Why a Booktrail?
1945: Hitler’s Reich is on the verge of extinction, and its enemies are already plotting against each other.
Potsdam Station
What you need to know before your trail
Berlin has become the most dangerous place on earth.
Anglo-American journalist John Russell has travelled to Moscow, having escaped from Berlin in 1941 as America entered the war following the attack on Pearl Harbour. Russell’s eighteen-year-old son Paul, born to a German mother, is on the Oder front line, awaiting the final Soviet onslaught, ready to retreat towards Berlin, and resigned to the certain prospect of either death or imprisonment.
Inside Berlin, Russell’s girlfriend Effi has a Jewish orphan to care for, and the Gestapo on her trail. The advancing Red Army promises liberation, but is also seeking retribution, particularly from German women.
To find and save his son and girlfriend, Russell must reach Berlin no later than the Red Army. But only the Soviets can get him there, and the price of their help will threaten both his and the world’s future.
Locations
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Berlin
“In April 1945, Hitler’s Reich is on the verge of extinction. Assaulted by Allied bombs and Soviet shells, ruled by Nazis with nothing to lose, Berlin has become the most dangerous place on earth.”
The final days of Hitler’s Germany were some of the most brutal in an already brutally horrific regime. A regime on its knees which had nothing to lose. The city was being torn limb from limb and annihilation is not far off.
Bombs from the air, attacks on the ground and the whispers of defeat all around. People scared to breathe and if you are even on the wrong street you can be arrested or even killed.
Berlin is evoked in detail but it’s the fog of war which cloaks everything. This is hell on earth no matter which side of the war you are on –
John is struggling to get back to the city, Effie is hiding from the Gestapo and helping refugees to escape the city whilst Paul is waiting for his unit is pushed back to Berlin. Survival is the only option.
Streetview Maps
A) Berlin - Moabit
D) Berlin - Central Train station
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Potsdam Station
Destination: Berlin Author/Guide: David Downing Departure Time: 1940s
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