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Thirty Four
Amidst the giddy chaos of Berlin, Hitler toys with death in his bunker. The golden boy of Nazism, Hermann Göring, looks set to succeed as Führer. But his bid for power ends with a cyanide capsule in a gaol cell in Nuremberg. And there history signs off on Hermann. Yet buried in the footnotes sits the extraordinary story of Hermann Göring's little brother, Albert.
A defiant anti-Nazi, Albert Göring spent the war years busting the persecuted out of concentration camps, smuggling them across borders and funnelling aid to refugees throughout Europe. He did everything to undermine his brother's regime. But by 1944 the Gestapo were hunting him down like a dog. Did Hermann step in and save his brother?
Enter William, a twentysomething from Sydney, Australia, who stumbles upon the tattered pieces of Albert's history. Shelving plans for a Ph.D., William sets off on a three year odyssey across eight countries and three continents to piece together the puzzling life of Albert Göring.
Forget staid biography. Think seat of your pants travelogue mixed with a Spielberg eye for storytelling and you start to get a taste for the energy William brings to the page. Delivering the kind of must-read story that turns history on its head, Thirty Four gives us a new hero. Standing alongside Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg is the Göring history forgot.
A defiant anti-Nazi, Albert Göring spent the war years busting the persecuted out of concentration camps, smuggling them across borders and funnelling aid to refugees throughout Europe. He did everything to undermine his brother's regime. But by 1944 the Gestapo were hunting him down like a dog. Did Hermann step in and save his brother?
Enter William, a twentysomething from Sydney, Australia, who stumbles upon the tattered pieces of Albert's history. Shelving plans for a Ph.D., William sets off on a three year odyssey across eight countries and three continents to piece together the puzzling life of Albert Göring.
Forget staid biography. Think seat of your pants travelogue mixed with a Spielberg eye for storytelling and you start to get a taste for the energy William brings to the page. Delivering the kind of must-read story that turns history on its head, Thirty Four gives us a new hero. Standing alongside Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg is the Göring history forgot.
241 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2009
14 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
About the author
William Hastings Burke
2 books5 followersBorn in 1983, William Hastings Burke grew up on Sydney Harbour. After graduating with an honours degree in Economics Soc. Sc. from the University of Sydney, William set up base in the student town of Freiburg, Germany. Living off a few shifts at the local Irish pub, he began a three-year, self-funded journey to uncover the story of staunch, anti-Nazi Albert Göring. Yes, the brother of Hitler’s heir apparent, Hermann Göring. Thirty Four has since been translated into four languages and published in five territories. It also formed the basis of the documentary Goering’s Last Secret, a co-production between Channel 5, BBC World and the History Channel. William featured as the presenter and associate producer on the documentary.
Fed up with the stuffy, orthodox approach to history, William is part of a new breed of authors bringing history to the next generation, in a digestible and engaging language. Apart from working on his next book, he is currently spearheading a campaign to see Albert Göring honoured by the Yad Vashem in Israel. William currently lives in Sydney.
Fed up with the stuffy, orthodox approach to history, William is part of a new breed of authors bringing history to the next generation, in a digestible and engaging language. Apart from working on his next book, he is currently spearheading a campaign to see Albert Göring honoured by the Yad Vashem in Israel. William currently lives in Sydney.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 10, 2015
War splits families. The Irish Civil War after Independence in 1922 is a prime example. Brother fought against brother. The resultant political parties are still dividing Irish political life today and families are still divided. However, no two siblings, bearing such a prominent family name, have led quite so different lives that were so dramatically diverted along such different paths by historic events than Hermann and Albert Goering.
This review from the Jewish Chronicle explains this extraordinary book better than I ever could:
"Ever since Cain and Abel, there have been siblings who have behaved in totally opposite ways, but surely none as dramatically as Hermann and Albert Goering.
Hermann Goering was Hitler's second-in-command and an architect of the "final solution". His brother Albert was a passionate anti-Nazi who risked his life to save Jews. As Richard Sonnenfeldt (a leading interpreter at the Nuremberg trials) put it: "one brother destroyed the world and the other bettered it."
