000			03547cam a2200325 a 4500
001			16794968
005			20211129135637.0
008			110524s2011 nyuaf b 001 0 eng
020			_a9780713997163
040			_aDLC _cDLC _dDLC
042			_apcc
043			_ae-gx---
082	0	0	_a940.5343 KER
100	1		_aKershaw, Ian.
245	1	4	_aEnd: Hitler's Germany, 1944-45 / _cIan Kershaw.
260			_aNew York : _bPenguin Press, Allen Lane _c2011.
300			_axxii, 564 p., [16] p. of plates : _bill. ; _c24 cm.
500			_aRs.899/- Gratis
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_a"From the preeminent Hitler biographer, a fascinating and original exploration of how the Third Reich was willing and able to fight to the bitter end of World War II. Countless books have been written about why Nazi Germany lost World War II, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the equally vital question of how and why it was able to hold out as long as it did. The Third Reich did not surrender until Germany had been left in ruins and almost completely occupied. Even in the near-apocalyptic final months, when the war was plainly lost, the Nazis refused to sue for peace. Historically, this is extremely rare. Drawing on original testimony from ordinary Germans and arch-Nazis alike, award-winning historian Ian Kershaw explores this fascinating question in a gripping and focused narrative that begins with the failed bomb plot in July 1944 and ends with the German capitulation in May 1945. Hitler, desperate to avoid a repeat of the "disgraceful" German surrender in 1918, was of course critical to the Third Reich's fanatical determination, but his power was sustained only because those below him were unable, or unwilling, to challenge it. Even as the military situation grew increasingly hopeless, Wehrmacht generals fought on, their orders largely obeyed, and the regime continued its ruthless persecution of Jews, prisoners, and foreign workers. Beneath the hail of allied bombing, German society maintained some semblance of normalcy in the very last months of the war. The Berlin Philharmonic even performed on April 12, 1945, less than three weeks before Hitler's suicide. As Kershaw shows, the structure of Hitler's "charismatic rule" created a powerful negative bond between him and the Nazi leadership- they had no future without him, and so their fates were inextricably tied. Terror also helped the Third Reich maintain its grip on power as the regime began to wage war not only on its ideologically defined enemies but also on the German people themselves. Yet even as each month brought fresh horrors for civilians, popular support for the regime remained linked to a patriotic support of Germany and a terrible fear of the enemy closing in. Based on prodigious new research, Kershaw's The End is a harrowing yet enthralling portrait of the Third Reich in its last desperate gasps. "-- _cProvided by publisher.
600	1	0	_aHitler, Adolf, _d1889-1945 _xMilitary leadership.
600	1	0	_aHitler, Adolf, _d1889-1945 _xPublic opinion.
650		0	_aWorld War, 1939-1945
650		0	_aSociology, Military _zGermany _xHistory _y20th century.
650		7	_aHISTORY / Europe / Germany. _2bisacsh
856	4	2	_3Cover image _uftp://ppftpuser:[email protected]/Booksellers and Media/Covers/2008_2009_New_Covers/9781594203145.jpg
906			_a7 _bcbc _corignew _d1 _eecip _f20 _gy-gencatlg
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999			_c105765 _d105765