To The Bitter End

The international bestselling record of a German Jew in Nazi Germany. 'Deserves to stand beside the diary of Anne Frank as a day-to-day description of the sufferings of the victims of Hitler's evil regime' EVENING STANDARD 'Few English readers will fail to be moved as I was - ultimately to the point of tears' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Packed with vivid observation, profound reflection ... they find hope, dignity and even tart humour in the jaws of hell' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY A sensation when first published, this is one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period. The son of a rabbi, Klemperer was by 1933 a professor of languages in Dresden. Over the next decade he lost his job, his house and many of his friends, even his cat, as Jews were not allowed to own pets. Saved for much of the war from the Holocaust by his marriage to a gentile, he was able to escape in the aftermath of the Allied bombing of Dresden and survived the remaining months of the war in hiding. Throughout, Klemperer kept a diary, for a Jew in Nazi Germany a daring act in itself. This volume covers the period from the beginnings of the Holocaust to the end of the war, telling the story of Klemperer's increasing isolation, his near miraculous survival, his awareness of the development of the growing Holocaust as friends and associates disappeared, and his narrow escapes from deportation and the Dresden firebombing in 1945. Shocking and moving by turns, it is a remarkable and important document, as powerful and astonishing in its way as Anne Frank's classic.

The international bestselling record of a German Jew in Nazi Germany. 'Deserves to stand beside the diary of Anne Frank as a day-to-day description of the sufferings of the victims of Hitler's evil regime' EVENING STANDARD 'Few English readers will fail to be moved as I was - ultimately to the point of tears' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Packed with vivid observation, profound reflection ... they find hope, dignity and even tart humour in the jaws of hell' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY A sensation when first published, this is one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period. The son of a rabbi, Klemperer was by 1933 a professor of languages in Dresden. Over the next decade he lost his job, his house and many of his friends, even his cat, as Jews were not allowed to own pets. Saved for much of the war from the Holocaust by his marriage to a gentile, he was able to escape in the aftermath of the Allied bombing of Dresden and survived the remaining months of the war in hiding. Throughout, Klemperer kept a diary, for a Jew in Nazi Germany a daring act in itself. This volume covers the period from the beginnings of the Holocaust to the end of the war, telling the story of Klemperer's increasing isolation, his near miraculous survival, his awareness of the development of the growing Holocaust as friends and associates disappeared, and his narrow escapes from deportation and the Dresden firebombing in 1945. Shocking and moving by turns, it is a remarkable and important document, as powerful and astonishing in its way as Anne Frank's classic.

To the Bitter End is a penetrating and detailed account of the climactic battles of the German forces in Slovakia, the Carpathians, parts of Poland, Silesia and Saxony, from autumn 1944 until the end of the war. These were desperate times for the German forces as they fought frantically against overwhelming odds to prevent Soviet forces bent on revenge penetrating into the heart of the Reich. The author provides excellent detail on the movements and actions of numerous German units, and the text covers all major actions including the battle for the Vistula bridgeheads, the epic siege of Breslau where the troops held out until the day before the official surrender of all German forces, and the final desperate actions around Bautzen which featured the last successful German counteroffensive of the war and also their last tank offensive before Soviet superiority of men and equipment proved to be overwhelming. Appendices include comprehensive orders-of-battle. A 16-page photo section and a large number of detailed battle maps are also included to provide the reader with a sense of the futility and desperation of the position of the German soldiers, ordered to fight to the last man.

To the Bitter End is a penetrating and detailed account of the climactic battles of the German forces in Slovakia, the Carpathians, parts of Poland, Silesia and Saxony, from autumn 1944 until the end of the war. These were desperate times for the German forces as they fought frantically against overwhelming odds to prevent Soviet forces bent on revenge penetrating into the heart of the Reich. The author provides excellent detail on the movements and actions of numerous German units, and the text covers all major actions including the battle for the Vistula bridgeheads, the epic siege of Breslau where the troops held out until the day before the official surrender of all German forces, and the final desperate actions around Bautzen which featured the last successful German counteroffensive of the war and also their last tank offensive before Soviet superiority of men and equipment proved to be overwhelming. Appendices include comprehensive orders-of-battle. A 16-page photo section and a large number of detailed battle maps are also included to provide the reader with a sense of the futility and desperation of the position of the German soldiers, ordered to fight to the last man.