Sebastian Haffner’s Followers (172)

Sebastian Haffner

Born

in Berlin, Germany

December 27, 1907

Died

January 02, 1999

Genre

Biographies & Memoirs, War Memoirs

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Sebastian Haffner (the pseudonym for Raimund Pretzel) was a German journalist and author whose focus was the history of the German Reich (1871-1945). His books dealt with the origins and course of the First World War, the failure of the Weimar Republic and the subsequent rise and fall of Nazi Germany under Hitler.

In 1938 he emigrated from Nazi Germany with his Jewish fiancée to London, hardly able to speak English but becoming rapidly proficient in the language. He adopted the pseudonym Sebastian Haffner so that his family back in Germany would not be endangered by his writing.

Haffner wrote for the London Sunday newspaper, The Observer, and then became its editor-in-chief. In 1954, he became its German correspondent in Berlin, a position w ...more

Combine Editions
Sebastian Haffner’s books

Average rating: 4.27 · 9,050 ratings · 921 reviews · 35 distinct works • Similar authors

	Defying Hitler 4.34 avg rating — 5,600 ratings — published 2000 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Von Bismarck zu Hitler. Ein Rückblick 4.24 avg rating — 539 ratings — published 1987 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Churchill by Sebastian Haffner, J. Maxwell Brownjohn (Translator), Peter Hennessy (Introduction) 3.97 avg rating — 574 ratings — published 1967 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918-1919 by Sebastian Haffner, Georg Rapp (Translator) 4.37 avg rating — 259 ratings — published 1968 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Abschied 3.68 avg rating — 291 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Rise and Fall of Prussia 4.30 avg rating — 203 ratings — published 1971 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Germany: Jekyll & Hyde: An Eyewitness Analysis of Nazi Germany really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 162 ratings — published 1940 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Die sieben Todsünden des Deutschen Reiches im Ersten Weltkrieg 4.13 avg rating — 139 ratings — published 1964 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	El pacto con el diablo 4.26 avg rating — 118 ratings — published 1989 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Historische Variationen 4.44 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 2001 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Sebastian Haffner (?)

“One cannot overstate the childishness of the ideas that feed and stir the masses. Real ideas must as a rule be simplified to the level of a child’s understanding if they are to arouse the masses to historic actions.”
― Sebastian Haffner, Defying Hitler: A Memoir

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“It may seem a paradox, but it is none the less the simple truth, to say that on the contrary, the decisive historical events take place among us, the anonymous masses. The most powerful dictators, ministers and generals are powerless against the simultaneous mass decisions taken individually and almost unconsciously by the population at large.”
― Haffner, Sebastian (1907-1999), Geschichte eines Deutschen

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“The most important part of individual life, which cannot be subsumed in communal life, is love. So comradeship has its special weapon against love: smut.”
― Sebastian Haffner, Defying Hitler: A Memoir

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Polls

January 2023 New School Classics Poll

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, 1980, 394 pages

49 votes, 20.0%

On the Beach by Nevil Shute, 1957, 296 pages

42 votes, 17.1%

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, 1900, 580 pages

38 votes, 15.5%

Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain, 1941, 288 pages

33 votes, 13.5%

Defying Hitler: A Memoir by Sebastian Haffner, 1939, 326 pages

31 votes, 12.7%

Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener, 1947, 384 pages

30 votes, 12.2%

The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, 1940, 247 pages

22 votes, 9.0%

245 total votes

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