Prisoners Of The Reich: Germany's Captives 1939-1945
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
Behind the wire fences and watchtowers of Nazi Germany's vast prisoner-of-war network lay a world of hardship, ingenuity, and quiet defiance — Prisoners of the Reich: Germany's Captives 1939–1945 chronicles the harrowing experiences of the hundreds of thousands of Allied servicemen who fell into German hands during the Second World War. David Rolf presents a meticulously researched account of life inside the Stalags and Oflags, tracing the arc from capture to liberation and illuminating the physical privations, psychological endurance, and remarkable escape attempts that defined captivity under the Third Reich. Drawing on first-hand testimonies, official records, and extensive archival research, Rolf constructs an intimate yet panoramic portrait of men compelled to forge community, purpose, and resistance in the most oppressive of circumstances. Rolf's work sits firmly within the canon of serious Second World War scholarship, arguing that the prisoner-of-war experience has long been underrepresented in the broader historiography of the conflict. His prose is measured and authoritative, balancing the human drama of individual stories against the wider strategic and political machinery of the German detention system, including the influence of the Geneva Convention and the role of the Red Cross. The result is a sobering and deeply humane work that forces the reader to confront a question that resonates long after the final page: when everything is stripped away, what does it truly mean to remain free?
Author: David Rolf
Format: Hardback
Published: 1988, Leo Cooper, London
Genre: WW2
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
Behind the wire fences and watchtowers of Nazi Germany's vast prisoner-of-war network lay a world of hardship, ingenuity, and quiet defiance — Prisoners of the Reich: Germany's Captives 1939–1945 chronicles the harrowing experiences of the hundreds of thousands of Allied servicemen who fell into German hands during the Second World War. David Rolf presents a meticulously researched account of life inside the Stalags and Oflags, tracing the arc from capture to liberation and illuminating the physical privations, psychological endurance, and remarkable escape attempts that defined captivity under the Third Reich. Drawing on first-hand testimonies, official records, and extensive archival research, Rolf constructs an intimate yet panoramic portrait of men compelled to forge community, purpose, and resistance in the most oppressive of circumstances. Rolf's work sits firmly within the canon of serious Second World War scholarship, arguing that the prisoner-of-war experience has long been underrepresented in the broader historiography of the conflict. His prose is measured and authoritative, balancing the human drama of individual stories against the wider strategic and political machinery of the German detention system, including the influence of the Geneva Convention and the role of the Red Cross. The result is a sobering and deeply humane work that forces the reader to confront a question that resonates long after the final page: when everything is stripped away, what does it truly mean to remain free?