Thirty Four describes Albert's life-saving efforts to better the world. He scrubbed streets with elderly Jewish women sadistically humiliated by the SA, thereby risking a beating. He was arrested for hitting a member of the SA who had ridiculed a Jewish woman, and obtained Gestapo immunity for his Jewish doctor in Rome, who was about to be deported to a concentration camp. He prevented a work colleague, who was married to a Jew, from being deported to a camp by providing them both with a safe place to hide in Bucharest for the duration of the war.
His most daring rescue of Jews was when he used his position as a manager at the Skoda works in Prague and simply turned up at the Theresienstadt camp with a load of trucks he had commandeered and said he needed to fill them with workers needed at the Skoda plant in Prague. The Commandant agreed because it was Albert Goering asking. Goering took the prisoners into the woods and freed them all. Although he was able to exploit the fact that he was Hermann Goering's brother, no one should underestimate the immense risks he took. On at least one occasion, the SS - which had compiled a file on him as a result of his anti-Nazi activities - issued an order to shoot him on sight. Hermann had to intervene on several occasions to save his brother's life.
After the war, Albert Goering was incarcerated at Salzburg at the 7th Army interrogation centre, simply because he was the Reichsfeld Marshall's brother. It was at this point that he produced a list of 34 names of people whom he had saved from the concentration camps. No one believed him until he encountered an American interrogator whose Austrian-Jewish aunt had been saved by Goering.
Yet Albert had the mark of Cain on him. And when Austrian companies refused to employ him on account of his surname, Jews whom he had saved provided him with some financial support and even food parcels.
Eventually, a decade after the war, he obtained employment with an engineering company.
Albert Goering, like Oskar Shindler and Raoul Wallenberg, was driven by an innate sense of justice, regardless of the consequences. Yet his brave actions have gone largely unacknowledged, his life relegated to a footnote to his brother's brutal history. William Hastings Burke has done a great service by bringing Albert's deeds to light. Many survivors and their descendants scattered across the globe owe their lives to him. It is time that he was recognised by Yad Vashem."
_____________________________________
I found the book an extraordinary read. Like many people I've often wondered what became of the siblings and families of the Nazis and how, during the height of Nazi power in Germany and Europe, did the politics of Nazism, adopted by their relatives, impinge on their own beliefs, if those beliefs differed, and day-to-day lives. This book by this young Australian writer gives great insight into this. This is a once-off biography. A great story. Albert is a hero, though morally flawed in a different way to his brother, who suffers at the end of the War, somewhat unfairly after his heroic deeds, for his association with his brother. The saddest thing, on a human level, is the desperate end to his life during his last years and his lack of recognition, compared to Schindler and Wallenberg. Germany wanted to forget and exorcise the years of WWII from its collective memory.
This review from the Jewish Chronicle explains this extraordinary book better than I ever could:
"Ever since Cain and Abel, there have been siblings who have behaved in totally opposite ways, but surely none as dramatically as Hermann and Albert Goering.
Hermann Goering was Hitler's second-in-command and an architect of the "final solution". His brother Albert was a passionate anti-Nazi who risked his life to save Jews. As Richard Sonnenfeldt (a leading interpreter at the Nuremberg trials) put it: "one brother destroyed the world and the other bettered it."
Thirty Four describes Albert's life-saving efforts to better the world. He scrubbed streets with elderly Jewish women sadistically humiliated by the SA, thereby risking a beating. He was arrested for hitting a member of the SA who had ridiculed a Jewish woman, and obtained Gestapo immunity for his Jewish doctor in Rome, who was about to be deported to a concentration camp. He prevented a work colleague, who was married to a Jew, from being deported to a camp by providing them both with a safe place to hide in Bucharest for the duration of the war.
His most daring rescue of Jews was when he used his position as a manager at the Skoda works in Prague and simply turned up at the Theresienstadt camp with a load of trucks he had commandeered and said he needed to fill them with workers needed at the Skoda plant in Prague. The Commandant agreed because it was Albert Goering asking. Goering took the prisoners into the woods and freed them all. Although he was able to exploit the fact that he was Hermann Goering's brother, no one should underestimate the immense risks he took. On at least one occasion, the SS - which had compiled a file on him as a result of his anti-Nazi activities - issued an order to shoot him on sight. Hermann had to intervene on several occasions to save his brother's life.
