The Healing Wound: Experiences and Reflections, Germany, 1938-2001

By Gitta Sereny

Book Overview

One of the most vivid explorations ever of the legacy of Nazism in Germany. No person has examined the lingering evil of Nazism more deeply than Gitta Sereny. As much a work of autobiography as a work of journalism, The Healing Wound spans over sixty years of Sereny's investigations into the darker side of history, from her first encounter with the Nazis at a Nuremberg rally in 1934 at age eleven to her chilling interviews with the highest Nazi officials. The Healing Wound combines political statement with the haunting personal memories of one of the twentieth century's most relentless witnesses.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039332382X
• ISBN13: 9780393323825
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 428 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Review

Gitta Sereny is an excellent author. Yes, as mentioned in the other reviews this is a collection of her work. What I enjoyed about this book is that it touches so many different facets of the Third Reich and how it still resonates in society today. Reading this for someone who is interested in this period is an excellent way to end up going off on different tangents from the mainstream books on the subject. I ended up reading books on what it was like growing up as a child of the Reich. From there I went on to read about the effects of the post-war population movements had on the demographic makeup of Europe. Read it and see what you never thought of before.

WWII and how it haunts us still.

This book mostly contains a collection of previously published pieces written over a thirty-year period. each is given a new introduction and some also update the information. Included in the articles are autobiographical anecdotes about Ms Sereny's event filled life. It deals with some of the infamous participants of World War II (such as Speer and Stengle of Trablinka) as well as with some of the after effects that the conflict has wrought the world. Also appearing are the stories of those whose lives as members of the Third Reich did not being until after May 1945. The forger of the Hitler diaries (and Sereny's sinister take on them), the man who owns the copyright on "Mein Kampf", and the youth of Germany in the 1960s. If you have read her other books some material here will be repetitive, however, the collection allows readers to gain a much broader perspective on how the war has shaped and continues to shape our world.