This book discusses the issues underlying contemporary Holocaust fiction. Using Gillian Rose's theory of Holocaust piety, it argues that, rather than enhancing our understanding of the Holocaust, contemporary fiction has instead become overly focused on gratuitous representations of bodies in pain. The book begins by discussing the locations and imagery which have come to define our understanding of the Holocaust, before then highlighting how this gradual simplification has led to an increasing sense of emotional distance from the historical past. Holocaust fiction, the book argues, attempts to close this emotional and temporal distance by creating an emotional connection to bodies in pain. Using different concepts relating to embodied experience - from Sonia Kruks' notion of feeling-with to Alison Landsberg's prosthetic memory - the book analyses several key examples of Holocaust literature and film to establish whether fiction still possesses the capacity to approach the Holocaust impiously.

What was the relationship between ordinary Germans and Hitler's government? Why did such a dreadful political system find any popular support at all? Who was brave enough to defy the laws of the Third Reich? This book examines decisions made by different social groups to resist or conform to the Nazi regime. Using accessible language, and drawing on the full range of sources available to historians, Martyn Housden adopts a thematic approach to the subject. He considers, for example, why church-goers failed to reject decisively Hitler's atheistic political movement; what impact the persecution of Germany's Jewish citizens had on the everyday lives of other Germans; why the Hitler Youth held such appeal for young people.

Examining wars from the allied victory in World War II to the conflict in Viet Nam, and finally to the operations in the Gulf and Kosovo, this book presents a comprehensive look at the evolution of strategic air attack theory and doctrine over the years.

This collection of photographs presents a visual history of the German soldier's experiences and challenges on the Eastern Front during World War II. Hundreds of photos depict army and Waffen SS soldiers, uniforms, weapons and equipment, tanks and other vehicles, aircraft, local villages, life on the front lines, and much more, while the caption text offers insight and detailed information. Many of these photos are rare, and most come from private collections and have never been published before. This is an ideal reference for military history fans, scholars, modelers, and reenactors, and the perfect companion to the narrative accounts found in the Stackpole Military History Series.

How much did Dietrich Bonhoeffer know of the Holocaust, and what did he do to help the Jews? Should Bonhoeffer be considered one of the "Righteous among the Nations"? In this welcome sequel to his acclaimed The Bonhoeffer Phenomenon, Stephen Haynes takes up these vexing and controversial questions. While Bonhoeffer spoke out against mistreatment of the Jews as early as 1933 in a radio broadcast, his own reflection on Jewish identity in Christian theology and on the plight of the Jews developed considerably over the next dozen years. Always forthright yet fair, Haynes analyzes the historical record and Bonhoeffer's maturing theology and shows how Bonhoeffer's self-critical theology relates to the later advent of post-Holocaust theologies, with their sharply posed challenges to traditional Christian supersessionism.

The classic eye-witness account of Nazi Germany, by Hitler's Armaments Minister and right-hand man. 'Inside the Third Reich is not only the most significant personal German account to come out of the war but the most revealing document on the Hitler phenomenon yet written. It takes the reader inside Nazi Germany on four different levels: Hitler's inner circle, National Socialism as a whole, the area of wartime production and the inner struggle of Albert Speer. The author does not try to make excuses, even by implication, and is unrelenting toward himself and his associates ... Speer's full-length portrait of Hitler has unnerving reality. The Fuhrer emerges as neither an incompetent nor a carpet-gnawing madman but as an evil genius of warped conceits endowed with an ineffable personal magic' New York Times

Dr Robyn Arrowsmith is author and publisher of All The Way To The USA: Australian WWII War Brides, which is based on ten years research for her PhD at Macquarie University. Robyn has travelled to America a number of times to meet with some of the remarkable Australian women who fell in love with US servicemen during the urgency and social chaos of WWII. The book chronicles the true and poignant stories of Australian brides and fiancees who embarked on a long journey, leaving family, friends and all things familiar, to follow their hearts to America. Set in an historical context, the War Brides tell their stories for the first time in over six decades. The book highlights the way these women first met their future husbands, their wartime courtships, their weddings, the long wait to sail to America and the sea voyage itself, as well as their reception in a new country. These women bravely displayed commitment, resourcefulness and determination, as they dealt with red tape, chronic homesickness and grief for the families they left behind, while adjusting to different aspects of cultural change and settling in to a new life of wife and mother. There were 15,000 Australian WWII War Brides of American servicemen, but no in depth study has been made until now, and their stories have remained untold. After 60 years, these women have been officially recognised in Washington DC as great ambassadors for good relations between the two countries. These human stories, told in the words of the war brides, add a new dimension to women's history in both Australia and America.