After the war, Albert Goering was incarcerated at Salzburg at the 7th Army interrogation centre, simply because he was the Reichsfeld Marshall's brother. It was at this point that he produced a list of 34 names of people whom he had saved from the concentration camps. No one believed him until he encountered an American interrogator whose Austrian-Jewish aunt had been saved by Goering.
Yet Albert had the mark of Cain on him. And when Austrian companies refused to employ him on account of his surname, Jews whom he had saved provided him with some financial support and even food parcels.
Eventually, a decade after the war, he obtained employment with an engineering company.
Albert Goering, like Oskar Shindler and Raoul Wallenberg, was driven by an innate sense of justice, regardless of the consequences. Yet his brave actions have gone largely unacknowledged, his life relegated to a footnote to his brother's brutal history. William Hastings Burke has done a great service by bringing Albert's deeds to light. Many survivors and their descendants scattered across the globe owe their lives to him. It is time that he was recognised by Yad Vashem."
_____________________________________
I found the book an extraordinary read. Like many people I've often wondered what became of the siblings and families of the Nazis and how, during the height of Nazi power in Germany and Europe, did the politics of Nazism, adopted by their relatives, impinge on their own beliefs, if those beliefs differed, and day-to-day lives. This book by this young Australian writer gives great insight into this. This is a once-off biography. A great story. Albert is a hero, though morally flawed in a different way to his brother, who suffers at the end of the War, somewhat unfairly after his heroic deeds, for his association with his brother. The saddest thing, on a human level, is the desperate end to his life during his last years and his lack of recognition, compared to Schindler and Wallenberg. Germany wanted to forget and exorcise the years of WWII from its collective memory.
September 14, 2019
The story of Oskar Schindler is well known; that of Albert Goring, less so. Albert was the brother of Hitler's deputy Hermann Goring, yet saved the lives of at least thirty four Jews. Possibly he was half Jewish himself, (though this is debatable), but the brothers were close, and the family connection certainly protected him. Like Shindler, Albert was arrested after the war, though his inocence was eventually proved. The story is told though the author's own search for the truth, which gives it the feel of a detective novel, but without detracting at all from the historical importance of the story he uncovered.
November 11, 2016
"In this world nothing becomes lost; it just passes from one to another." ~Albert Goering
This is a powerful story of a man who made a difference in the lives of many people during WWII. I was totally unaware of Albert Goering and the role that he played during that war. For me as for many his history was hidden behind that of his brother Herman Goering. This is the story that needs to be told to everyone.
This is a powerful story of a man who made a difference in the lives of many people during WWII. I was totally unaware of Albert Goering and the role that he played during that war. For me as for many his history was hidden behind that of his brother Herman Goering. This is the story that needs to be told to everyone.
January 14, 2018
Oryginalny tytuł, Thirty Four. The Key to Göring’s Last Secret, to odniesienie do długości listy. Trzydzieści cztery nazwiska zapisał Albert Günther Göring (1895-1966), kiedy w 1945 roku przygotowywał się w norymberskim więzieniu do przesłuchań przez amerykańskich śledczych. Nie wierzyli, że brat drugiej osoby Trzeciej Rzeszy, potężnego marszałka Hermanna Wilhelma Göringa, nie tylko nienawidził nazizmu, nie był członkiem NSDAP, ale ratował Żydów, dysydentów i inne zagrożone osoby oraz że sam był ścigany przez Gestapo. Dlatego spisał tę listę ludzi i rodzin przez siebie ocalonych. Są na niej osoby różnych narodowości, niektóre o znanych ówcześnie nazwiskach, jego znajomi, współpracownicy, także ludzie o pomoc dla których po prostu go proszono. Lista znacznie krótsza niż np. ta sygnowana imieniem Schindlera, ale czy kompletna? Świadkowie, którzy bronili go w kolejnym, praskim procesie, pracownicy czeskiej Škody, gdzie w czasie okupacji był jednym z dyrektorów, zgodnie opowiadali o tym, jak o nich dbał i ich ochraniał.
