insight that will surprise; the organisation was not nearly as ubiquitous as you might have thought. Many agents were recent law graduates that caused friction with the older, less educated police.
Ohler, Norman, 2016, Blitzed. Mariner Books, US and UK.
The German army’s invasion of western Europe in May and June 1940 was astonishing. Never had a conquering army covered so much ground so quickly. Ohler provides an explanation: amphetamines. He argues front-line troops in the army and airforce were fuelled by 35-mg tablets of Pervitin, amphetamine. Ohler claims Hitler that was addicted to a variety of drugs and most of the German population were regular users during the war. Eminent World War Two historians disagree with Ohler’s claims. the emminent World War Two historian Richard Evans says there is a lack of evidence for many of the claims but another respected historian Ian Kershaw, describes it as “a serious piece of scholarship”.
Rees, Laurence, 2006, The Nazis: A Warning from History. Penguin, London.
The BBC documentary film-maker has written many books about the Third Reich. He covers the Nazis’ rise and fall in an informal conversational style. This an excellent introduction to the Nazi era.
Shirer, William, L, 1998, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Arrow, London.
First published in 1961. Shirer was an American journalist based in Germany from 1934 to 1940. They say news reporting is the first draft of history. Shirer wrote many first drafts: he saw the Nazi party’s 1934 Nuremberg, Hitler’s announcement of the German march into the Rhineland in 1936, the German takeover of Austria in 1938, the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and he was with the German armies as they conquered France in 1940. The Propaganda Ministry publicly condemned his reporting of the 1936 Berlin Olympics for exposing anti-Semitism. His journalistic style is effortless to read, but historians have criticised his lack of academic rigour. Gay activist Peter Tatchell has criticised omission of the Nazi’s persecution of gay people.
Taylor, AJP, 1961, The Origins of the Second World War. Penguin, London.
The eminent historian has written extensively on the subject. This book is an authoritative account and an excellent place to learn about why the Third Reich happened.
Von Oven, Wilfred, 2010, Hitler’s Storm Troopers: A History of the SA. The Memoirs of Wilfred van von Oven. Frontline Books, London.
The author is a Nazi apologist who knew Göbbels, so there’s nothing here that reflects badly on the storm troopers. But it is a useful primary resource especially for the storm troopers’ activities in Berlin which were more violent than other parts of the country.
Walton-Kerr, Philip St C, 1996, Gestapo. The History of the German Secret Service. Robert Hale, London.
Written by an outsider and from the distance of Britain, this book was first published in 1939 and so does not have the benefit of hindsight. It is interesting to read a contemporary account published when the Third Reich’s future seemed secure.
Weitz, Eric, 2007, Weimar Germany. Promise and Tragedy. Princeton University Press, New Jersey.
Weitz paints a colourful picture of a colourful period. Enormous department stores, the movie industry, innovative art and architecture; it’s all here, contrasting with the chaos from which there were times of respite. Good content.
Winterbotham, F.W., 1978, The Nazi Connection. Harper and Row, New York.
An excellent first-hand story of a British spy working in the early years of the Nazi era. There’s plenty of information and suspense
Democracy and related topics
Brennan, Jason, 2016, Against Democracy, Princeton University Press, New Jersey.
In this controversial and thought-provoking book, Brennan argues democracy has failed and that it is the rule by the ignorant and irrational that makes people more ignorant and irrational. He revives Plato’s idea of what’s become known as epistocracy, rule by the knowledgeable.
Bryan, Nick, 2020. When America Stopped Bring Great. A History of the Present. Penguin Random House Australia
When Bryant was a starry-eyed teenager in 1984, he visited the United States for the first time. And he was smitten. This book is a well-researched and highly readable lament of the decline of the country’s decline.
Charles, Stephen and Williams, Catherine, 2022, Keeping Them Honest, Scribe, Melbourne.
The egregious transgressions of the Australia’s federal government 2018 to 2022 are presented with all the objective detail you’d expect from a retired judge (Stephen Charles is a former Supreme Court of Victoria judge) and an academic (Dr Williams is an adjunct research fellow, School of Humanities LaTrobe University). The abuse of power and process is demonstrated in detail. The book is a warning for what can happen when those in power don’t respect it.
