Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler and the Crushing of a City

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The traumatic story of one of the last major battles of World War II, in which the Poles fought off German troops and police, street by street, for sixty-three days.
Warsaw 1944 tells the story of one of historys bravest revolts and of how this errant calculation ended in one of its greatest crimes. As Soviet soldiers turned back the Nazi invasion of Russia and began pressing west, the Underground Polish Home Army rose to fight and to liberate the city of Warsaw for themselves. For more than sixty days, Polish fighters took over large parts of the city and held off the SSs most brutal forces. But the German retaliation was monstrous.

This book is the first to recount the bravery, misjudgement, breakdown and tragedy from German and Polish perspectives and asks why, when the war was nearly lost, Hitler diverted Himmlers savage Bandit Hunters from the east to raze Warsaw to the ground. Drawing upon a rich trove of primary sources including her father-in-law, a Polish combatant Alexandra Richie relates the terrible experiences of individuals who fought in the uprising, revealing the fraught choices of some of the wars most unsung heroes. It is also the story of a citys unbreakable spirit in the face of unspeakable barbarism.

Reviews

Unusually well-placed to research and rehearse the story of that terrible event [Richie] offers a comprehensive narrative of the Polish experience Max Hastings, Sunday Times

Richie's detailed and sympathetic history draws heavily on private archives and recounts many unpublished stories. Such survivors' testimony make it the definitive study of the uprising Economist

Chronicled with astonishing precision by historian and Warsaw resident this grim and chilling book delivers exhaustive and unforgettable details of this gruesome chapter of World War II Publishers Weekly

A detailed, if harrowing, narrative history of the rising. Richie has mastered an immense range of material in both German and Polish There are powerful first person accounts impressively accomplished in terms of research and narrative Readers will gain an understanding of an extraordinary event BBC History Magazine

Fast-paced narrative history Observer

Most impressive. She explodes many myths, and is more balanced and judicious than some previous writers Richie brings it magnificently alive Rodric Braithwaite, author of Afgansty

Beautifully written and judicious, this is by far the best account of the Warsaw Uprising to date' Christopher Szpilman

Must be the most detailed and harrowing account of the uprising staged by the Polish Home Army ever published, and is likely to be of lasting value to scholars and general readers alike this extraordinarily detailed account of a two-month bloodbath creates a vast monument to an often neglected event TLS

A sympathetic portrait of the struggle waged by Polish insurgents and the civilians caught up in it As a detailed narrative of the brutal crushing of the uprising as seen through civilian eyes Warsaw 1944 is an important contribution to a tragic literature Wall Street Journal

Author Bio

Alexandra Richie is the author of the critically acclaimed Fausts Metropolis: A History of Berlin. Dr Richie received her DPhil at St. Antony's College, Oxford, and was later a Fellow of Wolfson College. She has lectured on international politics and history across the world, from Warsaw University to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. She lives in Warsaw with her husband and two children.