Europe Audiobooks | Travel

Nazi Art Theft: The History of Germany’s Confiscation and Destruction of European Artworks during Wo

Looting and the acquisition of plunder have long been crucial features of war. Removing an enemy’s portable wealth is a way of ensuring they lack the resources to create a new army while making it possible for members of the victorious army to be suitably rewarded. In the past, that plunder tended to be in the form of coinage, precious stones, gold, and silver. The removal of artwork for its own sake (rather than for the intrinsic value of the materials from which they were made) was relatively rare. In the long history of Europe, no country established such complete domination of the continent as the Nazis had by the summer of 1941. Before the war, Germany used the threat of the army rather than direct conflict to achieve territorial gains in Austria and Czechoslovakia. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, triggering the war, and by June 1940, German forces had occupied Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, and large parts of France. By the spring of 1941, Greece, Serbia, and Yugoslavia were also occupied by Nazi forces. Italy, Hungary, Romania, Spain, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Finland, and Croatia were all either in alliance with Germany or subject to German control. Furthermore, by the winter of 1941, German forces were close to Leningrad and Moscow. Given their unlimited and virtually uncontrolled access to most of Europe, it is perhaps unsurprising that this would also lead to consideration of the acquisition of art. If Berlin was to become the new world capital, then surely it was reasonable to assume Berlin should display the world’s most important works of art. With nothing to stop them, the Nazis became the most rapacious looters of art the world had ever seen, to the extent that it has been estimated that the Nazis may have acquired up to 20% of all art in Western Europe. Some works were returned after the war, many disappeared, and still others have become the subject of intense speculation.

Charles River Editors (Author), Daniel Houle (Narrator)

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Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties

‘Lucid and damning … an absorbing – and infuriating – tale of complicity, coverup and denial’ PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, author of EMPIRE OF PAIN A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II – and how the world allowed them to get away with it. In 1946, Günther Quandt – patriarch of Germany’s most iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMW – was arrested for suspected Nazi collaboration. Quandt claimed that he had been forced to join the party by his arch-rival, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and the courts acquitted him. But Quandt lied. And his heirs, and those of other Nazi billionaires, have only grown wealthier in the generations since, while their reckoning with this dark past remains incomplete at best. Many of them continue to control swaths of the world economy, owning iconic brands whose products blanket the globe. The brutal legacy of the dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz and still control Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW has remained hidden in plain sight – until now. In this landmark work, investigative journalist David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germany’s wealthiest business dynasties amassed untold money and power by abetting the atrocities of the Third Reich. Using a wealth of untapped sources, de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured slave labourers and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler’s army as Europe burnt around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how the wider world’s political expediency enabled these billionaires to get away with their crimes, covering up a bloodstain that defiles the German and global economy to this day.

David De Jong (Author), Michael David Axtell (Narrator)

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Nazi Germany's Rocket Science: The History of the Third Reich's Experimental Weapons Technology and

After the last shots of World War II were fired and the process of rebuilding Germany and Europe began, the Western Allies and the Soviet Union each tried to obtain the services of the Third Reich's leading scientists, especially those involved in rocketry, missile technology, and aerospace research. Naturally, this was a delicate affair due to the fact many of the German scientists were not only active Nazis but had helped the Nazi war machine terrorize the world. At the same time, by the late war period, the Anglo-American Allies formed a clear picture of the Soviet state. Though forced to ally with the USSR's dictator, Josef Stalin, the West came to understand Communist Russia represented yet another hungry totalitarian power, and thus a very real threat to an independent Europe. Both the Western Allies and the Soviets knew of Adolf Hitler's V-2 rocket program, the forerunner of ballistic missiles and the space race. Each recognized the immense strategic value of these technologies and wished to secure their benefits for themselves. As the Soviets contemplated additional expansion following the “Great Patriotic War” and the U.S. military came to understand the putative allies of today would emerge as the enemies of tomorrow, the men possessing knowledge of the V-2 rockets and other Third Reich military technology programs became seen as crucial pieces in the incipient NATO versus Warsaw Pact standoff. The result was the American-led “Operation Paperclip” on the Western side, which resulted in German scientists putting their expertise at the disposal of the U.S. and other NATO members. Operation Paperclip aimed not only to obtain the benefits of German scientific advances for the United States but also to deny them to the potentially hostile Soviets. The Western approach, however self-interested, typically met with voluntary compliance on the German scientists' parts. In contrast, the Soviet answer to Paperclip, Operation Osoaviakhim, used the implied threat of imprisonment, torture, and death, the characteristic tools of Stalinist Russia, to coerce assistance from German scientists and engineers following the war. These men yielded rich dividends to the Soviet state in terms of achieving at least temporary technical parity with the USSR's western rivals. To say Operation Paperclip had a profound impact on the Cold War and American history would be an understatement. The most well known example of the operation’s “success” is Wernher von Braun, who was once a member of a branch of the SS involved in the Holocaust, would become known as the “father of rocket science” and fascinate the world with visions of winged rockets and space stations as a “new” Manhattan Project, one that NASA would eventually adopt. And in addition to the weaponization of ballistic missiles that progressed throughout the Cold War, von Braun’s expertise was used for America’s most historic space missions. Nazi Germany’s Rocket Science: The History of the Third Reich’s Experimental Weapons Technology and Research during World War II analyzes the Nazis’ technological advances and the covert attempts to import Nazi scientists after the fall of the Third Reich.

