Sound of Hunger is a true story that centres on two German
brothers, Erich and Georg Gerth, u-boat commanders, and the First
Word War and its aftermath. The Gerths' lives and careers as navy
officers are set against the military, political and social
environment of their times. Carefully-nurtured myths of national
innocence and guilt are uncovered; discrediting truths and war
crimes of both the Allies and Germany are brought into the
limelight. This is not conventional history, but a personal view of
the events that were integral to the Gerth brothers, to see how
they were changed by what they heard, were taught and experienced.
Sound of Hunger is unashamedly intimate in selection, perhaps
eccentric in places; a personal journey that explains what was
newly-found, how it was investigated and understood. Whatever you
think you know about this war, be prepared to challenge your
beliefs. The book takes its title from the thrust of the war, not
in the trenches, but in the deliberate attempts by both sides to
starve each other's civilian populations. The damage to Germany's
children was generational as food shortages were deliberately
extended by the Allies to force Germany to a debilitating peace.
The brothers were born in booming Berlin in the 1880s, their father
dying when they were young. Their mother sacrificed to see them
through one of Berlin's most prestigious secondary schools and paid
their considerable fees as cadets. In the burgeoning naval fleet,
they were of the lowest social class allowed into this elite new
force. Their careers were exciting, extracted from German archives:
spying in South America, bombardment of the English coast, sea
battles, torpedoed and mined ships, and desperate survivals. One,
as a French prisoner of war for over two years, made daring escape
attempts, the other scuttling his boat in the Mediterranean amid
collapsing Austrian armies. Remarkable contacts tumble from the
pages, villains and heroes, the Kaiser, Alfred von Tirpitz,
family-friend Wilhelm Canaris, Karl Doenitz, the Red Baron, Adolf
Hitler. The Gerths' personal decisions are interwoven with
Germany's bid for world power, naval training, the founding of the
Flanders u-boat bases, the importance of the Baltic and the
Mediterranean, the economic blockade of Germany and its devastating
effects on European neutral countries, unfettered submarine
warfare, prison camps, Britain's virulent propaganda designed to
drag America into the conflict, and the German collapse. The story
does not end well. The brothers return to Germany and the post-war
fight to the death between a new socialist republic, a murderous
officer corps and the Spartacist revolution. The Gerths are forced
to take sides. One becomes a philosopher and a businessman, seeking
mental refuge. The other marries a countess and is swept into
extreme right-wing politics: manning the barricades, the murder of
communist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, covertly
preparing the second u-boat fleet for the next war. Canaris is
everywhere scheming. Close family contacts are developed with
Europe's Catholic hierarchy, even to Eugenio Pacelli, the
pope-to-be, the Spanish royal family, and with elite Paris society,
in a very public attempt to rouse religious sentiment against a
second world war. Everything falls apart. The German President and
Foreign Minister together act with Rudolf Hess to ruin one of the
brothers. Heinrich Himmler moves to take over of the legendary Ufa
film studios, beggaring another family member. The family's Jewish
connections are disclosed: it is a time of forged passports,
concentration camps, attempted flight to South America; and
children hidden in Roman convents. The Gestapo steps in. One
brother dies in poignant and lurid circumstances, the other becomes
a recluse after watching the ruins of his family home and business,
flattened by British carpet bombing of a demilitarised town.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
