For the Honor of Our Fatherland: German Jews on the Eastern Front during the Great War focuses on the German Jews’ role in reconstructing Poland’s war-ravaged countryside. The Germany Army assigned rabbis to serve as chaplains in the German Army and to support and minister to their own Jewish soldiers, which numbered 100,000 during the First World War. However, upon the Army’s arrival into the decimated region east of Warsaw, it became abundantly clear that the rabbis might also help with the poverty-stricken Ostjuden by creating relief agencies and rebuilding schools. For the Honor of Our Fatherland demonstrates that the well-being of the Polish Jewish community was a priority to the German High Command and vital to the future of German politics in the region. More importantly, by stressing the importance of the Jews in the East to Germany’s success, For the Honor of Our Fatherland will show that Germany did not always want to remove the Jews—quite the contrary. The role and influence of the German Army rabbis and Jewish administrators and soldiers demonstrates that Germany intentionally supported the Polish Jewish communities in order to promote its agenda in the East, even as the modes for future influence changed. By implementing a philanthropic agenda in the East, the Germans recognized that its success might lie in part in enfranchising the Jewish population. Moreover, the directives of these relief agencies were not only beneficial to the impoverished Jewish communities, but the German Army had much to gain from this transnational relationship. The tragic irony was that Germany returned to the East in the Second World War and killed millions of Jews.

Panzergrenadier Division Grossdeutschland was one of Germany's most celebrated military formations of the Second World War. Formed in 1942 by the expansion of Infantry Regiment (motorized) Grossdeutschland, the new division quickly earned its reputation on the Eastern Front of being the elite of the German Army. Twice the size of most other divisions, it was an immensely powerful and hard-hitting mechanized formation that cut a large swath through the Red Army, whether in the attack or on the defense. Its carefully selected officer and non-commissioned officer corps ensured that no matter what the odds, the division would always give a good account of itself in battle and would possess an esprit de corps enjoyed by few other comparable divisions, including those of the Waffen-SS. The thousands of volunteers from every land and province in Germany who fought and died while serving in the ranks of Panzergrenadier Division Grossdeutschland represented a cross-section of German society, a radical departure from the manner in which most German divisions of the era were created. Now for the first time, the faces of these men, at rest and in battle, can be seen through the images gleaned from hundreds of photographs taken by the division's war correspondents or Kriegsberichter. This outstanding selection of photographs, which until recently remained unseen for decades in a European archive, have been recovered and painstakingly researched by authors Remy Spezzano and Thomas McGuirl. Together with the assistance of the division's Veterans' association, they identified hundreds of men, living and dead, as well as dozens of combat vehicles, items of equipment, and specificengagements the division took part in from April 1942 to September 1944. Accompanied by a detailed narrative that ties each of the photos within the context of the war on the Eastern Front, God, Honor, Fatherland represents a milestone in the study of the war in the East and shows the face of the German soldier as he has never been shown before.