Clark, Christopher, 2012, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. Penguin.
An excellent detailed account of the background and reasons for the tensions that escalated into war. Clark challenges the orthodoxy that circumstances and alliances forced the hand of Europe’s leaders. He argues the decision-makers that contributed to taking their nations to war acted freely.
Dikötter, Frank, 2019, How To Be A Dictator. The Cult Of Personality In The Twentieth Century, Bloomsbury, London.
An interesting and enlightening account of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s rise – and fall – from power. The narrative includes other dictators. Dikötter’s argues dictators are helped into power by political establishments – elites – who act in the interests of self-preservation and not that of their country.
Kertzer, David I. 2015, The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe. Random House.
Mussolini’s ascension didn’t bode well for the Roman Catholic Church. The fascist blackshirts had bashed clerics and terrorised church youth clubs. But after he won power, Mussolini knew the Pope’s support would help legitimise his regime, so he cultivated favour with the church.
Levitsky, Steven and Ziblatt, Daniel, 2018, How Democracies Die. What History Reveals About Our Future Penguin Random House
The rise of populism and division is well covered. Helps explain the rise of Trump, including how the “democratisation” of the two major parties in the late 1960s played a part in creating the biggest threat to democracy.
MacMillan, Margaret, 2014, The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914. Penguin Random House
MacMillan agrees with Christopher Clark (see above) that the war’s causes were not as simple as had been commonly believed. She argues the alliances were not as fixed as had been thought and were capable of change. Her writing is exemplary on the European heads of state and the circumstances that led to war. But she admits defining a reason for the war is difficult.
Preston, Paul, 1993, Franco. A Biography, HarperCollins.
A definitive and magisterial book, rich in intricate detail. The comprehensive coverage of Franco’s childhood influences provide understanding of the adult.
Ricketson, Matthew and Mullins, Patrick, 2022, Who Needs the ABC? Why Taking It for Granted is No Longer an Option, Scribe Melbourne.
A comprehensive and detailed defence of the ABC. It is a compelling brief for why the institution is so important and the threats to it. Includes financial tables.
Runicman, David, How Democracy Ends, 2018, Profile Books, London.
It was popular to compare the rise of fascism in Europe in the nineteen thirties with what is happening in western democracies today – especially Trump’s United States. But Runicman says the argument is flawed. The thirties was not just a different time, but the circumstances were different to those of today. He says the death of a democracy used to be obvious; now it is by stealth.
Sassoon, David, Mussolini And The Rise Of Fascism, 2008, Harper Press, London.
In this compact book, Sassoon argues the political situation in Italy in the early nineteen twenties was fluid and Mussolini’s rise to power was not inevitable. But he argues argues Mussolini won because of voters’ apathy and the liberal establishment who thought he would protect them from communism.
Trythall, JWD, El Caudillo: A Political Biography of Franco, 1970, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.
The dictator’s political career; the leadup to winning power and the influences that helped him are covered in detail. Franco died in November 1975 but Trythall argues he is still “an uncomfortable spectre from the past”.
Fiction
Boyne, John, 2006, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Random House, London.
John Boyne’s book is one of the best I’ve read about the horrific consequences of the Nazi’s abhorrent racial policies. It’s not surprising it has sold more than 2.5 million. The young adult novel, which is just as appealing to adults, is an ingenious take on the Holocaust told through the eyes of nine-year-old Bruno who makes you laugh and cry. His father, an ambitious Nazi, is promoted to run a death camp. Bruno is lonely and looks for playmates. The characterisation is strong and believable. By the end, it may surprise you for whom you feel sympathy. An eponymous movie is true to the book but does not include everything because of the medium’s constraints. This is a must-read not just for people interested in the Second World War, but for all everyone.
Clements, Rory, 2017 Corpus. Zaffre Publishing, London.
