Escape From Germany

Escape From Germany
Author: Neil Hanson
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2011-06-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1446422208

July, 1918. The most heavily guarded POW camp in the world. Surrounded by steel palisades and barbed-wire fences, patrolled by ferocious dogs and armed guards with orders to shoot to kill, Holzminden was a brutal punishment camp. To escape would take boundless ingenuity and nerves of steel. Many tried. Prisoners used sardine-tin openers to pick locks, forged documents, sent messages using milk as an invisible ink, and created fake uniforms and elaborate disguises. Every attempt failed, leading only to ever-tighter defences. But on the night of 23 July 1918, twenty-nine undaunted Allied prisoners achieved the impossible. They had spent nine months using cutlery to move tonnes of earth, clay and stone, digging a tunnel over 150 feet long under the walls and barbed-wire fences, to the farmland beyond. This is the fascinating story of how they did it – and of the many who had failed before them. Neil Hanson provides a rare insight into the minds of these prisoners of war, revealing their resourcefulness, courage and persistence – and inexhaustible good humour.

Escape from the Third Reich

Escape from the Third Reich
Author: Sune Persson
Publisher: Frontline
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2009
Genre: Germany
ISBN: 9781848325562

A World War II escape story, as exciting as a Hollywood movie.

Tunnel 29

Tunnel 29
Author: Helena Merriman
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2021-08-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1541788826

He escaped from one of the world’s most brutal regimes.Then, he decided to tunnel back in. In the summer of 1962, a young student named Joachim Rudolph dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. Waiting on the other side in East Berlin were dozens of men, women, and children—all willing to risk everything to escape. From the award-winning creator of the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 podcast, Tunnel 29 is the true story of this most remarkable Cold War rescue mission. Drawing on interviews with the survivors and Stasi files, Helena Merriman brilliantly reveals the stranger-than-fiction story of the ingenious group of student-diggers, the glamorous red-haired messenger, the Stasi spy who threatened the whole enterprise, and the love story that became its surprising epilogue. Tunnel 29 was also the first made-for-TV event of its kind; it was funded by NBC, who wanted to film an escape in real time. Their documentary—which was nearly blocked from airing by the Kennedy administration, which wanted to control the media during the Cold War—revolutionized TV journalism. Ultimately, Tunnel 29 is a success story about freedom: the valiant citizens risking everything to win it back, and the larger world rooting for them to triumph.

Flight for Freedom

Flight for Freedom
Author: Kristen Fulton
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 58
Release: 2020-03-03
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1452170584

An Inspiring True Story about One Family's Escape from Behind the Berlin Wall! Peter was born on the east side of Germany, the side that wasn't free. He watches news programs rather than cartoons, and wears scratchy uniforms instead of blue jeans. His family endures long lines and early curfews. But Peter knows it won't always be this way. Peter and his family have a secret. Late at night in their attic, they are piecing together a hot air balloon—and a plan. Can Peter and his family fly their way to freedom? This is the true story of a boy and his family who risk their lives for the hope of freedom in a daring escape from East Germany via a handmade hot air balloon in 1979. • A perfect picture book for educators teaching about the Cold War, the Iron Curtain, and East Germany • Flight for Freedom is a showcase for lessons of bravery, heroism, family, and perseverance, as well as stunning history • Includes detailed maps of the Wetzel family's escape route and diagrams of their hot air balloon For fans of historical nonfiction picture books like Let the Children March, The Wall, Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, and Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon. • True life escape stories • For readers age 5–9 • For teachers, librarians, and historians Kristen Fulton is a children's book author. She can always be found with a notebook in hand as she ventures through historical sites and museums. Most of the time she lives in Florida—but she can also be found traveling the country by RV. Torben Kuhlmann is an award-winning children's book author and illustrator. Starting in kindergarten he became known as "the draftsman." Flying machines and rich historical detail often adorn his work. He lives in Hamburg, Germany.

