Darkest Christmas
December 1942 and a World at War
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Darkest Christmas
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Narrated by:
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Walter Dixon
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By:
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Peter Harmsen
About this listen
December 1942 saw the bloodiest Christmas in the history of mankind. Men were killing each other in greater numbers than ever before. The Holocaust continued, and innocent civilians were murdered by the thousands throughout the evil Nazi empire, even as the perpetrators celebrated the birth of Christ.
Millions stationed in far-off lands amid the greatest conflict in human history feared this was their last Christmas in freedom, or their last Christmas alive. At the same time as the slaughter continued unabated, throughout the world there were random acts of kindness. These gestures also straddled religious barriers and sometimes included those of non-Christian faiths.
At the same time, Christmas 1942 saw the injunction of "good will to man" distorted in ugly and callous ways. In Berlin, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels spent time with his family while still buried in feverish fantasies about the Jewish world conspiracy.
Christmas 1942 saw the entire range of man's conduct towards his fellow man, reflecting the extremes of behavior, good and bad, that World War II gave rise to. The way the holiday was marked around the world tells a deeper, more universal story of the human condition.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 292
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 254
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 252
In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was on the front lines. To "set Europe ablaze," in the words of Winston Churchill, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting, was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France.
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3 out of 5 stars
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an excellent story ruined by horrible narration
- By Joshua on 04-23-19
By: Sarah Rose
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Eight Days in May
- The Final Collapse of the Third Reich
- By: Volker Ullrich, Jefferson Chase - translator
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 117
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
On April 30, 1945, in a bunker deep beneath the Old Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler and his newly wedded wife, Eva Braun, killed themselves. But Nazi Germany lived on, however briefly. The subsequent eight days were among the most turbulent in history, witnessing not only the final battles of World War II and the collapse of the Wehrmacht, but the near-total disintegration of the once-mighty Third Reich.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting history incompetently read
- By Oralabor Bondurant on 01-26-22
By: Volker Ullrich, and others
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Invisible Heroes of World War II
- Extraordinary Wartime Stories of Ordinary People
- By: Jerry Borrowman
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 229
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 211
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 210
Invisible Heroes of World War II documents 10 fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, including African Americans, women, and Native Americans, who fought with the Allies during World War II. These heroes made significant contributions in the war effort, and sometimes gave their lives for freedom and liberty, often without much recognition or fanfare. All served with valor and distinction as part of the massive Allied forces who fought to free the world from tyranny and oppression.
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5 out of 5 stars
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EXCELLENT AND INSPIRING!
- By B. ADAMS on 12-22-20
By: Jerry Borrowman
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The Wolves at the Door
- The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy
- By: Judith Pearson
- Narrated by: Patrice O’Neill
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 284
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 256
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 253
Virginia Hall left her comfortable Baltimore roots in 1931 to follow a dream of becoming a Foreign Service Officer. After watching Hitler roll over Poland and France, she enlisted to work for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret espionage and sabotage organization. She was soon deployed to occupied France where, if captured, imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Gestapo was all but assured.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The narrator is ruining the book for me
- By Penni Khandi on 06-19-14
By: Judith Pearson
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The Correspondents
- Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II
- By: Judith Mackrell
- Narrated by: Julie Teal
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle. Barred from combat zones and faced with entrenched prejudice and bureaucratic restrictions, these women were forced to fight for the right to work on equal terms with men.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Narration was nails on a chalkboard
- By aunt deb on 12-20-21
By: Judith Mackrell
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Trail of Hope
- The Anders Army, an Odyssey Across Three Continents
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
In this remarkable work, renowned historian Professor Norman Davies draws from years of meticulous research to recount the compelling story of the Polish II Corps or "Anders Army", and their exceptional journey from the Gulag of Siberia through Iran, the Middle East, and North Africa to the battlefields of Italy to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Allied forces. Complete with firsthand accounts from the men and women who lived through it, this is a unique record of one of the most fascinating episodes of World War II.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing story of Polish peoples and never giving up hope for free Poland.
- By Peter Chmiel on 09-24-19
By: Norman Davies
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A Guest of the Reich
- The Story of American Heiress Gertrude Legendre's Dramatic Captivity and Escape from Nazi Germany
- By: Peter Finn
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 57
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4 out of 5 stars 49
Gertrude "Gertie" Legendre was a big-game hunter from a wealthy industrial family who lived a charmed life in Jazz Age America. Her adventurous spirit made her the inspiration for the Broadway play Holiday, which became a film starring Katharine Hepburn. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Legendre, by then married and a mother of two, joined the OSS, the wartime spy organization that preceded the CIA.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating woman in a horrible period in history
- By Marlette on 12-03-19
By: Peter Finn
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X Troop
- The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II
- By: Leah Garrett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story5 out of 5 stars 84
June 1942. The shadow of the Third Reich has fallen across the European continent. In desperation, Winston Churchill and his chief of staff form an unusual plan: a new commando unit made up of Jewish refugees who have escaped to Britain. The resulting volunteers are a motley group of intellectuals, artists, and athletes, most from Germany and Austria. Many have been interned as enemy aliens and have lost their families, their homes - their whole worlds. They will stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very amazing and moving story!