Pierwszy sylwetkę Alberta Göringa przybliżył telewizyjny program The Real Albert Göring wyemitowany w 1998 roku. Obejrzał go młody Australijczyk, William Hastings Burke (ur. 1983) i przez trzy lata podążał tropem listy Göringa, starając się uzupełnić i zweryfikować wiadomości, a także plotki o nim, jego rodzinie, przyjaciołach i wrogach. Książki trudno nie docenić, jako że temat jest rzeczywiście fascynujący. Jednak ma ona także wady. Przeciwko autorowi grał przede wszystkim czas. W warstwie czysto informacyjnej, kogo i jak Albert Göring ratował, komu pomagał, niewiele nowego wnosi w stosunku do reportażu telewizyjnego, który nb można obejrzeć w internecie. W większości ci sami rozmówcy, te same historie, relacjonowane zresztą głównie przez potomków. Nie za bardzo o rodzinie Göringów chcieli lub potrafili opowiadać mieszkańcy ich rodzinnych stron. O stosunkach między braćmi wiemy tyle, co sam Albert ujawnił w śledztwie: nigdy nie krył przed Hermannem swoich poglądów; tak, korzystał z jego stanowiska, prosząc go o ochronę dla siebie i pomoc dla innych.
Burke bardzo emocjonalne traktuje swego bohatera, także w okresie powojennym, kiedy po dwuletnim pobycie w areszcie nie mógł znaleźć pracy, ale o zmianie nazwiska nie myślał. Zaangażowanie autora bynajmniej nie dziwi. Także nie można mieć pretensji, że nie otrzymamy od niego lub kogokolwiek innego wyjaśnienia, co takiemu człowiekowi w duszy gra, gdy kochający i kochany brat jest współtwórcą systemu burzącego świat. Można jednak odnieść wrażenie, że pewnego rodzaju bezsilność wobec tematu rekompensuje Burke swoją własną obecnością w książce. A jest go po prostu za dużo, począwszy od różnych bytowo-logistycznych przygód w podróży, aż po pokoleniowo-obyczajowe refleksje, szczególnie w Niemczech. Niepotrzebnie.
Pierwszy sylwetkę Alberta Göringa przybliżył telewizyjny program The Real Albert Göring wyemitowany w 1998 roku. Obejrzał go młody Australijczyk, William Hastings Burke (ur. 1983) i przez trzy lata podążał tropem listy Göringa, starając się uzupełnić i zweryfikować wiadomości, a także plotki o nim, jego rodzinie, przyjaciołach i wrogach. Książki trudno nie docenić, jako że temat jest rzeczywiście fascynujący. Jednak ma ona także wady. Przeciwko autorowi grał przede wszystkim czas. W warstwie czysto informacyjnej, kogo i jak Albert Göring ratował, komu pomagał, niewiele nowego wnosi w stosunku do reportażu telewizyjnego, który nb można obejrzeć w internecie. W większości ci sami rozmówcy, te same historie, relacjonowane zresztą głównie przez potomków. Nie za bardzo o rodzinie Göringów chcieli lub potrafili opowiadać mieszkańcy ich rodzinnych stron. O stosunkach między braćmi wiemy tyle, co sam Albert ujawnił w śledztwie: nigdy nie krył przed Hermannem swoich poglądów; tak, korzystał z jego stanowiska, prosząc go o ochronę dla siebie i pomoc dla innych.
