Michael Hirsh, The Liberators; Laurence Rees, Auschwitz

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Michael Hirsh, The Liberators; Laurence Rees, Auschwitz. But this book is more than just an in-depth account of the liberation. He is a Vietnam combat veteran who later produced specials for networks like PBS, CBS, ABC, and HBO. The liberators’ recollections are historically important, vivid, riveting, heartbreaking, and, on rare occasions, joyous and uplifting. Michael Hirsh, The Liberators: America's Witness to the Holocaust Michael Hirsh, the author of The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust, is a veteran American journalist, combat veteran, and Emmy Award–winning documentary producer. He is a Vietnam combat veteran who later produced specials for networks like PBS, CBS, ABC, and HBO. Military service and early career Vietnam War: Hirsh served as a combat correspondent with the 25th Infantry Division in Cu Chi, Vietnam, in 1966, where he earned the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB). Broadcasting: During his 40-year career in broadcasting, he produced award-winning documentaries. His programs include Memories of MASH* for CBS and A Program for Vietnam Veterans—and everyone else who should care for PBS. Books Hirsh has authored or co-authored several books, focusing mainly on military history and current affairs. The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust (2010): Based on interviews with more than 150 U.S. soldiers who liberated Nazi camps in 1945, this book provides firsthand accounts of their experiences. Cleared Hot: The True Story of an Apache Gunship Pilot in Afghanistan (2014): Written with Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Slade. None Braver: U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen in the War on Terrorism (2004): Hirsh was embedded with an Air Force unit in Central Asia to research the book. Terri: The Truth (2006): A New York Times bestseller co-authored with Michael Schiavo about the controversial Terri Schiavo case. Awards and recognition Hirsh has been honored for his writing and documentary work: Peabody Award: Received this prestigious broadcasting award for his work as a producer. Emmy Awards: He is the recipient of multiple Emmys. Writers Guild Award: Won a Writers Guild Award for his producing. "Excellence in the Arts Award": Given to him by the Vietnam Veterans of America in 2010. The Liberators The Liberators provides a powerful and emotional look at the final months of World War II in Europe through the eyes of the American soldiers who were the first to encounter the Nazi concentration camps. The book chronicles their discovery of camps such as Ohrdruf, Bergen-Belsen, and Mauthausen, and the lifelong impact these horrifying sights had on the soldiers. It is considered a historically important work that allows the witnesses to bear testimony to these atrocities for perhaps the last time. At last, the everyday fighting men who were the first Americans to know the full and horrifying truth about the Holocaust share their astonishing stories. Rich with powerful never-before-published details from the author’s interviews with more than 150 U.S. soldiers who liberated the Nazi death camps, The Liberators is an essential addition to the literature of World War II—and a stirring testament to Allied courage in the face of inconceivable atrocities.Taking us from the beginnings of the liberators’ final march across Germany to V-E Day and beyond, Michael Hirsh allows us to walk in their footsteps, experiencing the journey as they themselves experienced it. But this book is more than just an in-depth account of the liberation. It reveals how profoundly these young men were affected by what they saw—the unbelievable horror and pathos they felt upon seeing “stacks of bodies like cordwood” and “skeletonlike survivors” in camp after camp. That life-altering experience has stayed with them to this very day. It’s been well over half a century since the end of World War II, and they still haven’t forgotten what the camps looked like, how they smelled, what the inmates looked like, and how it made them feel. Many of the liberators suffer from what’s now called post-traumatic stress disorder and still experience Holocaust-related nightmares. Here we meet the brave souls who—now in their eighties and nineties—have chosen at last to share their stories. Corporal Forrest Robinson saw masses of dead bodies at Nordhausen and was so horrified that he lost his memory for the next two weeks. Melvin Waters, a 4-F volunteer civilian ambulance driver, recalls that a woman at Bergen-Belsen “fought us like a cat because she thought we were taking her to the crematory.” Private Don Timmer used his high school German to interpret for General Dwight Eisenhower during the supreme Allied commander’s visit to Ohrdruf, the first camp liberated by the Americans. And Phyllis Lamont Law, an army nurse at Mauthausen-Gusen, recalls the shock and, ultimately, “the hope” that “you can save a few.”From Bergen-Belsen in northern Germany to Mauthausen in Austria, The Liberators offers readers an intense and unforgettable look at the Nazi death machine through the eyes of the men and women who were our country’s witnesses to the Holocaust. The liberators’ recollections are historically important, vivid, riveting, heartbreaking, and, on rare occasions, joyous and uplifting. This book is their opportunity, perhaps for the last time, to tell the world. Laurence Rees, How Mankind Committed the Ultimate Infamy at Auschwitz Laurence Rees is a former Head of BBC TV History programmes, a documentarian, and an award-winning author specializing in the Nazis and World War II. The book Auschwitz: How Mankind Committed the Ultimate Infamy at Auschwitz is a repackaged hardcover edition of his work Auschwitz: A New History. About Laurence Rees Career: Before his writing career, Rees was a TV history producer and the creative director of historical content at the BBC. In this role, he was responsible for many films and documentaries about World War II. Awards: He has received multiple accolades for his work. In 2009, he was given a "Lifetime Achievement Award" by History Makers, a global congress of history and current affairs program makers. In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The Open University in the UK. Other works: Rees has written numerous books on related topics, including The Nazi Mind, The Holocaust, The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler, and War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin. About Auschwitz: How Mankind Committed the Ultimate Infamy at Auschwitz The book's content comes from Rees's extensive documentary work on the subject. Original interviews: The book draws on over 100 original interviews Rees conducted with both survivors and Nazi perpetrators. Inner workings of Auschwitz: Rees's work provides a detailed look at the camp's operations, including the "techniques of mass murder," psychological tactics used on inmates, living conditions, and the bizarre microcosms that developed within the camp. Pragmatism and evil: The book concludes that many of the decisions at Auschwitz were driven by a "terrible immoral pragmatism," presenting evil as something that can occur through a series of small, incremental steps.