Reviews (24)

aTruth can be Painful
This book is a frank,level headed,factual account of one of history's little spoken of horrors.It shows that no group,nation or race has a monopoly on murder,sorrow and pain.One must wonder,however,why were there no war crimes trials for the masters of THIS brutality?

Thank God this book was written
I highly praise this book written by Alfred de Zayas. It is very well-balanced and puts the other side of the story on the table.Dialogue about war and after-war atrocities about ALL ethnic groups must be honest and open and NOT one sided.
I am the daughter of German immigrants. My father was an expelled German from East Prussia; his experiences and those of his mother and sisters were terrrible.I have known about the "Vertreibung" all of my life. There was even a case of the Danish Red cross starving to death 8000 children of German refugee Mothers in Aalborg Denmark, because they were German--this was AFTER the WWII was officially declared over!!! This account was researched and published by a Danish medical doctor.No one in the USA ever talked about the Vertreibung or the suffering they endured afterwards.Now 30-40 years later the truth gets published.I was born, raised, and university educated in the USA, but believe me, because I was born to German parents I was persecuted during my childhood by ignorant teachers (some who even beat me)other ignorant parents, ignorant schoolmates. I was an innocent child, but yet I was persecuted because of my race. I never knew the reason really until I was older and could understand the Holocaust and the WWII. But still, it did not excuse those Americans who tormented an 'innocent' child. Terrible. If that happened today, that would mean lawsuits, but not back during the cold war days of the 1960's.Teachers did what they wanted, without any reflection.

It is wrong to kill 'anyone' because of their race,ethnicity, or religion.
It is wrong to torment 'any' child based on race, ethnicity or religion.
I really hope that the 'Expellee Literature' will be taught in schools as a way of teaching that no ethnic group should be hated and mistreated.

I am a highly educated woman - Ph.D level- and have read widely. It is really a shame that up until the present day in the USA such ignorance about the Germans still exists and that no sympathy is given to those innocent persons like my parents, or even myself.The German Expellee literature has an important place in history, because it must be shown that these events did happen and could happen again. The only way to prevent future 'driving out' of people from their homelands is to study historical cases so that it never happens again to any group of people.

Sincerely,

An Expellees' daughter, May 4, 2005.
contact: lagniappe_58@yahoo.it

Reviews (11)

Discredited
To those reviewers who praise this book as "the best-researched book on the firebombing of Dresden" and "a good balance of history," it should be pointed out that no self-respecting historian takes this book - or any book by Irving for that matter - seriously anymore.It's an open question whether the Allied bombing raids on Dresden were justified, but Irving's claim that over 200,000 civilians were killed has long been exposed as an egregious distortion of the truth.(Most historians agree that the number killed is around 25,000.)What is more, in 1985 Irving's German publishers appended to the title page of this book the description, "a novel."How telling.
For further substantiation of the claim that a significant number of Irving's "findings" are bogus, I refer interested readers to Guttenplan's Holocaust on Trial, a book to which another reviewer, R. Albin, referred (Albin's review, by the by, is helpful, people, and you know it).See also Evans' Lying About Hitler, ch. 5.

A fascinating document and a remarkable effort
First, a disclaimer: a couple of "reviewers" here have seen fit to dismiss David Irving's "Destruction of Dresden" because they dislike the author (or rather, his controversial positions on some matters irrelevant to this book).This is the worst of prejudice--to "kill the messenger" just because one dislikes an unrelated message.

In fact, David Irving's great accomplishments with this book stand aside from his other works, and are essentially above reproach.The scholarship for this book is exemplary.It was exhaustively researched and is thoroughly referenced.(There are hundreds of footnotes citing primary sources, and lengthy appendices.)Irving interviewed hundreds of first-hand witnesses from all relevant nations.He nonetheless manages to avoid sensationalizing the events.Even more importantly, "The Destruction of Dresden" attempts to acquaint a largely ignorant world (outside of Germany) with one of the most horrific military atrocities of World War Two.That it happened to have been committed by the "righteous" Allies, rather than "the usual culprits" disturbs many people to no end.

It is vital to recognize that Mr. Irving never sides with the Germans, nor does he justify the persecution of Jews and other victims of wartime atrocities.Indeed, he repeatedly sympathizes with Jewish victims, and criticizes the men in power who were responsible for making the decisions that harmed innocent people of all backgrounds.To claim that Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies and the other recognized groups of victims are the only people deserving of our pity, or to profess that the Allies were always more ethical than the Axis powers is to perpetuate a lie and to denigrate the losses of all who suffered.Mr. Irving deserves our respect and willingness to be objective for having written this book.

Ironically, this--the first and best-researched book on the firebombing of Dresden--is now banned in Germany, due to political pressures there against Irving's other views about the War.No doubt this pleases many people who would much rather the world remain ignorant of what really happened when "the good guys" decided to wipe out a city and managed to kill a couple hundred thousand of its civilian inhabitants, with little thought and no remorse.

Reviews (16)

Compelling narration of a great leader
Ever since my childhood, I have always been enamored of the Native Indians. It wasn't the Indian of the Cowboy tv shows where they were portrayed as idiots or savages ~~ but as the people who were close to nature and the spiritual world.

This book does not disappoint. This is a very concise portrayal of Sitting Bull from an author who took great pains to portray Sitting Bull as how the Indians viewed him and as how as the Whites viewed him. He didn't allow his emotions cloud the facts ~~ it was very obvious that he took time to research the facts and present them without boring the reader to tears. He showed Sitting Bull as the greatest Sioux leader of all time and how he worked to unite the Lakotas and the Hunkpapas as well as other Indian nations together to defeat the White invasion. He also presented the facts that allowed the readers to be aware of why the Indian battles were a losing cause ~~ simply because there were more of the Whites coming. There were not enough Indians to keep populating the land.