The Battle of the Bulge was the "last hurrah" for the German Army on the Western Front. With the help of various unpublished sources, Samuel Mitcham sets out to tell the story of that battle and of the Ardennes Offensive from the German point of view. The greatest military disaster the United States suffered in the European Theater of Operations in World War II occurred in the Ardennes Offensive, when most of the U.S. 106th Infantry Division was destroyed in the Schnee Eifel (Snow Mountains). This defeat was not inflicted by the vaulted panzer troops, the elite paratroopers, the hardened SS men, or Skorzeny's commandos. It was administered by a mediocre and unheralded unit-the 18th Volksgrenadier Division. Mitcham covers the Battle of the Schnee Eifel from the German point of view in greater depth than any book has ever done, using unpublished German after-action reports and manuscripts, especially those of Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich Moll, the chief of operations of the 18th Volksgrenadier. Similar unpublished works, as well as the papers of Theodor-Friedrich von Stauffenberg, contribute to a unique account of the Battle of the Bulge. Readers will find the organizational structure of Panzers in Winter different from that of other works on the topic. Mitcham uses the first two chapters to set the stage for the offensive and details the opening day in Chapter Three. Thereafter, the battle is discussed by sector, from north to center to south. This approach allows general readers to achieve a better feel for the engagement overall. Final chapters cover the clearing of the bulge and the lives and careers of the major participants.

1991 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, an event which plunged a basically self-absorbed United States directly into the world's worst conflagration. For years, the United States, which had become a Pacific power almost simultaneously with Japan at the turn of the century, mistrusted Tokyo's intentions in the Far East. Off the international stage, most Americans either ignored Japan or failed to understand the dynamics of a millenium-old culture in the throes of modernization. The almost orderly manner in which U.S.-Japanese relations fell terminally ill in 1941 continues to provide a textbook lesson for those who would work to avoid future catastrophies. In this first book-length, annotated bibliography, Smith provides more than 1,500 citations from eleven languages. Not only is the published literature examined, but care has been taken to cite the main repositories in the United States and abroad holding data necessary for the ongoing reinterpretation of the beginning of the War in the Pacific. The published literature cited covers virtually all factors surrounding the attack and its 1941 background: economic, political, diplomatic, racial, biographical, planning, intelligence, operations, and hardware. Access is augmented by author and name indexes; the latter is keyed to specific personnel and vessels. While aimed primarily at students and scholars, this volume will be useful to teachers, journalists, policymakers, and all concerned with military studies and World War II.

In August 1941 Churchill and Roosevelt met in a secluded bay off the coast of Newfoundland. It was the first of their wartime meetings and in many respects the most significant. The Atlantic Charter, its result, proclaimed the two leaders' vision of a new world order, a set of principles that would govern international relations with the coming of peace. This remarkable collection of essays is the result of an international conference of American, British, and Canadian scholars held at Memorial University of Newfoundland that marked the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting. The essays discuss both the Charter's formulation and its long-term significance, and provide fascinating perspectives on the Second World War and its aftermath.

This volume presents a wide-ranging selection of Jewish theological responses to the Holocaust. It will be the most complete anthology of its sort, bringing together for the first time: (1) a large sample of ultra-orthodox writings, translated from the Hebrew and Yiddish; (2) a substantial selection of essays by Israeli authors, also translated from the Hebrew; (3) a broad sampling of works written in English by American and European authors. These diverse selections represent virtually every significant theological position that has been articulated by a Jewish thinker in response to the Holocaust. Included are rarely studied responses that were written while the Holocaust was happening.

A publishing sensation, the publication of Victor Klemperer's diaries brings to light one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period. 'A classic ... Klemperer's diary deserves to rank alongside that of Anne Frank's' SUNDAY TIMES 'I can't remember when I read a more engrossing book' Antonia Fraser 'Not dissimilar in its cumulative power to Primo Levi's, is a devastating account of man's inhumanity to man' LITERARY REVIEW The son of a rabbi, Klemperer was by 1933 a professor of languages at Dresden. Over the next decade he, like other German Jews, lost his job, his house and many of his friends. Klemperer remained loyal to his country, determined not to emigrate, and convinced that each successive Nazi act against the Jews must be the last. 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. Shocking and moving by turns, it is a remarkable and important account.

The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, marked a critical turning point in the European theater of World War II. The massive landing on France's coast had been meticulously planned for three years, and the Allies anticipated a quick and decisive defeat of the German forces. Many of the planners were surprised, however, by the length of time it ultimately took to defeat the Germans. While much has been written about D-day, very little has been written about the crucial period from August to September, immediately after the invasion. In Ruckzug, Joachim Ludewig draws on military records from both sides to show that a quick defeat of the Germans was hindered by excessive caution and a lack of strategic boldness on the part of the Allies, as well as by the Germans' tactical skill and energy. This intriguing study, translated from German, not only examines a significant and often overlooked phase of the war, but also offers a valuable account of the conflict from the perspective of the German forces.

For the ordinary people of Nazi Germany, resistance rarely took the form of active political or economically disruptive activity. But a great many people expressed their disgust through jokes and humor. In "Underground Humour in Nazi Germany: 1933-1945," F. K. M. Hillenbrand compiles a collection of jokes, stories and cartoons representing covert popular opposition which took humorous form. Even this was dangerous, as an ill-judged moment of wit could lead to the camps; but the Nazis themselves recognized the impossibility of stopping anti-Nazi jokes.
Although wonderfully entertaining, "Underground Humour in Nazi Germany: 1933-45" is not a joke book, but a serious study of the uses of humor and word play, supplemented always with full translations and explanations when a joke is retold. Hillebrand explains not only how humor could be used subversively in the Third Reich, but also suggests the ways that people resist under any totalitarian conditions, not exclusively Nazi Germany. He emphasizes the importance of humor to societies under stress.
Revealing an important feature of the Third Reich's social history, "Underground Humour in Nazi Germany: 1933-45" is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of 20th century Germany.

