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Escape, Evasion and Revenge: The True Story of a German-Jewish RAF Pilot Who Bombed Berlin and Became a POW
Peter Stevens was a German-Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi persecution as a teenager in 1933. He joined the RAF in 1939 and after eighteen months of pilot training he started flying bombing missions against his own country. He completed twenty-two missions before being shot down and taken prisoner by the Nazis in September 1941. To escape became his raison d'être and his great advantage was that he was in his native country. He was recaptured after each of his several escapes, but the Nazis never realized his true identity. He took part in the logistics and planning of several major breakouts, including The Great Escape, but was never successful in getting back to England. After liberation, when the true nature of his exploits came to light, he was one of only 69 members of the RAF to be awarded the Military Cross. He then served as a British spy at the beginning of the Cold War before emigrating to Canada to resume a normal life.
224 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2009
15 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Marc H. Stevens
1 book3 followersMarc Stevens was born in Montreal in the late 1950's. but grew up between Ottawa and Toronto. He attended Trinity College at the University of Toronto in the late 1970's.
From the age of 10, Marc has had a serious case of wanderlust, and has visited over 65 countries on all 7 continents. An interest in history, especially aviation in World War II, developed because of the service of Marc's father as an RAF bomber pilot in that war. Marc's dad, Peter Stevens, died in 1979, before Marc was able to question his father about the latter's wartime exploits. This led to Marc's beginning an 18 year quest, to discover exactly why his father had been awarded one of Britain's highest medals for bravery, the Military Cross.
Marc had known from a very young age that his father was originally German, but he was always sworn to secrecy about that part of the family's history. What he did not know, and only discovered in 1996 (17 years after his father's death), was that Peter Stevens was not only a German, but a German Jew, who had fought for England against the country of his birth.
Eighteen years of research (including obtaining access to a British government file marked "Secret - Sealed until 2051") eventually showed that Marc's father had been sent to safety in England in 1934 by his widowed mother. He had committed identity theft at the outbreak of hostilities, and was the object of a UK police manhunt while he was serving in the RAF under his assumed name. After flying 22 combat operations as a bomber pilot, Peter Stevens was shot down by flak over Berlin, and was taken as a Prisoner of War by his own country, without protection under the Geneva Convention. Had the Nazis ever discovered his true identity, they would have legally been able to execute him for treason. Becoming one of the most ardent escapers of the war, Peter Stevens actually got away from Nazi POW camps 3 times, but was recaptured each time.
On one of his harrowing escapes (from a moving prison train in a hail of Nazi bullets), he made his way to his childhood home in Hannover, to get food, cash and civilian clothing from his mother. Upon his arrival in Hannover, he discovered that his mother had committed suicide in July 1939 rather than allow herself to be shepherded through the gas chambers, as her remaining relatives suffered.
Peter Stevens never made it back to England until after the war, but he served for 5 years as a British spy with MI6 at the height of the Cold War, before emigrating to Canada and starting a family in the early 1950's.
Marc Stevens did not start his research with the intention of writing a book about what he might find. It was simply that the story became so fascinating and so unique, that he realized he had no choice but to write a book about it.
'Escape, Evasion and Revenge' is a true story of thankless and unheralded heroism.
From the age of 10, Marc has had a serious case of wanderlust, and has visited over 65 countries on all 7 continents. An interest in history, especially aviation in World War II, developed because of the service of Marc's father as an RAF bomber pilot in that war. Marc's dad, Peter Stevens, died in 1979, before Marc was able to question his father about the latter's wartime exploits. This led to Marc's beginning an 18 year quest, to discover exactly why his father had been awarded one of Britain's highest medals for bravery, the Military Cross.
Marc had known from a very young age that his father was originally German, but he was always sworn to secrecy about that part of the family's history. What he did not know, and only discovered in 1996 (17 years after his father's death), was that Peter Stevens was not only a German, but a German Jew, who had fought for England against the country of his birth.
