Sebastian Haffner – författare

An absolute classic of autobiography and history - one of the few books to explore how and why the Germans were seduced by Hitler and Nazism.'If you have never read a book about Nazi Germany before, or if you have already read a thousand, I would urge you to read DEFYING HITLER. It sings with wisdom and understanding' DAILY MAILSebastian Haffner was a non-Jewish German who emigrated to England in 1938. This memoir (written in 1939 but only published now for the first time) begins in 1914 when the family summer holiday is cut short by the outbreak of war, and ends with Hitler's assumption of power in 1933. It is a portrait of himself and his own generation in Germany, those born between 1900 and 1910, and brilliantly explains through his own experiences and those of his friends how that generation came to be seduced by Hitler and Nazism. The Germans lacked an outlet for self-expression: where the French had amour, food and wine, and the British their gardens and their pets, the Germans had nothing, leading to a tendency towards mass psychosis. The upheaval of post-WWI revolution, factionalism and inflation left the Germans addicted to excitement and action: Hitler provided this, and more.

A few years ago, Sebastian Haffner's DEFYING HITLER, a memoir about growing up in interwar Germany, sold over forty thousand copies. After he moved to Britain in the 1930s Haffner became so shocked about the situation in his native country that he wrote this book, GERMANY: JEKYLL AND HYDE, in an effort to help people understand the danger Hitler presented to the world. An incredibly accessible book, it is packed with acute analysis of both Hitler and the German people - from the Nazi leaders all the way down to those who opposed them - and is a must-read for anyone interested in the literature of the Second World War.

Both works in this volume - a play by Carl Zuckmayer (1896-1977) and an unusual contemporary study of Nazi Germany by Sebastian Haffner (1907-99) - bear testimony to the disturbing events that were to change German history in the aftermath of World War I. The abridged translation of The Devil's General, which was approved by Zuckmayer himself, is about a World War I flier who commits suicide as he comes to realize the unintended havoc he has wrought in his obsession to fly. Sebastian Haffner, whose real name was Raimund Pretzel (which was changed with the publication of Germany: Jekyll and Hyde), remained a controversial journalist all his life, working for both left-wing and right-wing journals. The work excerpted here was written in 1940 when Haffner, reared in a liberal tradition, was in a British detention camp as an enemy alien.

Paris, 1932. Two lovers, Raimund and Teddy, have just one day and one night to spend together before Raimund must return to Berlin.A young German barrister, Raimund has followed the irresistible Teddy to Paris, where she moves effortlessly through the city's dazzling bohemian social world, as nights dissolve into dancing, cigarettes, aperitifs and plates of pommes frites, and mornings arrive long after noon.Together they roam through the city's cafes, restaurants and boulevards, from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower. They bicker and flirt, scold and kiss, celebrating their freedom while knowing nothing can remain as it is, as the hours slip away toward Raimund's evening train.This forgotten literary masterpiece, discovered long after Sebastian Haffner's death, became an instant German bestseller. Parting is an exquisite autobiographical novel capturing the last fragile moments of love and freedom before exile, fascism and war.A W&N Essential translated by Michael Hofmann

A remarkable historical and psychological study of the enigma of Adolf Hitler and his impact on the twentieth century - by the bestselling author of DEFYING HITLER.'Dazzlingly brilliant' OBSERVER'Mr Haffner ... has exposed better, and more briefly, than anyone else the clockwork of that infernal machine' SUNDAY TELEGRAPHSebastian Haffner examines Hitler's lifespan, his performance, his successes, errors, intellectual misconceptions, crimes and, last but not least, his great betrayal of his nation, the Western world and human civilisation.'What makes Haffner's book different is that it is not one more biography but an analysis - a most penetrating analysis - of what Hitler was up to in his astonishing career' A.L. Rowse'Mr Haffner...has exposed better, and more briefly, than anyone else the clockwork of that infernal machine' Gordon Brook-Shepherd, Sunday Telegraph