Burke bardzo emocjonalne traktuje swego bohatera, także w okresie powojennym, kiedy po dwuletnim pobycie w areszcie nie mógł znaleźć pracy, ale o zmianie nazwiska nie myślał. Zaangażowanie autora bynajmniej nie dziwi. Także nie można mieć pretensji, że nie otrzymamy od niego lub kogokolwiek innego wyjaśnienia, co takiemu człowiekowi w duszy gra, gdy kochający i kochany brat jest współtwórcą systemu burzącego świat. Można jednak odnieść wrażenie, że pewnego rodzaju bezsilność wobec tematu rekompensuje Burke swoją własną obecnością w książce. A jest go po prostu za dużo, począwszy od różnych bytowo-logistycznych przygód w podróży, aż po pokoleniowo-obyczajowe refleksje, szczególnie w Niemczech. Niepotrzebnie.
December 23, 2020
Dieses Buch rückt den Bruder von Hermann Göring, von dem ich bis dato noch nichts gehört hatte, in den Fokus. Albert Göring soll ganz anders gewesen sein als sein berühmt-berüchtigter Bruder, der einen entscheidenen Teil zur Judenvernichtung beigetragen hat. Albert ist freundlich, hilfsbereit und kann Ungerechtigkeiten nicht ausstehen. Er hilft, wo er kann - egal ob Jude, Deutsche oder sonst was.
Dass Albert so anders ist als Hermann Göring hat sofort mein Interesse an seiner Person geweckt. Leider gefiel mir das Buch überhaupt nicht, sodass ich oftmals Absätze übersprungen habe. Es steckt viel zu viel vom Autor im Buch - und das ist etwas, das ich bei Non-Fiction überhaupt nicht mag. Der Autor lässt uns intensiv an seiner Recherche teilhaben, und wenn er irgendwo ein Bier trinkt, dann erfahren wir das auch. Das hat meinen Lesefluss ungemein gestört, mal davon abgesehen, dass mich diese Teile überhaupt nicht interessiert haben.
Inhaltlich fand ich das Buch mau. Man merkt, dass über Albert Göring nicht viel bekannt ist. Daher hatte ich den Eindruck, dass das Buch künstlich in die Länge gezogen worden ist. Weniger Autor und mehr Albert Göring oder weniger Autor und weniger Seiten hätten dem Ganzen gutgetan. Eine Sache, die mir noch aufgefallen ist: Es gibt erschreckend viele Parallelen zwischen dem Leben von Albert Göring und dem Oskar Schindlers - hauptsächlich in der Nachkriegszeit.
Darüber hinaus gefiel mir auch der Schreibstil nicht, da er ungelenk wirkt. Das könnte aber auch an der Übersetzung liegen, daher will ich dem Autor das nicht ankreiden.
Alles in allem mochte ich es nicht, wie der Autor dieses Buch aufgezogen hat. Daher nur 2 Sterne von mir.
Dass Albert so anders ist als Hermann Göring hat sofort mein Interesse an seiner Person geweckt. Leider gefiel mir das Buch überhaupt nicht, sodass ich oftmals Absätze übersprungen habe. Es steckt viel zu viel vom Autor im Buch - und das ist etwas, das ich bei Non-Fiction überhaupt nicht mag. Der Autor lässt uns intensiv an seiner Recherche teilhaben, und wenn er irgendwo ein Bier trinkt, dann erfahren wir das auch. Das hat meinen Lesefluss ungemein gestört, mal davon abgesehen, dass mich diese Teile überhaupt nicht interessiert haben.
Inhaltlich fand ich das Buch mau. Man merkt, dass über Albert Göring nicht viel bekannt ist. Daher hatte ich den Eindruck, dass das Buch künstlich in die Länge gezogen worden ist. Weniger Autor und mehr Albert Göring oder weniger Autor und weniger Seiten hätten dem Ganzen gutgetan. Eine Sache, die mir noch aufgefallen ist: Es gibt erschreckend viele Parallelen zwischen dem Leben von Albert Göring und dem Oskar Schindlers - hauptsächlich in der Nachkriegszeit.
Darüber hinaus gefiel mir auch der Schreibstil nicht, da er ungelenk wirkt. Das könnte aber auch an der Übersetzung liegen, daher will ich dem Autor das nicht ankreiden.
Alles in allem mochte ich es nicht, wie der Autor dieses Buch aufgezogen hat. Daher nur 2 Sterne von mir.