Eighteen years of research (including obtaining access to a British government file marked "Secret - Sealed until 2051") eventually showed that Marc's father had been sent to safety in England in 1934 by his widowed mother. He had committed identity theft at the outbreak of hostilities, and was the object of a UK police manhunt while he was serving in the RAF under his assumed name. After flying 22 combat operations as a bomber pilot, Peter Stevens was shot down by flak over Berlin, and was taken as a Prisoner of War by his own country, without protection under the Geneva Convention. Had the Nazis ever discovered his true identity, they would have legally been able to execute him for treason. Becoming one of the most ardent escapers of the war, Peter Stevens actually got away from Nazi POW camps 3 times, but was recaptured each time.
On one of his harrowing escapes (from a moving prison train in a hail of Nazi bullets), he made his way to his childhood home in Hannover, to get food, cash and civilian clothing from his mother. Upon his arrival in Hannover, he discovered that his mother had committed suicide in July 1939 rather than allow herself to be shepherded through the gas chambers, as her remaining relatives suffered.
Peter Stevens never made it back to England until after the war, but he served for 5 years as a British spy with MI6 at the height of the Cold War, before emigrating to Canada and starting a family in the early 1950's.
Marc Stevens did not start his research with the intention of writing a book about what he might find. It was simply that the story became so fascinating and so unique, that he realized he had no choice but to write a book about it.
'Escape, Evasion and Revenge' is a true story of thankless and unheralded heroism.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 31, 2014
This book is excellent. I like personal wartime memoirs, and once again this book proved that truth is far, far stranger than fiction. It wasn't until after Marc Stevens' father died that he uncovered the truth. His father's real name was Georg Hein, and he was Jewish. He changed his name, joined the RAF and became a pilot, then flew bombing missions over Germany (including his home city of Hanover).
After being shot down and captured, he spent four years in a prison camp, working tirelessly to escape (which he managed several times) while hiding his Jewish identity. After the war he emigrated to Canada, married (still with an assumed name) and had two sons.
Marc Stevens isn't a professional writer, but there is nothing amateurish about this book. It is extremely well-researched with every piece of information documented. And it is also very well-written, sweeping the reader along on the tide of events. The whole time I was reading it, I couldn't help imagining what a great movie this would make!
After being shot down and captured, he spent four years in a prison camp, working tirelessly to escape (which he managed several times) while hiding his Jewish identity. After the war he emigrated to Canada, married (still with an assumed name) and had two sons.
Marc Stevens isn't a professional writer, but there is nothing amateurish about this book. It is extremely well-researched with every piece of information documented. And it is also very well-written, sweeping the reader along on the tide of events. The whole time I was reading it, I couldn't help imagining what a great movie this would make!
June 15, 2013
TALK about dramatic irony! “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” by Marc Stevens is the amazing true story of his father, a German Jew who, having escaped Germany before World War II (thereby escaping almost certain death in the Nazi Holocaust) went BACK to bomb Germany (including his home town in Germany!) as a pilot of British Royal Air Force Bomber Command. This, folks, is one surreally heroic read.
Pilot Officer (later decorated Squadron Leader) Peter Stevens was born Georg Hein, though the RAF didn’t know that, nor that he had stolen the identity of a passed-away English schoolboy to cover that fact he was German, Jewish, an illegal alien in England and convicted petty felon. Neither did the Germans know it and fortunately for Stevens as, being shot down after flying 20-something bombing missions, he ended up a prisoner of war of the Germans in the famous ‘Great Escape’ prison camp, Stalag Luft III. Please consider this particular human in this particular place... If there could exist a more dramatically dangerous situation that any human could ever be in, I would like to know what it is.
For normal Allied prisoners of war, life in such camps was often a matter of life and death at the hands of their German captors though they benefitted from the protection of the ‘Geneva Convention’ and even, more often than not, from the essential decency of their German captors (at least towards downed Allied airmen). If however, Peter Stevens’ captors had discovered he was in fact a German Jew who had not only escaped Nazi Germany but had already been back to BOMB it, one can only assume they would have attempted to torture and kill him TWICE: First as a Jew, second as a Traitor. Not surprisingly, Stevens kept his true identity from his captors for the duration of his stay with them, initially even from his friends. And given this true identity while imprisoned by the perpetuators of the Holocaust, you might expect that Peter, having faced death many times already as an RAF bomber pilot, would have kept a ‘low profile’. This is where readers of “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” will find ‘Dramatic Irony’ taken to new heights as they follow how young Peter stepped into the role of German Language Expert in the document-forging departments of various prison camps (thus personally facilitating many escapes from them by his comrades). But more than that: He also escaped twice himself, one attempt being described by an English newspaper soon after the war as ‘the coolest escape of the war’.
