Synopses & Reviews
On August 15, 1944, Major Hans Georg Klamroth was tried for treason for his part in the July plot against Hitler. Eleven days later, he was executed.
Wibke Bruhns, his youngest daughter, was six years old. Decades later, watching a documentary about the events of July 20, she saw images of her father in court suddenly appeared on-screen. “I stare at this man with the empty face. I dont know him. But I can see myself in him—his eyes are my eyes; I know I resemble him. I know I wouldnt be here without him. And what do I know about him? Nothing at all.”
How could her patriotic family succumb to Nazi sympathies? And what made her father finally renounce Hitler? With a wealth of letters and diaries documenting the story of her family, from the time of Kaiser Wilhelm to the end of the Second World War, and with her own coruscating intelligence, she unravels her family's unique and unforgettable history.
My Fathers Country tells an astounding story—gripping, startlingly intimate, emotionally riveting—of three generations. A huge best seller in the authors native country, it offers unparalleled insight into the experience of being German in the last century. A real-life Buddenbrooks.
About the Author
Wibke Bruhns was born in 1938 in Halberstadt, Germany. She has worked as a journalist in both TV and print and as a TV host and news broadcaster. She was a correspondent for Stern magazine in the United States and Israel and headed the culture section at one of Germanys largest radio stations, ORB. She has two grown daughters and now lives and works as a freelance writer in Berlin.