The daughter of an upper class Englishman is found dead; a presumed drug overdose. Nancy Hereward’s family and friends are shocked but not surprised. They knew she was a user. Uncrowned King Edward VIII wants to marry the woman he loves. His family and friends are shocked. The King marrying a twice-married divorcee was out of the question. But not for some. There were people who wanted him to stay on the throne and were prepared to go to murder to achieve it. The connection between these two events in 1936 are tenuous. But Rory Clements has weaved a complex tapestry that explains it and a lot more. Cambridge University history professor Thomas Wilde is determined to uncover the truth. Historians are investigators, looking for evidence to create a narrative that explains events. Wilde specialises in the Elizabethan era and the present. His involvement in the investigation of Nancy’s death draws him into a web of intrigue. Despite the lack of evidence, he doesn’t give up. People with whom he deals aren’t what they seem and complicate his task. The Russian who has an enormous amount of gold, the Times journalist whose media work isn’t his only job and the handsome one-time German lover of Nancy all have their own agendas. Corpus skilfully combines mystery and history. Mystery/thriller fans and people interested in the 1930s will love it.
Colley, Rupert, 2017, The Sixth Man. Kindle.
Everyone has secrets. Everyone makes choices that often cannot be changed. This tense and dramatic novel takes the reader from the darkness of a prison cell in Occupied France into the darkness of the six characters: a soldier, policeman, postman, teacher, doctor and priest. We first meet them on the eve of their release. Their high spirits are dashed when they are told about a change of plan. All but one will be executed. They have to decide who will live. Colley uses this imaginative vehicle for exploring motivation and consequences. To help decide who will live, they agree to talk about the worst thing they have done. Their stories reveal greed, selfishness and dishonesty. The novel made me think about motivation and the lengths to which people will go to get what they want. It made me think about things I have done and the consequences. I thought I had the ending picked, but I was wrong. Thought-provoking, tense and well-written, The Sixth Man is a riveting read.
Follett, Ken, 2012, Winter of the World. Penguin, London.
Historical epic, second in a trilogy, sweeping, history lesson, page turning, romance, thriller. Research exceptional. Number One New York Times bestseller.
Faulks, Sebastian, 1998, Charlotte Gray. Hutchison, London.
This novel has it all: mesmerising writing, a cracking story and surprises. The characterisation is exceptional. Faulks weaves magic in this story of a British woman spying in Occupied France. There is a lot more going on, unbeknownst to her. Critics say the battle scenes are among the best written. It’s the last of a trilogy but can be read as a stand-alone. The first two are The Girl at the Lion d’Or and Birdsong.
Harris, Robert, 2017, Munich. Penguin, London.
This is one of the best books I’ve read. Munich is about the peace conference held in the southern German city in 1938. The price of what turned out to be a temporary peace was high. Germany, Britain and France carved up Czechoslovakia, but it deprived the country of representation at the conference. The Germans locked delegates in a nearby room. Harris skilfully mingles fact with the fiction of two Oxford friends, working for England and Germany, respectively. Munich is a brilliant fly-on-the-wall account of the conference. The writing’s strength is such that I felt I was there, a few steps behind the major characters. Even if you’re not a history buff or interested in the period, this novel’s great writing, suspense and robust characters will have you turning the pages, not wanting it to end.
Kelman, Suzanne, 2019, A View Across The Rooftops. Better, London.
.Vivid portrayal of Amsterdam’s residents’ endurance of the horror of the Nazi occupation. Kelman portrays the constant presence of oppression and a sense of foreboding. A theme is the importance of what unites us and the consequences of unchecked power. The protagonist is mathematics professor Josef Held who hides one of his Jewish students in his attic from February 1941. His niece is a committed Nazi falls in love with a senior Nazi officer, which isn’t the only threat to the student.
Kerr, Philip, 2009, If The Dead Rise Not. Penguin, London.
Eceptional period detail of what life would’ve been like in 1934 Berlin. The incremental Nazi oppression and the horror that went with it. Gunther is a tough, cynical and wise-cracking ex-homicide detective now a using his skills at one of Berlin and Europe’s most prestigious hotels, the Adlon. There’s been a murder but the police stop investigating when they find out the victim is Jewish. Gunther continued the quest to find out what happened which leads to an intriguing chain of events that has many twists and turns. US journalist Noreen Charalambides, in Berlin to research a story about Nazi hypocrisy of promoting the forthcoming Olympic Games but banning Jews from competing, helps Gunther uncover the truth. Weimar Berlin aficionados will enjoy this well-written thriller that deceives you; just when you think you’ve got it worked out, there’s a surprise to keep you guessing. Bernie Gunther is in many of Kerr’s books set in the Weimar and World War II period. Like If the Dead Rise Not, they’re detail-rich, unpredictable and skilfully plotted.