As you might gather, “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” is an amazing story about a remarkable man, a story it’s no wonder his son wanted to tell, which author Marc Stevens has done beautifully in this, his latest book. It is also the story of a highly complicated man and father, but mostly a portrait of survival, of irrepressible persistence and final victory against unimaginable evil. To this reader, one of the most resonant moments of the entire book is where the author captures the single moment of the ‘change’ in Germany as experienced by a lone boy when his teacher changed from a nurturing one to a tormenting one. The moment when the impossible happened. When the most highly educated country on Earth changed to a Nazi one. All I can say is, “Author, Marc Stevens... Thank you and well done.”
JUSTIN SHEEDY - Author of "Nor the Years Condemn"
http://crackernight.com/2010/02/10/ju...
Pilot Officer (later decorated Squadron Leader) Peter Stevens was born Georg Hein, though the RAF didn’t know that, nor that he had stolen the identity of a passed-away English schoolboy to cover that fact he was German, Jewish, an illegal alien in England and convicted petty felon. Neither did the Germans know it and fortunately for Stevens as, being shot down after flying 20-something bombing missions, he ended up a prisoner of war of the Germans in the famous ‘Great Escape’ prison camp, Stalag Luft III. Please consider this particular human in this particular place... If there could exist a more dramatically dangerous situation that any human could ever be in, I would like to know what it is.
For normal Allied prisoners of war, life in such camps was often a matter of life and death at the hands of their German captors though they benefitted from the protection of the ‘Geneva Convention’ and even, more often than not, from the essential decency of their German captors (at least towards downed Allied airmen). If however, Peter Stevens’ captors had discovered he was in fact a German Jew who had not only escaped Nazi Germany but had already been back to BOMB it, one can only assume they would have attempted to torture and kill him TWICE: First as a Jew, second as a Traitor. Not surprisingly, Stevens kept his true identity from his captors for the duration of his stay with them, initially even from his friends. And given this true identity while imprisoned by the perpetuators of the Holocaust, you might expect that Peter, having faced death many times already as an RAF bomber pilot, would have kept a ‘low profile’. This is where readers of “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” will find ‘Dramatic Irony’ taken to new heights as they follow how young Peter stepped into the role of German Language Expert in the document-forging departments of various prison camps (thus personally facilitating many escapes from them by his comrades). But more than that: He also escaped twice himself, one attempt being described by an English newspaper soon after the war as ‘the coolest escape of the war’.
As you might gather, “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” is an amazing story about a remarkable man, a story it’s no wonder his son wanted to tell, which author Marc Stevens has done beautifully in this, his latest book. It is also the story of a highly complicated man and father, but mostly a portrait of survival, of irrepressible persistence and final victory against unimaginable evil. To this reader, one of the most resonant moments of the entire book is where the author captures the single moment of the ‘change’ in Germany as experienced by a lone boy when his teacher changed from a nurturing one to a tormenting one. The moment when the impossible happened. When the most highly educated country on Earth changed to a Nazi one. All I can say is, “Author, Marc Stevens... Thank you and well done.”
JUSTIN SHEEDY - Author of "Nor the Years Condemn"
http://crackernight.com/2010/02/10/ju...
May 30, 2013
TALK about dramatic irony! “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” by Marc Stevens is the amazing true story of his father, a German Jew who, having escaped Germany before World War II (thereby escaping almost certain death in the Nazi Holocaust) went BACK to bomb Germany (including his home town in Germany!) as a pilot of British Royal Air Force Bomber Command. This, folks, is one surreally heroic read.
Pilot Officer (later decorated Squadron Leader) Peter Stevens was born Georg Hein, though the RAF didn’t know that, nor that he had stolen the identity of a passed-away English schoolboy to cover that fact he was German, Jewish, an illegal alien in England and convicted petty felon. Neither did the Germans know it and fortunately for Stevens as, being shot down after flying 20-something bombing missions, he ended up a prisoner of war of the Germans in the famous ‘Great Escape’ prison camp, Stalag Luft III. Please consider this particular human in this particular place... If there could exist a more dramatically dangerous situation that any human could ever be in, I would like to know what it is.
