Bøger om World War II

It’s World War II, and Denmark is occupied by German armed forces. Exasperated by the pacifist complacency of daily life under the Government’s co-operative agreement with the Germans, Danes are distancing themselves from the official stance. A nation-wide grassroots’ revolt is breaking out. By August 1943, insurrection against the German occupation flares into lawlessness and sabotage.In the provincial town of Odense, the Niemann family run a prosperous fashion house and factory that has always traded with Germany. As the insurgency builds, vigilantes hunt down collaborators and ‘terrain mattresses’: women who befriend Germans. When 17-yearold Maia Niemann`s secret infatuation with a German officer is revealed, there are disastrous ramifications. Overnight, she becomes the target of Danish patriotic zealots, and is forced to flee the town.Maia moves in with her Aunt Mille in Copenhagen, where she hopes to pursue her dreams of becoming a top fashion designer. But her aunt has secrets of her own; not least, her involvement in the resistancemovement. Summer in Copenhagen heats up in more waysthan one, until Maia is faced with the biggest dilemma of her life. The choices she is forced to make will bring drastic consequences.

Why was Humphrey Bogart’s screen presence and persona so vital a factor for American morale during World War II? How did Casablanca unintentionally mislead American audiences regarding U.S. policy toward the pro-German Vichy regime, and the Free French who continued the fight against the Nazis? Why was Alain Resnais reluctant to make his documentary film Night and Fog and why did he ultimately decide to overcome that reluctance? (Answered here in his own words, with the decisive interview published in English for the first time.) How did overcoming her anti-German feelings make it imperative for the Jewish performer Barbara to write the haunting song Göttingen? What did a spin-doctor in New York have to do with the story of the Danish king wearing a Star of David during the German occupation?These are just a few of the questions dealt with in this book, which should interest anyone who remains fascinated by films, songs, photos and other representations of the Second World War. The studies assembled here focus whenever possible on meaningful, purposive choices designed to make things happen, to change the course of events or to enable a character or creative artist to shape more fully his or her own story.