Hunting Nazis in Franco's Spain

Hunting Nazis in Franco's Spain
Author: David A. Messenger
Publisher: LSU Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2014-05-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807155659

In the waning days and immediate aftermath of World War II, Nazi diplomats and spies based in Spain decided to stay rather than return to a defeated Germany. The decidedly pro-German dictatorship of General Francisco Franco gave them refuge and welcomed other officials and agents from the Third Reich who had escaped and made their way to Iberia. Amid fears of a revival of the Third Reich, Allied intelligence and diplomatic officers developed a repatriation program across Europe to return these individuals to Germany, where occupation authorities could further investigate them. Yet due to Spain's longstanding ideological alliance with Hitler, German infiltration of the Spanish economy and society was extensive, and the Allies could count on minimal Spanish cooperation in this effort. In Hunting Nazis in Franco's Spain, David Messenger deftly traces the development and execution of the Allied repatriation scheme, providing an analysis of Allied, Spanish, and German expatriate responses. Messenger shows that by April 1946, British and American embassy staff in Madrid had compiled a census of the roughly 10,000 Germans then residing in Spain and had drawn up three lists of 1,677 men and women targeted for repatriation to occupied Germany. While the Spanish government did round up and turn over some Germans to the Allies, many of them were intentionally overlooked in the process. By mid-1947, Franco's regime had forced only 265 people to leave Spain; most Germans managed to evade repatriation by moving from Spain to Argentina or by solidifying their ties to the Franco regime and Span-ish life. By 1948, the program was effectively over. Drawing on records in American, British, and Spanish archives, this first book-length study in English of the repatriation program tells the story of this dramatic chapter in the history of post--World War II Europe.

Submerged on the Surface

Submerged on the Surface
Author: Richard N. Lutjens, Jr.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2019-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1785334565

Between 1941 and 1945, thousands of German Jews, in fear for their lives, made the choice to flee their impending deportations and live submerged in the shadows of the Nazi capital. Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence and interviews with survivors, this book reconstructs the daily lives of Jews who stayed in Berlin during the war years. Contrary to the received wisdom that “hidden” Jews stayed in attics and cellars and had minimal contact with the outside world, the author reveals a cohort of remarkable individuals who were constantly on the move and actively fought to ensure their own survival.

Escape to Virginia

Escape to Virginia
Author: Robert H. Gillette
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2016-03-08
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 1625854439

“Fascinating . . . Provides a history of the Holocaust as the tapestry against which the trials and adventures of these young Jewish youth played out” (Jewish Book Council). Jewish teenagers Eva and Töpper were desperately searching for an escape from the stranglehold of 1930s Nazi Germany. They studied agriculture at the Gross Breesen Institute in hopes of securing visas to gain freedom from the tyranny around them. Then, Richmond department store owner William B. Thalhimer created a safe haven on a rural Virginia farm where Eva and Töpper would find refuge. Discover the remarkable true story of two young German Jews who endured the emotional torture of their adolescence, journeyed to freedom, and ultimately confronted the evil that could not destroy their spirit. Author Robert H. Gillette retells this harrowing narrative that is sure to inspire generations to come. Includes photos! “Escape to Virginia is not only an illuminating history lesson, bridging the Old World and the New World during its most tumultuous period, it is also an exemplary story on various levels and for readers of all ages, crystallizing time and again the Gross Breesen spirit of hope, courage and resilience. The book is well researched, vividly narrated, and richly illustrated.” —Jewish New

Hitler's Gift

Hitler's Gift
Author: Jean Medawar
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN:

'With material drawn from more than 20 surviving refungee scientists, this is an aweinspiring book.' The Sunday Telegraph'a fascinating account of the thousands of Jewish scientists who left Germany under the Nazis and enriched world science.' New Scientist

The Book of Stolen Dreams

The Book of Stolen Dreams
Author: David Farr
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2023-05-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1665922591

An exhilarating, wondrous middle grade debut about a brother and sister on a quest that “swoops from thrilling to terrifying to heartwarming and back again” (BookPage) to defeat a tyrannical ruler and protect a magical book. “[W]ill appeal to readers of Kelly Barnhill and Lemony Snicket” (Publishers Weekly). Rachel and Robert live a gray, dreary life under the rule of cruel and calculating Charles Malstain. That is, until one night, when their librarian father enlists their help to steal a forbidden book. Before their father is captured, Rachel and Robert are given one mission: find the missing final page. But to uncover the secrets of The Book of Stolen Dreams, the siblings must face darkness and combat many evils to be rewarded with the astonishing, magical truth about the book. Nevertheless, they resolve to do everything in their power to stop it from falling into Charles Malstain’s hands. For if it does, he could rule their world forever.