An edition of Soldiers and slaves (2003)

Soldiers and slaves

American POWs trapped by the Nazis' final gamble

1st ed.
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Last edited by MARC Bot
December 8, 2020 | History
An edition of Soldiers and slaves (2003)

Soldiers and slaves

American POWs trapped by the Nazis' final gamble

1st ed.
  • 0 Ratings
  • 1 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

In February 1945, 350 American POWs captured earlier at the Battle of the Bulge or elsewhere in Europe were singled out by the Nazis because they were Jews or were thought to resemble Jews. They were transported in cattle cars to Berga, a concentration camp in eastern Germany, and put to work as slave laborers, mining tunnels for a planned underground synthetic-fuel factory. This was the only incident of its kind during World War II. Starved and brutalized, the GIs were denied their rights as prisoners of war, their ordeal culminating in a death march that was halted by liberation near the Czech border. Twenty percent of these soldiers -- more than seventy of them -- perished. After the war, Berga was virtually forgotten, partly because it fell under Soviet domination and partly because America's Cold War priorities quickly changed, and the experiences of these Americans were buried. Now, for the first time, their story is told in all its blistering detail. This is the story of hell in a small place over a period of ten weeks, at a time when Hitler's Reich was crumbling but its killing machine still churned. It is a tale of madness and heroism, and of the failure to deliver justice for what the Nazis did to these Americans. Among those involved: William Shapiro, a young medic from the Bronx, hardened in Normandy battles but, as a prisoner, unable to help the Nazis' wasted slaves, whose bodies became as insubstantial as ghosts; Hans Kasten, a defiant German-American who enraged his Nazi captors by demanding, in vain, that his fellow U.S. prisoners be treated with humanity, thus committing the unpardonable sin of betraying his German roots; Morton Goldstein, a garrulous GI from New Jersey, shot dead by the Nazi in charge of the American prisoners in an incident that would spark intense debate at a postwar trial; and Mordecai Hauer, the orphaned Hungarian Jew who, after surviving Auschwitz, stumbled on the GIs in the midst of the Holocaust at Berga and despaired at the sight of liberators become slaves. Roger Cohen uncovers exactly why the U.S. government did not aggressively prosecute the commandants of Berga, why there was no particular recognition for the POWs and their harsh treatment in the postwar years, and why it took decades for them to receive proper compensation. Soldiers and Slaves is an intimate, intensely dramatic story of war and of a largely forgotten chapter of the Holocaust. - Jacket flap.

Publish Date
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf
Language
English
Pages
303

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Soldiers and Slaves
Soldiers and Slaves: American POWs Trapped by the Nazis' Final Gamble
April 11, 2006, Anchor
in English
Cover of: Soldiers and slaves
Soldiers and slaves: American POWs trapped by the Nazis' final gamble
2005, Knopf, Alfred A. Knopf
in English - 1st ed.
Cover of: Soldiers and slaves
Soldiers and slaves: American POWs trapped by the Nazis' final gamble
2005, Alfred A. Knopf
Hardcover in English - 1st ed.
Cover of: Soldiers and slaves
Soldiers and slaves: American POWs trapped by the Nazis' final gamble
2005, Random House Large Print
in English - 1st large print ed.
Cover of: Soldiers and Slaves
Soldiers and Slaves : American POWs Trapped by the Nazis' Final Gamble
November 18, 2003, Random House Audio
Audio CD in English - Abridged edition

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Book Details


Table of Contents

The Devil quotes scripture
Sucker punch
The obedience of corpses
The selection
Prayer book and sword
Walking shadows
Weasels in a hole
The dying weeks
Orders from nowhere
Epilogue
The Berga prisoners

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-283) and index.

Published in
New York
Genre
Biography

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
940.54/7243/0943184
Library of Congress
D805.5.B46 C63 2005

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Pagination
303 p., [16] p. of plates
Number of pages
303

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL23274056M
Internet Archive
soldiersslavesam00cohe
ISBN 10
037541410X
ISBN 13
9780375414107
LCCN
2004057691
Library Thing
1303318
Goodreads
1891136

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History

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December 8, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
August 1, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
February 28, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
July 14, 2017 Edited by Mek adding subject: Internet Archive Wishlist
December 9, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page