For normal Allied prisoners of war, life in such camps was often a matter of life and death at the hands of their German captors though they benefitted from the protection of the ‘Geneva Convention’ and even, more often than not, from the essential decency of their German captors (at least towards downed Allied airmen). If however, Peter Stevens’ captors had discovered he was in fact a German Jew who had not only escaped Nazi Germany but had already been back to BOMB it, one can only assume they would have attempted to torture and kill him TWICE: First as a Jew, second as a Traitor. Not surprisingly, Stevens kept his true identity from his captors for the duration of his stay with them, initially even from his friends. And given this true identity while imprisoned by the perpetuators of the Holocaust, you might expect that Peter, having faced death many times already as an RAF bomber pilot, would have kept a ‘low profile’. This is where readers of “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” will find ‘Dramatic Irony’ taken to new heights as they follow how young Peter stepped into the role of German Language Expert in the document-forging departments of various prison camps (thus personally facilitating many escapes from them by his comrades). But more than that: He also escaped twice himself, one attempt being described by an English newspaper soon after the war as ‘the coolest escape of the war’.
As you might gather, “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” is an amazing story about a remarkable man, a story it’s no wonder his son wanted to tell, which author Marc Stevens has done beautifully in this, his latest book. It is also the story of a highly complicated man and father, but mostly a portrait of survival, of irrepressible persistence and final victory against unimaginable evil. To this reader, one of the most resonant moments of the entire book is where the author captures the single moment of the ‘change’ in Germany as experienced by a lone boy when his teacher changed from a nurturing one to a tormenting one. The moment when the impossible happened. When the most highly educated country on Earth changed to a Nazi one. All I can say is, “Author, Marc Stevens... Thank you and well done.”
JUSTIN SHEEDY - Author of "Nor the Years Condemn"
http://crackernight.com/2010/02/10/ju...
Pilot Officer (later decorated Squadron Leader) Peter Stevens was born Georg Hein, though the RAF didn’t know that, nor that he had stolen the identity of a passed-away English schoolboy to cover that fact he was German, Jewish, an illegal alien in England and convicted petty felon. Neither did the Germans know it and fortunately for Stevens as, being shot down after flying 20-something bombing missions, he ended up a prisoner of war of the Germans in the famous ‘Great Escape’ prison camp, Stalag Luft III. Please consider this particular human in this particular place... If there could exist a more dramatically dangerous situation that any human could ever be in, I would like to know what it is.
For normal Allied prisoners of war, life in such camps was often a matter of life and death at the hands of their German captors though they benefitted from the protection of the ‘Geneva Convention’ and even, more often than not, from the essential decency of their German captors (at least towards downed Allied airmen). If however, Peter Stevens’ captors had discovered he was in fact a German Jew who had not only escaped Nazi Germany but had already been back to BOMB it, one can only assume they would have attempted to torture and kill him TWICE: First as a Jew, second as a Traitor. Not surprisingly, Stevens kept his true identity from his captors for the duration of his stay with them, initially even from his friends. And given this true identity while imprisoned by the perpetuators of the Holocaust, you might expect that Peter, having faced death many times already as an RAF bomber pilot, would have kept a ‘low profile’. This is where readers of “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” will find ‘Dramatic Irony’ taken to new heights as they follow how young Peter stepped into the role of German Language Expert in the document-forging departments of various prison camps (thus personally facilitating many escapes from them by his comrades). But more than that: He also escaped twice himself, one attempt being described by an English newspaper soon after the war as ‘the coolest escape of the war’.
As you might gather, “Escape, Evasion and Revenge” is an amazing story about a remarkable man, a story it’s no wonder his son wanted to tell, which author Marc Stevens has done beautifully in this, his latest book. It is also the story of a highly complicated man and father, but mostly a portrait of survival, of irrepressible persistence and final victory against unimaginable evil. To this reader, one of the most resonant moments of the entire book is where the author captures the single moment of the ‘change’ in Germany as experienced by a lone boy when his teacher changed from a nurturing one to a tormenting one. The moment when the impossible happened. When the most highly educated country on Earth changed to a Nazi one. All I can say is, “Author, Marc Stevens... Thank you and well done.”