This is one of the most in-depth research I've read and enjoyed on any Indian leader. This one goes beyond Sitting Bull and talk about the problems the Indians faced ~~ and yes, it does have some moments in there where you just allow your emotions to override the story ~~ Sitting Bull may not have had it easy but he sure didn't make it easy for the US military or the Indian agents on the reservations. He gave back as good as he could ~~ and he never quit fighting for his people. He is admirable not only as a man, but as a leader. This is definitely a worth-while reading for anyone who is interested in history ~~ especially Native American Indian history.

6-26-04

sitting bull
I,VE.read the Lanceand the Shield and i thank its one of the best books ive read in a long time,iam proud to be related to sittng bull he was one of the best heros in his time. foxychic47@scglobal.net

Editorial Review

This compelling thriller is both a touching love story and a masterfulportrayal of the struggle for geopolitical control of postwar Germany. Networkcorrespondent Jake Geismar, who covered Berlin before the war, has returned tothe devastated city, ostensibly to cover the Potsdam Conference but actually tofind the woman he loves. Miraculously, Lena Brandt, Jake's wartime mistress, hassurvived. However, her mathematician husband is missing, and both the Americanand Russian intelligence services are hunting him. When the bullet-ridden bodyof an American soldier washes up on the shores of Potsdam in front of Jake'seyes just as Truman, Churchill, and Stalin convene the first postwar conference,Jake is plunged into a maelstrom of intrigue, corruption, and betrayal.

Reviews (27)

worth reading
rediculous that people have to systematically review all his books with the same garbage about his "lies"

see what germans say about his work!

get off your American Propaganda please!
this is an attempt at exposing goebells that isn't American/British Biased like every other work that comes out of these countries...

some people aren't interested in the holocaust aspects, just the factual history of the third reich and a particular writer's opinion on it... people can publish what they want, if you don't like it, DONT READ IT

He has the right to write and you have the right not to read

should we ban Mein Kampf too? or Karl Marx works? or the Protocols of the wise men of zion?

Europe's Machiavelli
It's amusing in the extreme to see so many people froth at the mouth over David Irving. If he is "so discredited," why is he thrown such a fit about? The fact of the matter is that history should never be written about until fifty years after the occurences in question.

Remember, Watergate was first derided as lunatic conspiracy theory, and one that eventually toppled Richard M. Nixon...

Here, Irving neither "apologizes" for Nazi Germany or its architects, nor does he simply goose-step in unison with the current gospel according to the cereal box. What he has done was to obtain 1,200 plates of glass upon which were written heretofore unavailable Goebbels diaries entries, that were "missing" when Louis Lochner released his work of Goebbels' diaries circa 1943-1945, and utilize them to take the reader into the mind of the man who was Hitler's "false prophet."

A brilliant portrait of a perverse, twisted and sad soul that impacted the world in an (ultimately) destructive fashion.

I suggest you read, and judge for yourself.

I suggest you read, and decide for yourself.

Reviews (6)

Fascinating contribution to historical record, 4 1/2 stars
This collection of short reminiscences by adult Germans who were children in Nazi Germany at the end of World War II is not quite as captivating as the author's own memoir "German Boy" but it is a fascinating nonetheless. If anything, given its format, this book would be even more accessible for a pre-teen reader than "German Boy."

For me personally, the biggest revelation in these stories is the repeated memory of children of running for cover from strafing fighter planes ("Tiefflieger").Many of the children in this book mention this experience.Anyone who has seen the PBS documentary "A Fighter Pilot's Story" will find these descriptions of the air war over Europe from the point of view of children walking home from Kindergarten particularly chilling.

Good book-German Children's view of War, Occupation
I enjoyed reading this book because I am interested in the social aspects of WWII not tactical battle discussions.This book does a good job a telling what happened in post war Germany through a child's eyes... even though the interviewees are now senior citizens.

The extreme hardships and moral dilemmas that faced women and children in an occupied country come to life. The book does an excellent job of illustrating how often women and children become the victims of war. Starvation, begging and rape, become daily events in the lives of once comfortable middle and working class children.

The difference between the kindness of the Americans soldiers and the often cruelty of the Russian forces is a major point.A shortcoming of the book is that no mention (in the narrative) is made of how most Russian soldiers probably came from villages that had been destroyed by Nazi forces (not that this justified their cruelty, but helps to explain it.)Several other books I have read explained how Russian soldiers entering Prussia were shocked at the apparent prosperity of Germany and wondered how they could be so greedy to take over less prosperous Russian land.

The book is well written and worth a read.

Good effort not Great
If you read Samuel's book "German Boy" you just wanted to know more about that time in German history and the people who lived in it. This book is somewhat perfect for it, because as it's premise it is about the German Children of the war. It is an interesting read because you get an insight into what happened during and after the war to the people in the book. They tell many insighful stories and you find out that they were also good people in Germany and not every one was a Nazi. Something every one needs to learn.

Where this book fails really and it could have been avoided by interviewing either more people, making the book shorter or getting different aspect of the life during and after the war and concentrating there; either way, the stories seem to repeat themselves. If you read three interviews of the people in the book, it seems like you have read most of the other interviews. At times you get confused and think you are reading about the same person you read about 50 pages ago but you don't. It's truly understandable that all these people had the same story to tell but better editing and more detalied interviews could have addeed more to the book.

Even though the Map is very helpful another map would have been welcomed that discribed where these people use to live. But the photos in this book are really touching. You learn many things about the postwar year of Germany and how the war never really ended after all the shots were fired. There was still lots of poverty, starvation, and crimes being commmited because you were of a Different Ethinic backround than the people who were now in Control. Much like it was when the Nazi's were in control. The things, specially, what the mothers' did for the children makes them true heroes.