The Seventh Cross

By: Anna Seghers, Margot Bettauer Dembo - translator

Narrated by: Piers Hampton

A rediscovered German classic novel from 1942, never before published in the UK, The Seventh Cross is both a gripping escape story and a powerful novel of resistance.

Seven prisoners escape from Westhofen concentration camp. Seven crosses are erected in the grounds and the commandant vows to capture the fugitives within a week. Six men are caught quickly, but George Heisler slips through his pursuers' fingers and it becomes a matter of pride to track him down, at whatever cost.

Who can George trust? Who will betray him? The years of fear have changed those he knew best: his brother is now an SS officer; his lover turns him away. Hunted, injured and desperate, time is running out for George, and whoever is caught aiding his escape will pay with their life.

The Seventh Cross powerfully documents the insidious rise of a fascist regime - the seething paranoia, the sudden arrests, the silence and fear.

The Seventh Cross was written by one of the most important German writers of the 20th century. Her aim was to write, 'A tale that makes it possible to get to know the many layers of fascist Germany through the fortunes of a single man.' She had four copies of the manuscript: one was destroyed in an air raid; a friend lost the second copy while fleeing the Nazis; another was found by the Gestapo; only the fourth copy survived, which, fortunately, she sent to her publisher in America just before she escaped Nazi-occupied France. Published in 1942, The Seventh Cross was an immediate best seller and was the basis for an MGM film starring Spencer Tracy in 1944. It has been translated into more than 40 languages.

©1946 Margot Bettauer Dembo, Aufbau Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (P)2018 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

"It was [Seghers] who taught my generation and anyone who had an ear to listen after that not-to-be-forgotten war to distinguish right from wrong. The Seventh Cross shaped me; it sharpened my vision." (Gunter Grass)

"A masterpiece. Written in the midst of terror, but with such clarity, such acuity; Seghers is a writer of rare insight." (Rachel Seiffert, author of A Boy in Winter)

"At once a suspenseful manhunt story and a knowing portrait of the perils of ordinary life in Hitler's Germany, The Seventh Cross is not only an important novel, but an important historical document. This new, unabridged translation is a genuine publishing event." (Joseph Kanon, author of The Good German and Leaving Berlin)