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January 31, 2015William Hastings Burke, Thirty Four: The Key to Göring's Last Secret
220pp.
A fascinating and enlightening account of the figure of Albert Göring and the seemingly untiring help he gave to Jewish and non-Jewish victims of National Socialism.
Burke shows that Albert Göring, aided by his surname and the fear it inspired (Albert Göring's brother was Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring), succeeded, sometimes though roguish cunning, in saving the lives of (at least) 34 people - hence the title of this work. The surname Göring, which allowed Albert Göring to conduct his opposition to the National Socialist regime, ironically served as an albatross in the post-war period and prevented Albert Göring's resuming his professional career.
Mr Burke is to be commended on his investigation into the life of the Oskar-Schindler-like individual.
The book suffers a little as a result of the intrusion into the study of superfluous, and sometimes downright banal, details of the process of research and of Burke's experiences of German. The trivial linguistic observations on the German language are altogether gratuitous (and in any case Mark Twain does this with far greater wit in A Tramp Abroad). Some of the English translations from the German are poor. Nor is this quite an academic work - at times the source of information is unclear.
However, once the reader becomes accustomed to the superfluous intrusion of details concerning author's biography, the account becomes increasingly absorbing.
220pp.
A fascinating and enlightening account of the figure of Albert Göring and the seemingly untiring help he gave to Jewish and non-Jewish victims of National Socialism.
Burke shows that Albert Göring, aided by his surname and the fear it inspired (Albert Göring's brother was Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring), succeeded, sometimes though roguish cunning, in saving the lives of (at least) 34 people - hence the title of this work. The surname Göring, which allowed Albert Göring to conduct his opposition to the National Socialist regime, ironically served as an albatross in the post-war period and prevented Albert Göring's resuming his professional career.
Mr Burke is to be commended on his investigation into the life of the Oskar-Schindler-like individual.
The book suffers a little as a result of the intrusion into the study of superfluous, and sometimes downright banal, details of the process of research and of Burke's experiences of German. The trivial linguistic observations on the German language are altogether gratuitous (and in any case Mark Twain does this with far greater wit in A Tramp Abroad). Some of the English translations from the German are poor. Nor is this quite an academic work - at times the source of information is unclear.
However, once the reader becomes accustomed to the superfluous intrusion of details concerning author's biography, the account becomes increasingly absorbing.
April 3, 2015
It took me a long time to get my library to acquire on a copy of this book, but it was completely worth the wait! I've been fascinated with the story of Albert Göring for many years, and Burke not only brings a clear, researched story of Albert, but also weaves in his own journey. His own story never seems to impose on the story of Albert, but allows the reader to travel along with Burke as he learns about the younger Göring brother. If a hardcover copy weren't almost $100 it would be a prized item in my collection! I'll just have to keep an eye out to see if anyone sells it for a little less!
April 17, 2013
Tis is an outstandingly well written book abut the life of a man I never knew existed.The author has travelled the length and breadth of the globe to piece together the story of Goering's younger brother Albert.
What emeges is a surprising, at times funny, often sad, exciting and ultimately moving portrait of a man whose only crime was to be born with the wrong surname. William Hastings Burke is an Australian whose painstaking re-construction of Albert Goering's turbulent life is beautifully and thrillingly written.
What emeges is a surprising, at times funny, often sad, exciting and ultimately moving portrait of a man whose only crime was to be born with the wrong surname. William Hastings Burke is an Australian whose painstaking re-construction of Albert Goering's turbulent life is beautifully and thrillingly written.
April 13, 2016
Bardzo interesująca historia młodszego brata Hermana Goringa - Alberta, który był zdeklarowanym antynazistą i zasłużył się pomagając wielu ofiarom prześladowań. Na tak zwanej "liście Goringa" znajduje się blisko sto nazwisk osób, którym dzięki jego interwencji udało się przeżyć wojnę.
February 11, 2013
Unbelievable biography of Albert Göring, the brother of Nazi Reichsmarschall, Hermann Göring. A must read!
May 14, 2013
S románovou zápletkou a tempem svižnějším, než má lecjaká detektivka.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews