Full Description
For Karl Strecker the defeat at Stalingrad and his subsequent captivity were the climax of a lifetime of political and military frustration. At an early age Strecker dedicated his life to the service of his country, but during his lifetime his country underwent so many political changes that he often had trouble understanding what or whom he was serving. Strecker often found himself applying his hard-earned military skills in an undeclared civil war and in the successive world wars that destroyed German military power and ultimately led to a politically divided Germany. The battle of Stalingrad serves as the focal point of this story because, for Strecker, it represented the height of military futility.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Youth and Education
The 152nd Infantry Regiment
World War I
The End of the War and the Beginning of the Republic
Transfer to the Security Police
Police Training
The Early Years of the Weimar Republic
The Middle Twenties
The Late Twenties and the Rise of the Nazis
The SA Purge and the Loyalty Oath
Toward a Second World War
The Stalingrad Campaign
The Consequences of the Stalingrad Defeat
Prisoners of War
The Russian Re-Education Program
The Free Germany National Committee and the German Officers League
July 1944 to the End of the War
Postwar Internment
Arrest and Trial
Release and Repatriation
Strecker's Stalingrad Experience
Stalingrad-Kotelnikovo [The Stalingrad Campaign]
From Moscow to Ischia [Prisoner of War in the Soviet Union]
Appendix A: Karl Strecker Letters
Appendix B: Pre-War Notebook Excerpts
Appendix C: Appeal of Conviction
Appendix D: Open Letter to Mr. Strassner
Appendix E: Der Weg Inscription
Footnotes
Bibliography
Index
Maps
