Roger Moorhouse

Berlin was the nerve-centre of Hitler's Germany. It was the backdrop for the most lavish of Nazi ceremonies, the venue for Albert Speer's grandiose plans to forge a new 'world metropolis', and the scene of the final climactic battle to defeat Nazism. Berlin was the stage upon which the rise and fall of the Third Reich was most visibly played out. Yet while our understanding of the Holocaust is well developed, we know little about the wider challenges posed to the German people by living under a dictatorship in wartime, the compromises demanded and the hardships endured. As a result our understanding of everyday life in Nazi Germany is profoundly imbalanced: we know in intimate detail how a minority died under Nazism, but we understand precious little about how the majority lived. In this vivid and important study, Roger Moorhouse seeks to portray the German experience of the Second World War, not through an examination of grand politics, but rather from the viewpoint of the capital's streets and homes - a 'Berlin-eye view' that makes use of published and unpublished memoirs, diaries and interviews. As well as giving a flavour of everyday life in the German capital, "Berlin at War" also raises issues about consent and dissent, morality and authority, which go to the heart of the experience of war and dictatorship. Above all, it charts the violent humbling of a once-proud metropolis - the fear, the cruelty, the petty heroism and the individual tragedy.

La historia de los planes para matar a Hitler durante la II Guerra Mundial. El plan Stauffenberg, el atentado contra Hitler preparado por el movimiento de resistencia alemán el 20 de julio de 1944, es muy conocido. Sin embargo, se trata solo de uno mas en una larga serie de intentos similares. Matar a Hitler cuenta el sorprendentemente alto numero de intentos de asesinar a Adolf Hitler. Alemanes, sovieticos, polacos y britanicos, todos concibieron planes para matar al Fuhrer. Pistoleros solitarios, oficiales alemanes desafectos al regimen y la resistencia clandestina polaca, el NKVD sovietico y el SOE britanico fueron participes. Los metodos propuestos iban desde bombas, venenos o francotiradores hasta infiltrar las SS, o incluso mandar a Rudolf Hess de vuelta a Alemania hipnotizado. Muchos de los planes nunca salieron de los comites que los gestaron, algunos se llevaron a cabo. Todos fracasaron. Junto a la dramatica y desconocida historia de los numerosos atentados contra Hitler, este libro presenta una fascinante investigacion sobre varias cuestiones mas amplias, como los complejos motivos de la resistencia alemana, los peculiares escrupulos britanicos y la eficiencia del aparato de seguridad nazi. Basado en memorias y material o