JUSTIN SHEEDY - Author of "Nor the Years Condemn"
http://crackernight.com/2010/02/10/ju...
May 15, 2014
Recently, I read the captivating book review on "Escape, Evasion, and Revenge" on author Elinor Florence's blog. I recommend that you read it, too; it is definitely worth it! (http://elinorflorence.com/blog/jewish...)
March 30, 2015
Marc Stevens did a superb job researching his father's life and then telling the story. His father had a difficult life as a preteen boy and until he enrolled in the RAF. From that point on he grew as a person, becoming a genuine hero who fought against and was a captive of the Nazi regime. If one saw the movie "The Great Escape", much of that story was lived by Peter Stevens. Like many WWII veterans, Peter Stevens' kept his war story to himself so the author had to do extensive research. Great job Marc Stevens; excellent read.
June 1, 2014
A page turner based on a true story... What a WWII adventure Peter Stevens lived and even more interesting that most of the details were discovered after his death by his son.
December 24, 2016
Amazing
What a fantastic story! The author has done an amazing amount of research for this fascinating account of his late father's life.
What a fantastic story! The author has done an amazing amount of research for this fascinating account of his late father's life.
July 8, 2022
Interesting and well researched. The author gave it a good shot and achieved a respectable biography of his father, but I do feel the book repeated itself at times - sometimes the same fact or observation was repeated within a paragraph or two. Could have used a better editor. Wasn't terrible, though. I'd recommend for people with a keen interest in POWs, but not for people who are only ever going to read one POW book - for that I'd go for Moonless Night: The Second World War Escape Epic.
I did learn quite a lot from this one, though, particularly about Asselin & co's abort tunnel.
I did learn quite a lot from this one, though, particularly about Asselin & co's abort tunnel.
February 21, 2020
Interesting, but...
Confusing at times especially the chapters towards the end. Was is Georg, Peter or Stevens? The author should have stuck to the one name we associated to the man. A good story, not particularly well told. Worth a read though.
Confusing at times especially the chapters towards the end. Was is Georg, Peter or Stevens? The author should have stuck to the one name we associated to the man. A good story, not particularly well told. Worth a read though.
December 26, 2022
state history seems to be built on people who are from morally dubious to downright monsters. the guy bombed berlin, so people like the jews living in berlin could atone for their sins in the concentration camps, or something.
May 12, 2017
Not the best WWII escape story but ok.
The subject was intriguing and the chapter based on the background were very good. At times it was a but padded out
The subject was intriguing and the chapter based on the background were very good. At times it was a but padded out
March 8, 2022
This is a thrilling true story of deceipt and bravery in World War II told by the son of the protagonist. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil the incredible twists and turns.
October 27, 2015
While this book is enjoyable enough, I think the average rating of 4.73 at the time of writing is a bit over-generous!
The first quarter of the 200 pages deals with routine information about flying, and his final raid on Germany. So far, unremarkable and typical of other books on the war in the air.
Next we flash back to his childhood, and the increasingly difficult times for Jews, with Stevens escaping to Britain. Again, quite interesting but not very remarkable. Eventually he steals another's identity in order to join the RAF, which would not have been allowed if the authorities had known - the only unique aspect of the story.
He then becomes a bomber pilot but after a number of raids he is shot down and captured, making several failed escape attempts before the end of the war - again, typical of plenty of other accounts of the war.
So, readable, but not sufficiently different to deserve a very high score.
The first quarter of the 200 pages deals with routine information about flying, and his final raid on Germany. So far, unremarkable and typical of other books on the war in the air.
Next we flash back to his childhood, and the increasingly difficult times for Jews, with Stevens escaping to Britain. Again, quite interesting but not very remarkable. Eventually he steals another's identity in order to join the RAF, which would not have been allowed if the authorities had known - the only unique aspect of the story.
He then becomes a bomber pilot but after a number of raids he is shot down and captured, making several failed escape attempts before the end of the war - again, typical of plenty of other accounts of the war.
So, readable, but not sufficiently different to deserve a very high score.
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April 12, 2015Review to follow.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews