Hitler's Bastard: Through Hell and Back in Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia

by Eric Pleasants, Ian Sayer (Editor), Douglas Botting (Editor)

Of all the extraordinary individual accounts that have come out of World War II and its aftermath, few can compare with that of Eric Pleasants, a member of the "bastard" British wing of Hitler's SS. In this book, Pleasants writes of the bizarre and traumatic years he spent as a prisoner of the 20th century's most notorious dictators. From a vagabond life, Pleasants was taken by the Nazis to a series of prison camps in France. The years that followed held a whirlwind of unexpected turns—he lived a life on the run in occupied Paris, was captured and recruited into the British Free Corps of the Waffen-SS, found love with a young German woman, witnessed the bombing of Dresden, and attempted to hide from Soviet troops along the sewers of Berlin. When the war ended, Pleasants found himself on the Communist side of the Iron Curtain. He was arrested by the KGB on charges of espionage and sentenced to 25 years' slave labor in the notorious camps of Arctic Russia. Only with Stalin's death in 1953 was Pleasants finally released from his unique kind of purgatory, after nearly half a lifetime of peripatetic nightmare. Hitler's Bastard is a remarkable monument to his imperishable will to survive.

Genres: History, British Literature

234 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

A British citizen during World War II who defected to serve in the Waffen-SS. Pleasants was an SS-Schütze in the British Free Corps which, in 1941, became a foreign legion of the Waffen-SS.

Pleasants deserted from the Waffen-SS in 1945 and went into hiding. Captured by the Red Army in 1946, he was imprisoned for seven years in a gulag along the arctic circle before returning to England in the 1950s.

Pleasants' autobiography was published posthumously as Hitler's Bastard: Through Hell and Back in Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia (2003). Pleasants was up to the late 1980s an Aikido teacher in Norwich. He also ran a Judo/Kendo Dojo in Wymondham, Norfolk.

Reviews

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love history as told by the people that lived through extraordinary times. You won't read a more compelling story than Eric's. He was a pacifist and conscientious objector at the start of World War Two, who then ended up joining the SS! He then spent years as a slave labourer in the dreaded Gulag of Stalin's Russia. "But how?!" I hear you cry. Well, I'd urge you to read the book to find out for yourself. You couldn't make it up and- the way Eric tells it - it all makes perfect sense. An interesting, inspirational and compelling book.

[Ivan Mendez Beltran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pensaba que iban a tratar personajes como Himmler, o Göring, o Goebbels, ellos fueron los verdaderos bastardos de Hitler y no lo que el autor nos ofreció en esta obra que no es mala, pero no es lo que esperaba, ese título es bien engañoso...

[Ivan Aguirre · Rating 3 out of 5]

La historia verídica de un inglés capturado por los alemanes durante la segunda guerra mundial que para salir de prisión, acepta formar parte de un cuerpo británico militar pro nazi de la SS.

Se puede notar su simpatía a la cultura y vida alemana por todo el libro. Se enamora de una alemana y se termina casando con ella

Contrario a lo que se pensaría, mientras vive en Alemania y está bajo ocupación nazi, parece pasársela bastante bien. Por momentos parece que haga lo que haga, los alemanes no lo van a reprender, ni castigar.

Hay varias frases en las que se puede ver un poco su inclinación por Alemania o un atisbo de justificación. En ningún momento habla a fondo del horror del nazismo

Después de la guerra es capturado por los soviéticos y ahí si que sufre varios años de encierro y deplorables condiciones hasta su libertad.

Por lo demás, el libro está deliciosamente narrado para ser escrito por alguien que no es escritor, imagino que obtuvo ayuda en su elaboración. En fin, muy buena narración que hacen su lectura muy amena. Se lee bastante rápido.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

World history in life of an ordinary man, who as a citizen of Britain lived in Nazi - ruled Germany, survived bombings of Dresden and tried to made his living in Stalin's Russia (which ended with sentence of 25 years of slave labour in Siberia). In life of Eric Pleasents the most important and tragic events of 20th century history happened and he had enough courage to not give up in worst time.