The rise and fall of the Third Reich : A history of Nazi Germany

Author: William L. Shirer
Publisher: London : Arrow, 1991 © 1960

Notes: Originally published: London: Secker and Warburg, 1960

Annotation: Book by Historian/Journalist William L. Shirer, this book received the National Book Award for nonfiction and a worldwide best seller. The book is a classic masterpiece which contains records of testimony by Nazi leaders, diaries of officials, transcripts of secret conferences, army orders, private letters which lead the Hitler's drive to conquer the world. Hitler thought that the Third Reich would last for thousand years but only lasted for twelve. This book explores from the birth of Adolf Hitler in 1889 to the end of World War II in 1945. It is written in simple narrative and clear prose. This book has received wide community reviews and ratings of above 4 in Goodreads.

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The Book Thief

Personal Author:
Rush, Geoffrey, 1951-
Watson, Emily, 1967-
Zusak, Markus
Percival, Brian, 1962-

Publisher: London : Moore Park, New South Wales : Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, [2014]

Annotation: This is the historical war drama film by Brian Pervical based on the novel of the same name, set in Germany during Nazi era. It is a story about a girl who was adopted by German family during WWII who is illiterate and is encouraged by her foster father to learn to read. Germany has been taken by Adolf Hitler and his soldiers marching in the streets of Berlin. A Jewish family has been seeking refuge in this German family's house to protect their lives.  The girl starts to borrow books and shares them with the Jewish family, the movie shows how it helps them to escape the reality around them in this times of tyranny.

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Darkest Hour

Personal Author:

Wright, Joe, 1972-, film director
Bevan, Tim, film producer
Fellner, Eric, film producer
Bruce, Lisa, film producer
McCarten, Anthony, 1961-, film producer, screen writer
Urbanski, Douglas, film producer
Oldman, Gary, actor
Scott-Thomas, Kristin, 1960-, actor
James, Lily, 1989-, actor
Dillane, Stephen, 1956-, actor
Pickup, Ronald, actor
West, Samuel, 1966-, actor
Mendelsohn, Ben, actor

Imprint: London : Australia : Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia Pty Ltd, 2018

Annotation: This multi Academy Awards winning motion pictures displays one of the darkest time in the early days of the World War II. Adolf Hitler has risen to fame taking Austria and marching Nazi soldiers to occupy other European nations. The fall of France is an unbearable pain to British Empire, now a nation hailed as a winner in WWI is faced with fate whether to negotiate with Hitler and save British people or convince it's people to fight against Nazi Germany. All this is put to a table of newly appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The movie has a high rating in both IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes with many saying it a must see movie.

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Not me: Memoirs of a German Childhood

Author: Joachim C. Fest

Publisher: London: Atlantic Books, 2012

Annotation: By German Historian born in 1926, Joachim Fest  writes his own autobiography of his childhood growing up in Berlin during the early yearly of Nazi Germany.  His parents were devout Catholics and they associated themselves with intellectual catholic clergy and had many close Jewish friends but had absolutely no interest in both Communist and Nazi philosophy.

The book shows how stimulating it can be for a young and developing mind to see current events of young German soldiers marching passed through his household. How his parochial thoughts collided with other young generation. It accounts of how his father's unwillingness to join the Nazi party led to him being banned from employment. The book tries to give a striking notion of no matter how the world has viewed of the Third Reich but his father and himself believed that Hitler's supporters came from dirt and that's where they belonged. It's the people like him who has given them identity just because of the historical significance of that time otherwise they don't deserve to be recognised.

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