On August 15, 1944, Major Hans Georg Klamroth was tried for treason for his part in the July plot against Hitler. Eleven days later, he was executed. Wibke Bruhns, his youngest daughter, was six years old. Decades later, watching a documentary about the events of July 20, she saw images of her father in court suddenly appeared on-screen. “I stare at this man with the empty face. I don’t know him. But I can see myself in him—his eyes are my eyes; I know I resemble him. I know I wouldn’t be here without him. And what do I know about him? Nothing at all.” How could her patriotic family succumb to Nazi sympathies? And what made her father finally renounce Hitler? With a wealth of letters and diaries documenting the story of her family, from the time of Kaiser Wilhelm to the end of the Second World War, and with her own coruscating intelligence, she unravels her family's unique and unforgettable history. My Father’s Country tells an astounding story—gripping, startlingly intimate, emotionally riveting—of three generations. A huge best seller in the author’s native country, it offers unparalleled insight into the experience of being German in the last century. A real-life Buddenbrooks.

My Father's Country: Story of a German Family

Biographies & Memoirs

Bruhns, Wibke

Historical

KNOPF

A huge bestseller in Germany for over a year, My Father’s Country offers extraordinarily moving and riveting insight into the experience of being German in the last century. On August 26, 1944, Hans Georg Klamroth, officer in the German army and member of the SS, was executed for high treason for his participation in the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. My Father’s Country is the extraordinary work of Klamroth’s daughter, Wibke, born only six years before her father’s death. Decades later, Bruhns was watching a TV documentary about the events of July 1944 when images of her father in the court room suddenly appeared on screen. “I stare at this man with the empty face. I don’t know him. But I can see myself in him — his eyes are my eyes; I know I resemble him. I know I wouldn’t be here without him. And what do I know about him? Nothing at all.” Based on an extensive collection of family letters, private diaries, photographs and even menus, My Father’s Country traces Wibke Bruhns’ father’s, and more widely, her well-to-do merchant family’s, life in the Germany of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With it, Bruhns not only brings to life the nuances of this world — its culture and its assumptions, politics and beliefs — but also comes to know, finally, the mysterious father she barely remembers.

My Father's Country: The Story of a German Family

Bond Street Books

A huge bestseller in Germany for over a year, My Father’s Country offers extraordinarily moving and riveting insight into the experience of being German in the last century. On August 26, 1944, Hans Georg Klamroth, officer in the German army and member of the SS, was executed for high treason for his participation in the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. My Father’s Country is the extraordinary work of Klamroth’s daughter, Wibke, born only six years before her father’s death. Decades later, Bruhns was watching a TV documentary about the events of July 1944 when images of her father in the court room suddenly appeared on screen. “I stare at this man with the empty face. I don’t know him. But I can see myself in him — his eyes are my eyes; I know I resemble him. I know I wouldn’t be here without him. And what do I know about him? Nothing at all.” Based on an extensive collection of family letters, private diaries, photographs and even menus, My Father’s Country traces Wibke Bruhns’ father’s, and more widely, her well-to-do merchant family’s, life in the Germany of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With it, Bruhns not only brings to life the nuances of this world — its culture and its assumptions, politics and beliefs — but also comes to know, finally, the mysterious father she barely remembers. From the Hardcover edition.

Anchor Canada

My Father's Country

The story of a German family from the late nineteenth century through WWI to WWII and after. A huge bestseller in Germany, it offers extraordinarily moving and riveting insight into the experience of being German in the last century, fit to stand alongside Gitta Sereny's biography of Albert Speer or Bernhard Schlink's The Reader.

Random House]

William Heinemann

In this gripping memoir, the daughter of a man who conspired to assassinate Hitler tells the story of three generations of her family and offers unparalleled insight into the German experience in the last century. On August 15, 1944, Major Hans Georg Klamroth was tried for treason for his part in the July Plot to kill Hitler. Eleven days later, he was executed. His youngest daughter, Wibke Bruhns, was six years old. Decades later, watching a documentary about the events of July 20, she saw images of her father in court suddenly appear on-screen. “I stare at this man with the empty face. I don't know him. But I can see myself in him.” How could her family succumb to Nazi sympathies? And what made her father finally renounce Hitler?

Vintage

Et voilà mon père devant le « Tribunal du peuple » nazi. Droit comme un i, flottant lamentablement dans un costume trop grand pour lui, silencieux. Je regarde fixement cet homme au visage éteint. Je ne le connais pas, il n'existe pas l'ombre d'un souvenir en moi. J'avais tout juste un an lorsque la guerre a commencé. À partir de ce moment, il n'était pour ainsi dire jamais à la maison. Mais je me reconnais en lui - ses yeux sont mes yeux, je sais que je lui ressemble. Et que sais-je de lui ? Rien. W.B.Un document exceptionnel sur une famille allemande dans la tourmente du nazisme. La culpabilité singulière d'une génération plane sur les hauteurs de ce grand récit. Bastien Miquel, Le Figaro littéraire.

Le Pays de Mon Père (Litterature & Documents) (French Edition)

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Livre De Poche

Meines Vaters Land (German Edition)

Verlag Ullstein

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Books by Bruhns, Wibke

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My Father's Country: Story of a German Family

My Father's Country: The Story of a German Family

My Father's Country: The Story of a German Family

My Father's Country

My Father's Country

My Father's Country: The Story of a German Family

Le Pays de Mon Père (Litterature & Documents) (French Edition)

Meines Vaters Land (German Edition)