Swansong 1945 : a collective diary of the last days of the Third Reich /

Swansong 1945 : a collective diary of the last days of the Third Reich /

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Bibliographic Details
Uniform title:	Echolot. English.
Edition:	First American edition.
Imprint:	New York, N.Y. : W. W. Norton & Company, 2015. ©2014
Description:	xxii, 479 pages ; 25 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	World War (1939-1945) World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives. German diaries. German diaries. Germany -- History -- 1933-1945. Germany. Diaries. History. Personal narratives. Personal narratives. Diaries.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10395320

Hidden Bibliographic Details
Varying Form of Title:	Title on dust jacket : Swan song 1945
Other authors / contributors:	Kempowski, Walter, compiler. Whiteside, Shaun, translator.
ISBN:	9780393248159 $35.00 0393248151
Notes:	First published in Great Britain by Granta Books, 2014 as Swansong 1945: a collective diary from Hitler's last birthday to VE Day. Great Britain : Granta Books, 2014. Original German edition first published in 2005 as Das Echolot : Abgesang '45 : ein kollekitives Tagebuch by Albrecht Knaus Verlag, Munich.--Title page verso. Includes bibliographical references (pages 433-454) and index.
Summary:	Chronicles the end of Nazi Germany and World War II in Europe through hundreds of letters, diaries, and autobiographical accounts covering four days that fateful spring: Hitler's birthday on April 20, American and Soviet troops meeting at the Elbe on April 25, Hitler's suicide on April 30, and finally the German surrender on May 8. Side by side, we encounter vivid, first-person accounts of civilians fleeing Berlin, ordinary German soldiers determined to fight to the bitter end, American POWs dreaming of home, concentration-camp survivors' first descriptions of their horrific experiences, as well as the intimate thoughts of figures such as Eisenhower, Churchill, Stalin, Joseph Goebbels, and Hitler himself. These firsthand accounts, painstakingly collected and organized by renowned German author Walter Kempowski, provide the raw material of history and present a panoramic view of those tumultuous days, an extraordinary account of suffering and survival.--From publisher description.

Table of Contents:

Foreword
Preface
Editorial Note
Note on the English Translation
List of Abbreviations
Friday, 20 April 1945
Wednesday, 25 April 1945
Monday, 30 April 1945
Tuesday, 8 May/Wednesday, 9 May 1945
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Sources
1. Published and broadcast sources
2. Archives and institutions
Index