The Thorpe Great Railway Disaster of 1874 took place less than half a mile from Phyllida’s home and has fascinated her for many years, directly leading to her third non-fiction title. In the end the situation for those who remained behind was even more dramatic: because of all the formalities, the lack of international cooperation, and ultimately the war itself, many German Jews were not able to reach a safe place. Wyman recounts Kristallnacht in Stuttgart, where her father was principal of the Jewish school, his imprisonment in Dachau, and his release and immigration to Great Britain. And villains like traitor Harold Cole who betrayed all the men and women who tried to help him escape France, giving their details to the Gestapo. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

I got teary eyed and quite retrospectful at certain times thinking about the horrors of war and what parole put other people through. My father got up and saw these brown shirts, not people from our village, they might have been from Andernaach or other nearby town. and found in a German newspaper report from 1992, the 60th anniversary of the deportation, the list that contained the names of Joe’s parents and step-grandmother Sabine. The Nation could allow itself a ‘brief period of rejoicing’, but should remember that Britain was still at war with Japan. The author gathered her information through interviews with Günter, now known as Joe Stirling, and with those closest to him.That afternoon Joe joined a group of comrades on the train to nearby Basingstoke where they danced in the street and invaded the public houses, the overjoyed landlords honouring the servicemen with a free first drink. These are just some of the stories told in heart-stopping detail as Monty Halls takes us along the freedom trails out of occupied Europe, from the immense French escape lines to lesser-known routes in Italy and Slovenia. Every year, an untold number of articles and books are published, and television programmes and internet pages are produced, by respected historians through to amateur conspiracy theorists. There was no room for anyone with different ideas; from the very beginning, opponents of the regime were intimidated, persecuted and imprisoned in concentration camps.

At the end of 1935, the High Commissioner Macdonald resigned because of the lack of support from the international community. One of the consequences of this continuous flow of stories is that, over time, increasing numbers of falsehoods and fabrications have emerged about Hitler. Joe continues to keep a keen interest in how my writing and public speaking careers are progressing and is always proud to hear about it when I have share his life stories with new audiences in Norfolk. Recounted in an intimate and personal style, Escaping Hitler immerses the reader in an extraordinary chapter of contemporary Jewish history both inside Germany and South America.I remember sitting in Joe’s living room hearing his wartime stories, simply feeling grateful that a training injury meant he was unable to go to Europe and fight. Using personal diaries and log-books preserved by the family, Barry Marsden has crafted a compelling account of Swale's life that is rich in first-hand detail.