This powerful account of one man's transformation from fanatical Hitler Youth member to respected British mayor provides a fascinating portrayal of German civil and military life during the rise of Nazism and the Second World War. Beginning in 1933, the book describes how Bruno participated in the burning of Jewish books and the Nuremburg Rally of 1934, even appearing in Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will. However, in 1936, he discovers that he is half-Jewish, a mischling, forcing him to reconsider his ideologies. During the war he witnesses the invasion of France, the Battle of Britain, and extreme brutality on the Eastern Front before ending up as a British POW in East Anglia. Relating key historical events from a unique and telling standpoint this book provides a new insight into the atrocities of the Nazi regime whilst at the same time demonstrating the human capacity for change and redemption.