Pieper, Liam, 2016, The Toy Maker, Penguin, Melbourne.
There are three things a book needs to be great: exceptional writing, a gripping story and characters that evoke an emotional response. This has them all and is one of the best books I’ve read. The writing is clear, concise and has that magical element that carries you through the story. And what a story. It moves from the present to the Auschwitz death camp. There are plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments in the death camp scenes that inform our understanding of the toy maker. An emotional response is guaranteed.
Serraillier, Ian, 1956, The Silver Sword. Penguin, London.
The TV series with the same name began my interest in the Nazi period. The novel was first published in 1956 and made into a BBC television series in 1957 and again in 1971. It is the story of the Balicki family who escape from Warsaw in 1940. The Nazis arrest the father, Josef, a school principal, for turning a photo of Hitler around to face the wall. They take him to a prison camp. Left behind are his wife, Margrit, and their three children, Ruth nearly 13, Edek 11, and Bronia, three. The family had promised each other if they were separated they would meet in Switzerland. The novel is the story of their trials and tribulations fulfilling that promise.
Zusak, Markus, 2012, The Book Thief. Picador, Sydney.
Another Young Adult fable that tells a multi-layered story with an appeal beyond its target audience. The narrator is Death who tells the story of Liesel Meminger whose father has been imprisoned by the Nazis because he is a Communist. Liesel is fostered with the kind and loving Hans and his difficult wife Rosa. When 24-year-old Jewish boxer Max Vandenburg turns up the action gets going. This novel, resplendent with metaphors, is essentially one of hope.
Fiction – Series
Christian, Horst – The Degree series. Kindle.
Part memoir, part novel, this series provides an excellent first-hand insight into life in Nazi Germany and towards the end of the war. There’s plenty of suspense as the hero, Karl Veth, born in Berlin in 1930, and his friend, Harold, navigate the unpredictable and dangerous terrain of Nazi Germany.
Children to a Degree, 2013.
Growing Up Under the Third Reich, 2014
Loyal to a Degree2 013,
Trust to a Degree 2014
Partners to a Degree 2015
Marion Kummerow
Marion is a prodigious writer of thriller romances set in Europe during the Second World War. Her first trilogy, about love and resistance in Germany during the Nazi era, is based on the lives of her grandparents. These books are moving; they’ll bring tears to your eyes and joy to your heart. For aficionados of the period, they show what life was like for ordinary Germans.
Love and Resistance series
Unrelenting 2016. Kindle, also paperback.
A scientist with a secret. A woman estranged from her father. Neither looking for love. Unrelenting is the story of Doctor Wilhelm Quedlin, aka Q, and Hilde Dremmer and how they navigated the challenging terrain of the Nazi regime. The story begins with Q’s arrest. Q and Hilde are likeable characters who face obstacles from those close to them and the Nazi state. Kummerow portrays the regime’s idiocy well. An underlying threat of danger permeates the story.
Unyielding 2016. Kindle, also paperback.
The personal and political clash in this Nazi-era story of love and resistance. It is the second novel in Marion Kumerrow’s trilogy based on her grandparents’ lives. Dr Wilhelm Quedlin and the love of his life, Hilde, who met in Unrelenting, are happily married and have two sons. Wilhelm, known as Q, works for Loewe Radio Technologies that supplies the Wehrmacht with equipment. He works with an old friend from their days at university when they were committed Communists. They haven’t changed and together they do what that can to fight the good fight. But it’s not enough for Q; he wants to have a bigger impact than causing delays by sabotaging equipment. And he has another struggle: his desire to undermine the regime and the desire to protect his family. The former wins. He and his co-conspirators come up with an audacious plan to assassinate a leading Nazi that would have enormous consequences. The characterisation is strong. I felt I got to know Q and Hilde and cared what happened to them. The story’s tension comes from Q’s struggles. Later in the book, his sabotage work causes tension with Hilde but not because she opposes it. The climax is unexpected and will have you reaching for the sequel, Unwavering.
