Audiobook8 hours
Fur Volk and Fuhrer: The Memoir of a Veteran of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
Written by Erwin Bartmann
Narrated by James Anderson Foster
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamt of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen SS unit. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and just seventeen-years-old, Erwin fulfilled his dream on Mayday 1941, when he gave up his apprenticeship at the Glaser bakery in Memeler Strasse and walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw, volunteer recruit.
On arrival at the Eastern Front in late summer 1941, Erwin was assigned to a frontline communications squad attached to 4.Kompanie and soon discovered that survival was a matter of luck-or the protection of a guardian angel. Good fortune finally deserted Erwin on 11 July 1943 when shrapnel sizzled through his lung during the epic Battle of Kursk-Prokhorovka. Following a period of recovery, and promotion to Unterscharführer, Erwin took up a post as machine-gun instructor with the Ausbildung und Ersatz Bataillon.
From the war on the southern sector of the Eastern Front to a bomb-shattered Berlin populated largely by old men and demoralized lonely women, this candid eyewitness account offers a unique and sometimes surprising perspective on the life of a young Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler volunteer.
On arrival at the Eastern Front in late summer 1941, Erwin was assigned to a frontline communications squad attached to 4.Kompanie and soon discovered that survival was a matter of luck-or the protection of a guardian angel. Good fortune finally deserted Erwin on 11 July 1943 when shrapnel sizzled through his lung during the epic Battle of Kursk-Prokhorovka. Following a period of recovery, and promotion to Unterscharführer, Erwin took up a post as machine-gun instructor with the Ausbildung und Ersatz Bataillon.
From the war on the southern sector of the Eastern Front to a bomb-shattered Berlin populated largely by old men and demoralized lonely women, this candid eyewitness account offers a unique and sometimes surprising perspective on the life of a young Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler volunteer.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherTantor Media, Inc
TranslatorDerik Hammond
Release dateApr 11, 2017
ISBN9781541471986
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Reviews for Fur Volk and Fuhrer
Rating: 4.695945944594595 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
74 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
As with most topics until you hear perspectives from both sides you don’t know the truth. The main charactor in this book offers a rare, and all too human perspective of what war was like in WW2, from a German and too an SS soldier’s point of view.
I found the book very interesting, informative and insightful. Highly recommend.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting book. Look at the war from the German side. Seems a bit polished in places, but I think it portrays well the blind idealism that existed in the German people and especially the youth at the time.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A very good war memoir. Read it and enjoy it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you like war memoirs this is worth a listen.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A honest brutal account of his life. Well written and fast moving. Throughly enjoyed even if some parts were down right horrifying. The eastern front was an extraordinary rough place to fight
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The detail of this book is great. Not to mention the narrator is one of my favorites. He did a fantastic job as usual. This book however, is not what I expected. The Waffen SS was always made out to be a bunch of psychotic murdering extreme nazi fanatics. The allied powers found the entirety of that organization guilty for war crimes at the end of the ww2. In hindsight I think the world was naive to accept this as fact. I do not condone what happened to the Jews or anyone else that pointlessly had their lives taken from them in any way. But to lump ALL of these men into a category was wrong. The world was in so much pain that humanity as a whole feels that we must be able to find justice for such things. The sad truth is that NOTHING can fix such awfulness. This is the story of a normal young man. Who was proud of his country and who believed he should take part in helping to contribute to it. He was proud to be one of the few Elites of his armed forces. He was a man of character and morals. He wasn’t some crazed nazi. The man was 9 when hitler was elected to office… The sad truth is the most of these boys were about the same age. They went from being destitute to powerful and were proud of it. These boys were slaughtered because of a few psychopaths who thought they were the center of the universe. They gave all, lost all and payed ALL. In the end they were cast out for it and “classified” as something. Even if they weren’t what they were said to be they paid dearly for it. It’s a sad story and one that holds weight. Nationalism is on the rise, I’m a conservative that’s proud of my country. It’s sobering to hear the truth of what those pure ideals taken to the extreme can produce. I am thankful this man shared his experiences with us. God bless and enjoy an amazing tale.