Book description
Of the 10,000 men who landed at Arnhem, over nine days 1,400 were
killed and more than 6,000 - about a third of them wounded - were
captured. It was a bloody disaster. The remarkable Louis Hagen, an
'enemy alien' who had escaped to England having been imprisoned and
tortured in a Nazi concentration camp as a boy just a few years
earlier, was one of the minority who made it back. What makes this
book so unforgettable is not only the breathtaking drama of the story
itself, it is the unmistakable talent of the writer. The narrative was
first published anonymously in 1945. 45 years later at a dinner party
in Germany, Louis Hagen met Major Winrich Behr, Adjutant to Field
Marshal Model at Arnhem. Louis added his side of the story to add even
more insight to the original work.
Louis Hagen, born into a Jewish banking family, was sent to
Schloss Lichtenburg concentration camp for writing an anti-Nazi joke
on a postcard to his sister. A high-ranking Nazi judge and friend of
the family got him out and he escaped to England. He eventually became
a glider pilot, fighting for the British at Arnhem. he is the author
of several books, including Ein Volk, Ein Reich, a superb evocation of
post-war Berlin. He went on to be a successful journalist and film
producer and died in 2000.