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

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Nazi Germany: History in an Hour

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.Listen to this bite size audiobook about Hitler's experience as a soldier during World War One, the Nazi Party's climb to power, the elimination of their political opponents and the Weimar constitution. Learn about life in Nazi Germany, for women, the family, the Jews, and the use of state control, propaganda and security. See how Hitler manipulated foreign policy to achieve his aims, and how he brought the world into war.Nazi Germany in an Hour tell you everything you need to know about Germany under Nazi rule, in just one hour.Know your stuff: read about Nazi Germany in just one hour.

Rupert Colley (Author), Jonathan Keeble (Narrator)

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Nazi Mind Control

This audiobook has been recorded using Text to speech (TTS). In the 1930's an entire nation was brainwashed. It was manipulated by masters of propaganda and the arcane arts. The result was the deaths of millions of people. The world was changed in just a few short years. The men behind this massive scheme were members of the most evil and vile of political parties ever to have existed. We know them as the Nazis. Their purpose was to bring about the rise of a so-called Aryan race. A race that would rule the world for a thousand years. This would be the third reich. In-order to see the fulfilment of their grand scheme they needed to eradicate certain races from the globe and subjugate others. In-order to achieve this, they needed millions of people to believe and follow them and only them. And so they created a messiah, a God on Earth. His name was Adolf Hitler and he would become the master of manipulating the hearts and souls of man. From mass hypnosis to blatant propaganda, from control of the media to eradicating the opposition. All methods were employed. This is the story of how that incredible goal was actually brought to fruition and the methods used to control the minds of men. This is the story of Nazi Propaganda.

Raphael Terra (Author), Raphael Terra (Narrator)

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Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans

Who were the Gestapo officers? Were they merely banal paper shufflers, or were they recognizably evil? Were they motivated by an eliminationist anti-Semitism? Did the average German know about the mass murder of Jews and other undesirables while they were happening? Exactly how was Nazi terror applied in the daily lives of ordinary Jews and Germans? Eric A. Johnson answers these questions as he explores the roles of the individual and of society in making terror work. Based on years of research in Gestapo archives as well as extensive interviews with perpetrators and victims, Nazi Terror settles many nagging questions about who, exactly, was responsible for what, who knew what, and when they knew it. It is the most fine-grained portrait we may ever have of the mechanism of terror in a dictatorship. Destined to become the classic study of terror in the Nazi dictatorship, and the benchmark for the next generation of Nazi and Holocaust scholarship, Nazi Terror tackles the central aspect of the Nazi dictatorship head on by focusing on the roles of the individual and of society in making terror work.

Eric A. Johnson (Author), Edward Lewis (Narrator)

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Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans

Who were the Gestapo officers? Were they merely banal paper shufflers, or were they recognizably evil? Were they motivated by an eliminationist anti-Semitism? Did the average German know about the mass murder of Jews and other undesirables while they were happening? Exactly how was Nazi terror applied in the daily lives of ordinary Jews and Germans? Eric A. Johnson answers these questions as he explores the roles of the individual and of society in making terror work. Based on years of research in Gestapo archives as well as extensive interviews with perpetrators and victims, Nazi Terror settles many nagging questions about who was responsible for what, who knew what, and when they knew it. It is the most fine-grained portrait we may ever have of the mechanism of terror in a dictatorship. Destined to become the classic study of terror in the Nazi dictatorship, and the benchmark for the next generation of Nazi and Holocaust scholarship, Nazi Terror tackles the central aspect of the Nazi dictatorship head on by focusing on the roles of the individual and of society in making terror work.

Eric A. Johnson (Author), Edward Lewis (Narrator)

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Nazi War Secrets

This audiobook has been recorded using Text to speech (TTS). Adolf Hitler changed the world. He was a messiah to his people and the anti-Christ to the rest. He was personally responsible for the deaths of millions of people around the globe. He is the greatest war criminal in history. We are all familiar with the rise to power of the Nazi party and the global conflict they instigated. But not everybody is aware of how this all came to be and the many secrets. From deep religious and occult secrets to technical innovations far beyond the abilities of the rest of the world, the Nazi party is a fascinating and tragically evil part of mankind's history. From flying wings, super heavy tanks and suicidal rocket bombs to flying saucers and huge orbital solar mirrors, the world of Nazi war machines brings to mind the death star and super weapons of Star Wars. This is the tale of manipulation, control, secret societies, weird weapons and ancient prophecy coming true. This is the tale of the world's most terrifying element of humanity - the dark side. Welcome to Nazi War Secrets.