"A joy to read, in fact, a book so good one doesn't want it to end…. Kempe has written a piece of contemporary history as it should be written, in clear, engaging prose, and with judicious and sensible arguments. He has expertly handled the history of modern Germany, and given us insights into the German soul, including his own, that are crucial for an understanding of our modern world." -Kirkus Reviews "While Kempe does not sugarcoat Germany's current problems-its dyspeptic tolerance of immigrants, its pervasive bureaucracy and pedantry, the viciousness of the neo-Nazis-he argues that young Germans are right to no longer feel guilt for the Holocaust, as long as they learn its lessons." -Newsday "This is a fascinating and important book for anyone interested in the New and Old Germany. Fred Kempe, a distinguished foreign correspondent who has reported from many countries, turns in Father/Land to a different land-the mysteries and dark secrets of his German family that lay shrouded since the Third Reich. As painful as it is, this is a search that Kempe could no longer refuse if he was to bring some sense to his American character and German roots. As he interweaves his family's history with that of the German nation, his personal quest becomes a window not only into the German past but also into Germany's future." -Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize and coauthor of The Commanding Heights "Father/Land takes us on a spellbinding journey into Germany's past and present that begins with a musty olive trunk of old papers Fred Kempe inherited from his father. Inside that trunk lies the enduring mystery of the German people. Kempe's lively writing makes us see the paradox of modern Germany in small things-such as the trashcans at the Frankfurt airport or the personal quirks of Kempe's teammates on an amateur basketball team in Berlin. When Kempe finally discovers the horrific story that lies buried in his own family's history, the reader has the shock of experiencing the nightmare of Nazism from the inside." -David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post, and author of A Firing Offense "From a skilled American reporter's search for his German ancestry emerges a rich and rewarding portrait of a nation moving toward a promising future even as it remains tied to an inescapable past." -Ronald Steel, author of Walter Lippmann and the American Century "No foreign correspondent knows Germany as well as Frederick Kempe. He understands us sometimes better than we understand ourselves. His book is a refreshing, human look at where Germany is going, and it shows deep understanding for where it has been." -Volker RÃ1⁄4he, former defense minister of Germany Father/Land is a brilliant, unorthodox work of observation, insight, and commentary, a provocative book that will become required reading for anyone seeking to understand modern Germany. And it is something more. For in researching the past, Kempe discovered that the ghosts of Germany's past were not limited to others, that the contradictory threads of good and evil wove through his own family as well. After years of denying his own Germanness, he would have to confront it at last. During a pilgrimage to Germany with his father, Fred Kempe promised him he would write about modern Germany. Twelve years later, as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal Europe, Kempe began a long journey of exploration in an attempt to answer questions that haunted him about his father's land: "How could such an apparently good people with such a rich cultural history have done such evil things? What causes evil, and what breeds good? After only half a century of reeducation and reconstruction, could the strength of German democracy and liberalism be as great as it seemed?" In this book, Fred Kempe delves into Germany's demographic change, its modern military, its youth, and America's role in the remaking of Germany after the war. He also looks at German pre-war history and how that history plays into shaping the future of the newly intact Germany. While searching modern Germany for the answers to his philosophical questions, Kempe finds himself in a parallel search for the roots of his own German heritage. Through seeking out relatives and searching documents that might enlighten him about the unspoken mysteries of his family's past, he discovers more than he bargained for, and at the same time learns a great deal about himself. The journey that began as the fulfillment of a promise to his father, led him as he had hoped, to a greater understanding his father's Heimat. In the last chapter of his book, Kempe calls modern Germany "America's Stepchild." He theorizes that Germans, because of their past atrocities, feel a great responsibility to their European neighbors as well as to the world. In their process of atonement, they have become a kinder and gentler people, while their strength remains. Their role as a world leader beckons them to heights to which they no longer aspire. Reaching great heights makes the world seem conquerable. This is the mistake they must avoid. Reaching out makes the world more united. This is the direction they know they must go.

Jussi Jalonen’s On Behalf of the Emperor, On Behalf of the Fatherland approaches the Russian suppression of the Polish Uprising in 1830-1831 from a new transnational perspective. The Russian mobilization involved people from the farthest reaches of the Empire, and one notable group was the Finnish Battalion of the Imperial Guard. For the Finnish elites, the war was a demonstration of loyalty to the Tsar, and the service of young Finnish gentlemen in the Russian Guards produced a sense of militarized patriotism. Relying on a rich variety of original sources, this study places the campaign in Poland in the context of the development of Finnish national awareness, providing a unique portrayal of 19th century war experience and nationalism.

A comprehensive history of the German fighting man

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) was "one of the most versatile, wide-ranging, and prolific German composers of the seventeenth century," "also important as a theorist," and "the most often quoted and excerpted writer on performance practice." 2021 marks the four hundredth anniversary of this Lutheran musician's death and the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his birth. Yet until now, no biography of this multitalented and fascinating man has been made available in English. This translation of Siegfried Vogelsanger's 2008 German biography of Praetorius will introduce you to Praetorius's family and employers, his work as organist and court music director, his sacred and secular musical compositions, his historical and theoretical musical work, his grandiose goals and plans, and--most importantly--the man himself. Appendices provide new insights into Praetorius's ancestry and life, as well as new translations of primary sources written by Praetorius and others. Richly furnished with pictures and illustrations and supplemented with a glossary, Heaven Is My Fatherland will transport you into Praetorius's world and open up for you the convictions of his heart.