{"product_id":"sound-of-hunger-one-german-familys-chronicle-of-the-chivalry-politics-lies-murder-and-aftermath-of-war","title":"Sound of Hunger: One German family's chronicle of the chivalry, politics, lies, murder and aftermath of war","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eSound of Hunger is a true story that centres on two German brothers, Erich and Georg Gerth, u-boat commanders, and the First Word War and its aftermath. The Gerths’ lives and careers as navy officers are set against the military, political and social environment of their times. \u003c\/blockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n                                                            \u003cstrong\u003eFormat\u003c\/strong\u003e: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\n                              \u003cstrong\u003eLength\u003c\/strong\u003e: 768 pages\u003cbr\u003e\n                              \u003cstrong\u003ePublication date\u003c\/strong\u003e: 19 June 2018\u003cbr\u003e\n                              \u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: Unicorn Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\n                          \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSound of Hunger\u003c\/i\u003e is a true story that\r\ncentres on two German brothers, Erich and Georg Gerth, u-boat commanders, and\r\nthe First Word War and its aftermath. The Gerths’ lives and careers as navy\r\nofficers are set against the military, political and social environment of\r\ntheir times. Carefully-nurtured myths of national innocence and guilt are\r\nuncovered; discrediting truths and war crimes of both the Allies and Germany are\r\nbrought into the limelight. This is not conventional history, but a personal\r\nview of the events that were integral to the Gerth brothers, to see how they\r\nwere changed by what they heard, were taught and experienced. \u003ci\u003eSound of\r\nHunger\u003c\/i\u003e is unashamedly intimate in selection, perhaps eccentric in places; a\r\npersonal journey that explains what was newly-found, how it was investigated\r\nand understood. Whatever you think you know about this war, be prepared to\r\nchallenge your beliefs.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe\r\nbook takes its title from the thrust of the war, not in the trenches, but in\r\nthe deliberate attempts by both sides to starve each other’s civilian\r\npopulations. The damage to Germany’s children was generational as food\r\nshortages were deliberately extended by the Allies to force Germany to a\r\ndebilitating peace.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe\r\nbrothers were born in booming Berlin in the 1880s, their father dying when they\r\nwere young. Their mother sacrificed to see them through one of Berlin’s most\r\nprestigious secondary schools and paid their considerable fees as cadets. In the\r\nburgeoning naval fleet, they were of the lowest social class allowed into this\r\nelite new force. Their careers were exciting, extracted from German archives: spying\r\nin South America, bombardment of the English coast, sea battles, torpedoed and\r\nmined ships, and desperate survivals. One, as a French prisoner of war for over\r\ntwo years, made daring escape attempts, the other scuttling his boat in the\r\nMediterranean amid collapsing Austrian armies. Remarkable contacts tumble from\r\nthe pages, villains and heroes, the Kaiser, Alfred von Tirpitz, family-friend Wilhelm\r\nCanaris, Karl Dönitz, the Red Baron, Adolf Hitler.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe\r\nGerths’ personal decisions are interwoven with Germany’s bid for world power, naval\r\ntraining, the founding of the Flanders u-boat bases, the importance of the\r\nBaltic and the Mediterranean, the economic blockade of Germany and its\r\ndevastating effects on European neutral countries, unfettered submarine\r\nwarfare, prison camps, Britain’s virulent propaganda designed to drag America\r\ninto the conflict, and the German collapse.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\nThe\r\nstory does not end well. The brothers return to Germany and the post-war fight\r\nto the death between a new socialist republic, a murderous officer corps and\r\nthe Spartacist revolution. The Gerths are forced to take sides. One becomes a\r\nphilosopher and a businessman, seeking mental refuge. The other marries a\r\ncountess and is swept into extreme right-wing politics: manning the barricades,\r\nthe murder of communist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, covertly\r\npreparing the second u-boat fleet for the next war. Canaris is everywhere scheming.\r\nClose family contacts are developed with Europe’s Catholic hierarchy, even to Eugenio\r\nPacelli, the pope-to-be, the Spanish royal family, and with elite Paris\r\nsociety, in a very public attempt to rouse religious sentiment against a second\r\nworld war. Everything falls apart. The German President and Foreign Minister together\r\nact with Rudolf Hess to ruin one of the brothers. Heinrich Himmler moves to\r\ntake over of the legendary Ufa film studios, beggaring another family member.\r\nThe family’s Jewish connections are disclosed: it is a time of forged\r\npassports, concentration camps, attempted flight to South America; and children\r\nhidden in Roman convents. The Gestapo steps in. One brother dies in poignant\r\nand lurid circumstances, the other becomes a recluse after watching the ruins\r\nof his family home and business, flattened by British\r\ncarpet bombing of a demilitarised town.\u003cp\u003e\n                            \u003cstrong\u003eWeight\u003c\/strong\u003e: 1456g\n                            \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimension\u003c\/strong\u003e: 236 x 174 x 64 (mm)\n                            \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: 9781911604419\n                            \n                          \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chris Heal","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":44105723642106,"sku":"9781911604419","price":28.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0522\/4297\/2845\/products\/b2c0b3cf110054174e3967efc1327fb3.jpg?v=1631067479","url":"https:\/\/shulphink.com\/products\/sound-of-hunger-one-german-familys-chronicle-of-the-chivalry-politics-lies-murder-and-aftermath-of-war","provider":"Shulph Ink","version":"1.0","type":"link"}