Tag Archives: WWII

In My Hands Today…

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Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS – Lisa Rogak

Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché living in Tokyo. Marlene Dietrich, the German-American actress and singer, was of course one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. These four women, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in WWII.

As members of the OSS, their task was to create a secret brand of propaganda produced with the sole aim to break the morale of Axis soldiers. Working in the European theater, across enemy lines in occupied China, and in Washington, D.C., Betty, Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene forged letters and “official” military orders, wrote and produced entire newspapers, scripted radio broadcasts and songs, and even developed rumors for undercover spies and double agents to spread to the enemy. And outside of a small group of spies, no one knew they existed. Until now.

In My Hands Today…

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Paris Undercover – Matthew Goodman

Etta Shiber and Kitty Bonnefous are the unlikeliest of two seemingly ordinary women, an American widow and an English divorcée, living quietly together in Paris. Yet during the Nazi occupation, these two friends find themselves unexpectedly plunged into the whirlwind of history. With the help of a French country priest and others, they rescue untold numbers of British and French soldiers trapped behind enemy lines—some of whom they daringly smuggle through Nazi checkpoints in the trunk of their car.

Ultimately the Gestapo captures them both. After eighteen months in prison, Etta, a New Yorker of Jewish descent, is returned to the United States in a prisoner exchange. Back home, hoping to bring attention to her friend Kitty’s bravery, Etta publishes a memoir about their work. Paris-Underground becomes a publishing sensation and Etta a celebrity. Meanwhile Kitty spends the rest of the war in solitary confinement in a Nazi prison, entirely unaware of the book that has been written about her – and the deeds that have been claimed in her name.

In researching this story, Matthew Goodman uncovered military records, personal testimonies, and Etta Shiber’s own never-before-seen wartime letters. Together they reveal, for the first time, the shocking truth behind Etta’s bestselling memoir and the unexpected, far-reaching consequences of its publication. More than just a story of two women’s remarkable courage, Paris Undercover is also a vivid, gripping account of deceit, betrayal, and personal redemption.

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The Happiest Man on Earth – Eddie Jaku

Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you.

Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp.

Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country.

Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the ‘happiest man on earth’.

Published as Eddie turns 100, this is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.

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Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family – Daniel Finkelstein

Daniel Finkelstein’s grandfather Alfred Wiener was a German Jewish intellectual leader who tolled an early warning of the impending Holocaust and became anarchivist of Nazi crimes.

He relocated his family to safety in Amsterdam, where they became close with Anne Frank’s family. But they were eventually separated, and Daniel’s mother Mirjam was sent to Bergen-Belsen with her mother and sisters while Alfred worked feverishly to free them. Finkelstein’s father, Ludwik, grew up in a prosperous Jewish family in Poland where his father was a patriotic hero of the Great War.

But when Stalin took control, Finkelstein’s grandfather was deported to Siberia, while Ludwik and his mother were sent to face freezing winters and harrowing forced labourm conditions in Kazahkstan.

Love and Murder is a page-turning account of ingenuity, bravery and the incredible coincidences that brought Daniel’s parents together as refugees in Britain. The story features secret archives, forgery and theft, and sweeps across Europe to show the expanse of the war. Moving, engrossing and inspiring, Love and Murder will profoundly touch all who read.

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The Windsors at War: The King, His Brother, and a Family Divided – Alexander Larman

At the beginning of 1937, the British monarchy was in a state of turmoil. The previous king, Edward VIII, had abdicated the throne, leaving his unprepared and terrified brother Bertie to become George VI, surrounded by a gaggle of courtiers and politicians who barely thought him up to the job.

Meanwhile, as the now-Duke of Windsor awaited the decree that would allow him to marry his mistress Wallis Simpson, he took an increased interest in the expansionist plans of Adolf Hitler. He may even have gone so far as to betray his country in the process. And as double agents and Nazi spies thronged the corridors of Buckingham Palace, the only man the King could trust was his Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. But they faced a formidable, even unbeatable, adversary: his own brother.

The Windsors at War tells the never-before-told story of World War Two in Britain and America with a fresh focus on the royal family, their conflicted relationships, and the events that rocked the international press. How did this squabbling, dysfunctional family manage to put their differences aside and unite to help win the greatest conflict of their lifetimes? Alexander Larman, author of The Crown in Crisis, now chronicles the Windsor family at war with Germany―and each other.