Books

Their Darkest Hour

Their Darkest Hour
Pub date 1st September 2007
Publisher (UK) BBC Books
International publishers Ambos-Anthos (The Netherlands), Pecsi Direkt (Hungary), Mehta (India - Marathi), Prószyński (Poland), Critica (Spain)

Award-winning writer and filmmaker Laurence Rees has spent nearly 20 years meeting people who were tested to the extreme during World War II. He has come face-to-face with rapists, mass murderers, even cannibals, but he has also met courageous individuals who are an inspiration to us all. His quest has taken him from the Baltic States to Japan, from Poland to America, and from Germany to China. Here he presents 35 of his most electrifying encounters.Meet Estera Frenkiel, a young Jewish woman given the chance to save ten fellow Jews from deportation and death; Peter Lee, a British officer brutally treated by his Japanese captors; Zinaida Pytkina, a female member of the Soviet Union's infamous SMERSH organisation, who took pleasure in killing a German Prisoner; Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier so fanatical that he refused to surrender until 29 years after the end of the war; and Petras Zelionka, a Lithuanian who shot Jewish men, women and children for the Nazis.

The devastating first-hand testimony in Their Darkest Hour is both a lasting contribution to our understanding of the war and a powerful insight into the behaviour of human beings in crisis.

 

Praise for Their Darkest Hour

'A remarkably powerful collection.' — Daily Telegraph

'Powerful and unsettling.' — Sunday Times

'A lasting contribution to our understanding of the Second World War and a powerful insight into the behaviour of human beings in crisis.' — The Independent

'Fascinating but disturbing.' — Daily Mail

'Chilling collection of eye-witness testimonies ... bringing nuance to our understanding of the horrific experience of war.' — Financial Times

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