Audiobooks by Volker Ullrich

Germany, 1923: Hyperinflation, Hitler's Pusch and Democracy in Crisis

From a New York Times bestselling historian comes a gripping account of the crisis that threatened to unravel the Weimar Republic. The great Austrian writer Stefan Zweig confided in his autobiography: “I have a pretty thorough knowledge of history, but never, to my recollection, has it produced such madness in such gigantic proportions.” He was referring to Germany in 1923, a “year of lunacy,” defined by hyperinflation, violence, a political system on the verge of collapse, the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, and separatist movements threatening to rip apart the German nation. Most observers found it miraculous that the Weimar Republic-the first German democracy-was able to survive, though some of the more astute realized that the feral undercurrents unleashed that year could lead to much worse. Now, a century later, bestselling author Volker Ullrich draws on letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, and other sources to present a riveting chronicle of one of the most difficult years any modern democracy has ever faced-one with haunting parallels to our own political moment.

Volker Ullrich (Author), Christopher Douyard (Narrator)

Audiobook

Deutschland 1923: Das Jahr am Abgrund

«Kein Volk der Welt hat erlebt, was dem deutschen ‹1923›-Erlebnis entspricht», schrieb Sebastian Haffner im englischen Exil, und Stefan Zweig befand, dass die Geschichte noch «nie eine ähnliche Tollhauszeit in solchen riesigen Proportionen produziert» habe. Volker Ullrich erzählt auf breiter Quellenbasis die Geschichte dieses Jahrs am Abgrund, das in manchem auf fatale Weise an die heutige Gegenwart erinnert. Nach der vielgerühmten Hitler-Biografie und dem Bestseller «Acht Tage im Mai» legt der renommierte Journalist und Historiker nun das Panorama einer aus den Fugen geratenen Zeit vor, die Chronik eines in jeder Hinsicht extremen Jahres. 1923 erlebt Deutschland einen Sturz ins Bodenlose. Französische und belgische Truppen marschieren ins Ruhrgebiet ein. Die Hyperinflation erreicht ihren bizarren Höhepunkt und stürzt breite Bevölkerungsschichten ins Elend. Während die Vergnügungsindustrie boomt, herrscht politisch der Ausnahmezustand. Separatistische Bewegungen bedrohen den Bestand des Reiches, rechte und linke Extremisten setzen zum Sturm auf die Republik an, und in München bereitet ein Mann einen Putschversuch vor, dessen Name sich der Welt noch einprägen wird: Adolf Hitler.

Volker Ullrich (Author), Peter Bieringer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Eight Days in May: How Germany's War Ended

Brought to you by Penguin. 1 May 1945. The world did not know it yet, but the final week of the Third Reich's existence had begun. Hitler was dead, but the war had still not ended. Everything had both ground to a halt and yet remained agonizingly uncertain. Volker Ullrich's remarkable book takes the reader into a world torn between hope and terror, violence and peace. Ullrich describes how each day unfolds, with Germany now under a new Führer, Admiral Dönitz, based improbably in the small Baltic town of Flensburg. With Hitler dead, Berlin in ruins and the war undoubtedly lost, the process by which the fighting would end remained horrifyingly unclear. Many major Nazis were still on the loose, wild rumours continued to circulate about a last stand in the Alps and the Western allies falling out with the Soviet Union. All over Europe, millions of soldiers, prisoners, slave labourers and countless exhausted, grief-stricken and often homeless families watched and waited for the war's end. Eight Days in May is the story of people, in Erich Kästner's striking phrase, stuck in 'the gap between no longer and not yet'. 'The last days of the Third Reich have often been told, but seldom with the verve, perception and elegance of Volker Ulrich's rich narrative ... an instructive lesson in how societies cope with the devastating reality of a surrender that they grimly await' Richard Overy, author of The Bombing War 'A fast-paced, brilliant recounting of the turbulent last days of the Third Reich, with all the energy and chaos of a Jackson Pollock canvas' Helmut Walser Smith, author of Germany: A Nation in its Time © Volker Ullrich 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Volker Ullrich (Author), John Mclain (Narrator)

Audiobook

Acht Tage im Mai: Die letzte Woche des Dritten Reiches

'Ein tolles Hörbuch um die letzten Tage des Zweiten Weltkriegs, das beleuchtet, wie quasi die Welt auseinanderfällt und keinem klar ist, was denn jetzt kommt.' Jan Böhmermann Die letzte Woche des Dritten Reiches hat begonnen. Hitler ist tot, aber der Krieg noch nicht zu Ende. Alles scheint zum Stillstand zu kommen, und doch ist alles in atemloser Bewegung. Volker Ullrich schildert Tag für Tag diese 'zeitlose Zeit' und entführt den Leser in eine zusammenbrechende Welt voller Dramatik und Hoffnung, Gewalt und Angst. Sein Buch ist eine unvergessliche Zeitreise in den Untergang. Während die Regierung Dönitz nach Flensburg ausweicht, rücken die alliierten Streitkräfte unaufhaltsam weiter vor. Berlin kapituliert, in Italien die Heeresgruppe C. Raketenforscher Wernher von Braun wird festgenommen. Es kommt zu einer Selbstmordepidemie und zu Massenvergewaltigungen. Letzte Todesmärsche, wilde Vertreibungen, abtauchende Nazi-Bonzen, befreite Konzentrationslager - all das gehört zu jener 'Lücke zwischen dem Nichtmehr und dem Nochnicht', die Erich Kästner am 7. Mai 1945 in seinem Tagebuch vermerkt. Volker Ullrich, der große Journalist und Hitler-Biograph, hat aus historischen Miniaturen und Mosaiksteinen ein Panorama dieser 'Acht Tage im Mai' zusammengefügt, das sich fesselnder liest als mancher Thriller. Umschlaggestaltung: Rothfos & Gabler, Hamburg. Umschlagabbildung: US-Soldat mit jungen deutschen Gefangenen, © Bettmann/Getty Images

Volker Ullrich (Author), Peter Bieringer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939

A major new biography-an extraordinary, penetrating study of the man who has become the personification of evil. For all the literature about Adolf Hitler there have been just four seminal biographies; this is the fifth, a landmark work that sheds important new light on Hitler himself. Drawing on previously unseen papers and a wealth of recent scholarly research, Volker Ullrich reveals the man behind the public persona, from Hitler's childhood to his failures as a young man in Vienna to his experiences during the First World War to his rise as a far-right party leader. Ullrich deftly captures Hitler's intelligence, instinctive grasp of politics, and gift for oratory as well as his megalomania, deep insecurity, and repulsive worldview. Many previous biographies have focused on the larger social conditions that explain the rise of the Third Reich. Ullrich gives us a comprehensive portrait of a postwar Germany humiliated by defeat, wracked by political crisis, and starved by an economic depression, but his real gift is to show vividly how Hitler used his ruthlessness and political talent to shape the Nazi party and lead it to power. For decades the world has tried to grasp how Hitler was possible. By focusing on the man at the center of it all, on how he experienced his world, formed his political beliefs, and wielded power, this riveting biography brings us closer than ever to the answer. Translated from the German by Jefferson Chase.

Volker Ullrich (Author), Don Hagen (Narrator)

Audiobook