Unwavering 2017. Kindle, also paperback.
The futility of war, the horror of the consequences of extreme right wing politics and a heart-breaking love story are ingredients of this World War II novel. Unwavering is the third and final in a series that begins when the heroes – and they are heroes – Wilhelm and Hilde, meet when Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. The author bases Wilhelm and Hilde on her grandparents. The setting is two prisons. Wilhelm -– Q to his friends -– plans to assassinate a leading Nazi but he’s betrayed. The Nazis also arrest Hilde, dragging her from her two-year-old and nine-month-old sons. The monotony and stress of jail life is well portrayed. The couple have to deal with the added stress of Hilde’s mother, Annie, a Nazi supporter who blames Q for her daughter’s predicament. The Allies bomb the couple’s respective jails as Germany’s defences weaken and the Allies’ march to victory strengthens. Unwavering is a sad story that moved me to tears. Q and Hilde’s letters are poignant and full of love and yearning. But they maintained their anti-Nazi ideals throughout their ordeals. This is a story of hope, testament to the strength of the human spirit and a wonderful tribute to the author’s brave and indomitable grandparents.
Wargirl series
War Girl Ursula. 2017. Kindle, also paperback.
The Blond Angel in the Love and Resistance series is back. Ursula helps an English pilot which puts herself and her family at risk of death.
War Girl Lotte. 2017. Kindle, also paperback.
Sister of Ursula, Lotte is a rebellious teenager sent to southern Bavaria in 1943. Her spontanious and impulsive behaviour gets her into trouble.
War Girl Anna. 2017. Kindle, also paperback.
Anna is the eldest sister of Lotte and Ursula. She pays a horrifying price to save Lotte. Her courage and strength are tested to the extreme as she works for the Nazis.
Fred Nath
I’ve read three of the six-book series set in Occupied France. They are entertaining and insightful thrillers.
The Cyclist. 2010. Fingerpress, London, Kindle.
Farewell Bergerac 2012. Fingerpress, London, Kindle.
Francesca Pascal. 2012. Fingerpress, London, Kindle.
Jane Thynne. The Carla Vine series.
Carla Vine, is an actress who wants to become a screen star. She abandons the future her upper class English parents had planned for her and goes to Germany. She meets British undercover agent Leo Quinn. It’s 1933, Hitler has just become Chancellor but Propaganda Minister Josef Göbbels’ insidious invasion of the cinema industry has begun. Carla befriends his wife, Magda. The relationship gives her access to the upper echelons of the Nazi Party. I’ve read two of the four in the series.
Black Roses. 2013. Simon & Schuster, UK.
Carla becomes an unofficial spy and uncovers a secret that could endanger major players in the Nazi regime.
The Winter Garden (UK) or Woman In The Shadows (US). 2014. Simon & Schuster
It’s 1937 Berlin when the Duke and Duchess of Windsor visit and the English Mitford sisters dazzle the social scene. But beneath the glamour, evil lurks. Carla is exposed to that evil when a friend is murdered.
JJ Toner. The Kurt Muller series.
A trilogy in which Kurt Muller fights the good fight. The first is Black Orchestra set at the start of the Second World War. Committed Nazi and Abwehr signalman Kurt’s life changes forever when he discovers the body of a colleague. Police investigate and conclude the cause was suicide. Kurt isn’t convinced. He starts an investigation of his own that leads him to a horrible truth. As this fast-paced, easy-to-read story unfolds, Kurt is drawn deeper into a mire of danger and intrigue. I was constantly asking: how is he going to get out of this? Kurt is a likeable, a little naïve and well-rounded character. The portrayal of time and place takes the reader there. In the second novel, The Wings of an Eagle, Kurt is working for the British Special Operations Executive. His task seems clear: go to Germany with fellow agent Pilgrim and bring home British-Canadian agent, Erika. They find Erika who refuses to leave. She has discovered the Nazi’s atomic bomb program. The trio face enormous obstacles in their efforts to stop the first test. Kurt’s enemies are not only without. Someone on his side wants him dead. The backdrop to the action, set in 1943, is the horror of the Nazi regime and the futility of war.
Websites
Humanities and Social Sciences Online