Raphael Terra (Author), Raphael Terra (Narrator)

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Nazism and War

Richard Bessel, history professor at the University of York, specializes in the social and political history of Nazi Germany. In four compelling essays, he forcefully argues that racism made war inevitable. The Third Reich, led by "a band of political gangsters," came to power with a deep ideological commitment to war and racism. As the driving force behind the economics, social policy and propaganda of Germany, racial hatred was the catalyst that plunged Europe into war.

Richard Bessel (Author), George Wilson (Narrator)

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Near and Distant Neighbors: A New History of Soviet Intelligence

Previous histories have focused on the KGB, leaving military intelligence and the special service-which specialized in codes and ciphers-lurking in the shadows. Drawing on previously neglected Russian sources, Haslam reveals how both were in fact crucial to the survival of the Soviet state. This was especially true after Stalin's death in 1953, as the Cold War heated up and dedicated Communist agents the regime had relied upon-Klaus Fuchs, the Rosenbergs, Donald Maclean-were betrayed. In the wake of these failures, Khrushchev and his successors discarded ideological recruitment in favor of blackmail and bribery. The tactical turn was so successful that we can draw only one conclusion: the West ultimately triumphed despite, not because of, the espionage war. In bringing to light the obscure inhabitants of an undercover intelligence world, Haslam offers a surprising and unprecedented portrayal of Soviet success that is not only fascinating but also essential to understanding Vladimir Putin's power today.

Jonathan Haslam (Author), Shaun Grindell (Narrator)

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Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland

One summer day in 1941, half of the Polish town of Jedwabne murdered the other half, 1,600 men, women, and children, all but seven of the town's Jews. Neighbors tells their story. This is a shocking, brutal story that has never before been told. It is the most important study of Polish-Jewish relations to be published in decades and should become a classic of Holocaust literature. Jan Gross pieces together eyewitness accounts and other evidence into an engulfing reconstruction of the horrific July day remembered well by locals but forgotten by history. His investigation reads like a detective story, and its unfolding yields wider truths about Jewish-Polish relations, the Holocaust, and human responses to occupation and totalitarianism. It is a story of surprises: The newly occupying German army did not compel the massacre, and Jedwabne's Jews and Christians had previously enjoyed cordial relations. After the war, the nearby family who saved Jedwabne's surviving Jews was derided and driven from the area. The single Jew offered mercy by the town declined it. Most arresting is the sinking realization that Jedwabne's Jews were clubbed, drowned, gutted, and burned not by faceless Nazis, but by people whose features and names they knew well: their former schoolmates and those who sold them food, bought their milk, and chatted with them in the street. As much as such a question can ever be answered, Neighbors tells us why. In many ways, this is a simple book. It is easy to read in a single sitting, and hard not to. But its simplicity is deceptive. Gross's new and persuasive answers to vexed questions rewrite the history of twentieth-century Poland. This book proves, finally, that the fates of Poles and Jews during World War II can be comprehended only together.

Jan T. Gross (Author), Rory Barnett (Narrator)

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Nein!: Standing up to Hitler 1935-1944

From the bestselling and prize-winning author Paddy Ashdown, a revelatory new history of German opposition to Hitler from 1935 - 1944 In his last days, Adolf Hitler raged in his bunker that he had been betrayed by his own people, defeated from the inside. In part, he was right. By 1945, his armies were being crushed on all fronts, his regime collapsing with many fleeing retribution for their crimes. Yet, even before the war started, there were Germans very high in Hitler's command committed to bringing about his death and defeat. Paddy Ashdown tells, for the first time, the story of those at the very top of Hitler's Germany who tried first to prevent the Second World War and then to deny Hitler victory. Based on newly released files, the repeated attempts of the plotters to warn the Allies about Hitler's plans are revealed. Key strands to the book's narrative lie with the actions of Abwehr head Admiral Wilhelm Canaris to frustrate Hitler's policies once the war had started; the plots to kill Hitler and, finally the systematic passage of key German military secrets to London, Washington and Moscow through MI6, the OSS (fore-runner to the CIA) and the "Lucy Ring" Russian spy network based in Switzerland. From 1943 onwards, concerted efforts were made to strike a separate peace with the West to shorten the war and prevent eastern Europe falling under the Soviet yoke. What is revealed is that the anti-Hitler bomb plots, which have received so much attention are, in fact only a small part of a much wider story; one in which those at the highest levels of the German state used every means possible - conspiracy, assassination, espionage - to ensure that, for the sake of the long-term reputation of their country and the survival of liberal and democratic values, Hitler could not be allowed to win the war. It is a matter of record that the European Union we have today and the nature and central position of Germany within it, is, in very large measure, the future envisaged by the plotters and for which they gave their lives.

Paddy Ashdown (Author), Paddy Ashdown (Narrator)

Audiobook

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