Product Description

Christabel Bielenberg, a niece of Lord Northcliffe, married a German lawyer in 1934. She lived through the war in Germany, as a German citizen, under the horrors of Nazi rule and Allied bombings. Closely associated with resistance circles, her husband was arrested after the failure of the plot against Hitler's life on 20th July 1944, and she herself was interrogated by the Gestapo. Not only do we meet her friends whose tragic bravery shines from the book, but dozens of everyday Germans, from the simple-minded Nazi official who was also her odd-job gardener, to the good-hearted Black Forest villagers who sheltered her till the liberation. They are presented with humour and sympathy, allowing the reader a remarkable insight into their character. All the more haunting, then, is her night-time encounter with an SS man from Riga who searches desperately for death on the battlefield. The human dimension of her writing brings about an unforgettable portrait of an evil time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14187 in Books
• Published on: 1988-09-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 286 pages

About the Author
Christabel Bielenberg, a niece of Lord Northcliffe, married a German lawyer in 1934. She lived through the war as a German citizen and wrote about her experiences in her memoir, The Past is Myself, and in its sequel, The Road Ahead. The Past is Myself was adapted for television by Dennis Potter under the title Christabel. In 1988, the Federal Republic of Germany awarded her the Commander's cross of the Order of Merit for her contribution to German-English understanding. She and her husband, Peter, have three sons and live in Ireland.

Customer Reviews

One of the best memoirs to come out of World War II.
Christabel Bielenberg's account of her life in Germany from the time of Hitler's extraordinary rise to power and influence to his ultimate downfall makes compelling reading. Born to a wealthy and politically influential Irish/English family Bielenberg marries and commits herself to her husband's country - Germany - five years before the outbreak of World War II. She finds herself caught up in the horrors of Nazi Germany, sustained by her husband's group of friends who, refusing to believe that Hitler speaks for all Germans, work secretly throughout the war to keep alive channels of communication with England. Involved in the July 20th plot of 1944 to assassinate Hitler, Bielenberg's husband is imprisoned, all but sharing the fate of his co- conspirators. The account of his rescue is thrilling reading, but the overall theme of the book is that no nation has a monopoly on good or evil, that humanity and inhumanity co-exist in every race, and that goodness can be found in the most unlikely places. One of my all-time favourite books.

brilliant - An Englishwomans struggle in Nazi Germany
A brilliant thought provoking book of an Englishwomans struggle to survive in Nazi Germany with a husband and young children. Through the course of the book we follow her path from an educated priviledged background in England, her acceptance into German academic society - she lives through the traumas of seeing her family doctor dissappearing most probably to a concentration camp, her husband's closest friend executed for treason and her husband's eventual imprisonment in a concentration camp.

Throughout her time in Nazi Germany she maintains her "Englishness" whilst gaining acceptance as a German Housewife - leading to her house arrest in a rural part of Germany (during the time her husband was imprisoned) and then towards the end of the war her trip to see the SS to convince them of her husband's innocence.

Overall the book is well written and has a gripping story line - difficult to put down.

Wonderful
This is an absolutely wonderful book describing the life of a young English woman living in Germany, mainly Berlin, during the war. Our view of WW2 is coloured by all the propaganda we have read. This book shows that people are just people, at least when they are out of uniform. She lived the same life as any other resident of Germany with all its restrictions and dangers during the war, but no more than everyone else. Hardly the usual view of Hitler's Germany. I have read it twice and am now ordering a copy for a friend.