- By Jonathan D. Feldman on 09-18-21
By: Leah Garrett
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Che Guevara
- A Revolutionary Life
- By: Jon Lee Anderson
- Narrated by: Armando Durán
- Length: 36 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,089
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 803
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 807
Che Guevara was a dashing rebel whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America and the developing world through armed revolution. Jon Lee Anderson traces Che's extraordinary life from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the battlefields of the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro's government to his failed campaign in the Congo and his assassination in the Bolivian jungle.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Encompassing and Fair Look at an Historical Man
- By Matt on 08-10-11
By: Jon Lee Anderson
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"Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself"
- The Mass Suicide of Ordinary Germans in 1945
- By: Florian Huber
- Narrated by: Sam Peter Jackson
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
By the end of April 1945 in Germany, the Third Reich had fallen and invasion was underway. As the Red Army advanced, horrifying stories spread about the depravity of its soldiers. For many German people, there seemed to be nothing left but disgrace and despair. For tens of thousands of them, the only option was to choose death - for themselves and for their children.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This book should be required reading for anyone that seeks to understand how ordinary people could be transformed into monsters.
- By Anonymous User on 05-08-20
By: Florian Huber
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The German War
- A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945; Citizens and Soldiers
- By: Nicholas Stargardt
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 24 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 815
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 726
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 717
As early as 1941, Allied victory in World War II seemed all but assured. How and why, then, did the Germans prolong the barbaric conflict for three and a half more years? In The German War, acclaimed historian Nicholas Stargardt draws on an extraordinary range of primary source materials - personal diaries, court records, and military correspondence - to answer this question. He offers an unprecedented portrait of wartime Germany, bringing the hopes and expectations of the German people to vivid life.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great read for history buffs
- By marykk on 05-12-16
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Checkmate in Berlin
- The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World
- By: Giles Milton
- Narrated by: Giles Milton
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 178
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
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Story5 out of 5 stars 146
From a master of popular history, the lively, immersive story of the race to seize Berlin in the aftermath of World War II as it’s never been told before.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent history of the early days of the Cold War
- By Matt on 08-28-21
By: Giles Milton
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A Train Near Magdeburg
- A Teacher's Journey into the Holocaust
- By: Matthew Rozell
- Narrated by: Nick Cracknell
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 177
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 158
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Story5 out of 5 stars 157
From the author of The Things Our Fathers Saw in the World War II eyewitness history series comes this book, offering the true story behind an iconic photograph taken at the liberation of a death train, deep in the heart of Nazi Germany. It's brought to life by the history teacher who discovered it and went on to reunite hundreds of Holocaust survivors with the actual American soldiers who saved them.
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4 out of 5 stars
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important story
- By Amazon Customer on 04-04-20
By: Matthew Rozell
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The Nazis
- A Warning from History
- By: Laurence Rees
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
Following the success of Rees's best-selling Auschwitz, this substantially revised and updated edition of The Nazis - A Warning from History tells the powerfully gripping story of the rise and fall of the Third Reich. During a 16-year period, acclaimed author and documentary-maker Laurence Rees met and interviewed a large number of former Nazis, and his unique insights into the Nazi psyche and World War II received enormous praise.
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5 out of 5 stars
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HOW TO STEAL A COUNTRY
- By Bowen Florsheim on 09-14-21
By: Laurence Rees
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At Leningrad's Gates
- The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier with Army Group North
- By: William Lubbeck
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 315
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 281
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 280
This is the remarkable story of a German soldier who fought throughout World War II, rising from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front. >William Lubbeck, age 19, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Another Great German Soldier's Memoir
- By Erik on 12-19-14
By: William Lubbeck
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The Volunteer
- One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz
- By: Jack Fairweather
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 600
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 538
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Story5 out of 5 stars 538
To uncover the fate of the thousands being interred at a mysterious Nazi camp on the border of the Reich, a young Polish resistance fighter named Witold Pilecki volunteered for an audacious mission: intentionally get captured and transported to the new camp to report back on what was going on there. But gathering information was not his only task: he was to execute an attack from inside - where the Germans would least expect it. The name of the camp was Auschwitz.
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4 out of 5 stars
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It is impossible to hear of the atrocities of Auschwitz without being. Forced to consider man’s infinite cruelty
- By Marge Greenwald on 07-15-19
By: Jack Fairweather
What listeners say about Darkest Christmas
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jeffrey Keenan
- 10-28-22
Grasping A Moment In Time
This book was a everything I hoped for when I viewed the synopsis. An excellent example of personalizing a story within the incredible sweep of WWII. Very enjoyable. Recommend highly.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 11-24-23
True Holiday Perspective
Well done! These are timeless lessons of true perspective on what we should cherish the most in life. Merry Christmas Everyone and thank you to all past, present and future veterans.
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