On November 26, 1943 the United States sustained its largest loss of troops at sea. Over 2,000 U.S. servicemen were aboard the British troop ship HMT Rohna in the Mediterranean on their way to the China-Burma-India Theater of war. Traveling in a convoy, the Rohna and 23 other ships were attacked by German bombers. After a fierce fight that ended with no ships lost, a single bomber made a final run. Armed with the latest technology (a rocket powered, remote controlled Henschel HS-293 glide bomb), it set its sights on the Rohna. Many men were killed instantly by the direct hit. Rescue ships spent hours pulling survivors from the water. By the time the losses were totaled, 1,015 U.S. servicemen had lost their lives. During a four-year period, author Michael Walsh met with survivors at their annual reunions, sitting with them as they recorded their stories of that night. Rohna Memories: Eyewitness to Tragedy is a repository of their recollections, whenever possible in their own words. Also included are: * Diagrams and photos * Letters home * Witness reports * Tributes by relatives * Lists of survivors and casualties

This book presents the remarkable personal journals of a German soldier who participated in Operation Barbarossa and subsequent battles on the Eastern Front, revealing the combat experience of the German-Russian War as seldom seen before. Hans Roth was a member of the anti-tank (Panzerjager) battalion, 299th Infantry Division, attached to Sixth Army, as the invasion of Russia began. Writing as events transpired, he recorded the mystery and tension as the Germans deployed on the Soviet frontier in 1941. Then a firestorm broke loose as the Wehrmacht broke across the front. During the Kiev encirclement, Roth's unit was under constant attack as the Soviets desperately tried to break through the German ring. At one point, a friend serving with the SS led him to a site where he witnessed civilians being massacred (which may well have been Babi Yar). After suffering through a horrible winter against apparently endless Russian reserves, his division went on the offensive again, this time on the northern wing of 'Case Gelb', the German drive toward Stalingrad. In these journals, attacks and counterattacks are described in 'you are there' detail, as if to keep himself sane, knowing that his honest accounts of the horrors in the East could never pass through Wehrmacht censors. When the Soviet counteroffensive of winter 1942 commences, his unit is stationed alongside the Italian 8th Army, and his observations of its collapse, as opposed to the reaction of the German troops sent to stiffen its front, are particularly fascinating. These journals, including original maps, some of which Roth himself helped compose, were recently discovered by his descendants, who arranged for the translation of their long-lost grandfather's journals. Roth was able to bring three of them back to his wife during the war, but never brought back a fourth journal, as his fate after the summer of 1943 in Russia is still unknown. What he did leave behind, now finally revealed, is an incredible first-hand account of the horrific war the Germans waged in Russia.

This volume begins with an investigation of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. It draws upon eye-witness German accounts of what occurred, and supplements these with German archival and detailed Soviet materials. The Soviet government has released extensive amounts of formerly classified archival materials from the period. This material has been incorporated into the maps and text.

The Second World War is omnipresent in contemporary memory debates. As the war fades from living memory, this study is the first to systematically analyze how Second World War museums allow prototypical visitors to comprehend and experience the past. It analyzes twelve permanent exhibitions in Europe and North America - including the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, the House of European History in Brussels, the Imperial War Museums in London and Manchester, and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans - in order to show how museums reflect and shape cultural memory, as well as their cognitive, ethical, emotional, and aesthetic potential and effects. This includes a discussion of representations of events such as the Holocaust and air warfare. In relation to narrative, memory, and experience, the study develops the concept of experientiality (on a sliding scale between mimetic and structural forms), which provides a new textual-spatial method for reading exhibitions and understanding the experiences of historical individuals and collectives. It is supplemented by concepts like transnational memory, empathy, and encouraging critical thinking through difficult knowledge.

1992 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the great Pacific naval battles in the Coral Sea and off Midway Island. Occuring within a month of each other, these turning Point engagements brought an end to Japan's military expansion and six months of Allied defeat and retreat in the Pacific. Fought mostly over the ocean by airmen flying primarily from aircraft carriers, the battles were marked on both sides by courage and luck, forewarning and foreboding, skill and ineptitude. In this first book-length, partially-annotated bibliography, Smith provides more than 1,300 citations to the growing literature on these major battles. Materials in seven languages are cited as well as information provided on many of the repositories located in the United States or abroad that have holdings necessary for the continuing reinterpretation of the battles. Following an overview and introduction, the volume contains sections devoted to reference works and sites, general histories, hardware, biography, combatants, and special studies, and separate section for both battles. Access is augmented by author and name indexes. This volume will be a required reference guide for all those concerned with the War in the Pacific and modern military studies.