Background
Hoffmann, Peter Conrad Werner was born on August 13, 1930 in Dresden, Germany. Came to Canada, 1970. Son of Wilhelm and Elfriede Frances (Müller) Hoffmann.
( The English version of the book has been extensively re...)
The English version of the book has been extensively revised and expanded since its original publication in German. This edition includes a new preface and an updated bibliography.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262080885/?tag=2022091-20
( A dramatic account of life in Czechoslovakia's great ca...)
A dramatic account of life in Czechoslovakia's great capital during the Nazi Protectorate With this successor book to Prague in Black and Gold, his account of more than a thousand years of history in the great Central European capital, Peter Demetz focuses on the six years that Prague was under German occupation in World War II: from the bitter morning of March 15, 1939, when Hitler arrived from Berlin to set his seal on the Nazi takeover of the Czechoslovak government, until the liberation of Bohemia in April 1945. Demetz was a boy living in Prague then, and here he joins his objective chronicle of the city under Nazi control with his personal memories of that period, expertly interweaving a superb account of the German authorities' diplomatic, financial, and military machinations with a brilliant description of Prague's evolving resistance and underground opposition. The result is a complex, continually surprising book filled with rare human detail and warmth, the gripping story of a great city meeting the dual challenge of occupation and of war.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374531560/?tag=2022091-20
( Fascination with the evil of the Nazi regime has not d...)
Fascination with the evil of the Nazi regime has not diminished in the decades since Hitler assumed power in Germany, but the story of internal resistance to Nazism has not been as fully realized as have the innumerable tales of horror. In this compact book Peter Hoffmann examines the growing recognition by some Germans in the 1930s of the malign nature of the Nazi regime, the ways in which these people became involved in the resistance, and the views of those who staked their lives in the struggle against tyranny and murder. The earliest postwar accounts of the resistance by survivors and witnesses were followed by a variety of investigations and evaluations. Peter Hoffrnann here presents a complete reconstruction of this baffling and intriguing story. After several decades of study of the German resistance to Nazism, he has unlocked the secrets of its inner history. Hoffmann recounts the methods of Hitler's rise to power in the tumultuous days of January and February 1933, the consolidation of his power as a result of the Röhm Massacre in 1934, and his growing criminality as evidenced by the rape of Czechoslovakia and the pogrom of 1938. The author describes the several attempts in 1938 and during the war years to dislodge Hitler from within; the desperation of the luckless opponents over the carnage of war and the mass murders that threatened to engulf them; and finally, the attempt to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. Throughout, he probes the motives of the resisters. Some, for example, found it difficult to justify assassination, even for the purpose of bringing an end to mass killing. Hoffmann examines and discounts the accusation that the principal motive of those who resisted was to preserve their class privileges. The resisters, he concludes, acted not so much in the hope of personal gain as from a moral obligation to challenge the evils they saw before them.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674350863/?tag=2022091-20
(Coinciding with the release of Tom Cruise's highly antici...)
Coinciding with the release of Tom Cruise's highly anticipated blockbuster "Valkyrie", a new and updated edition of "Stauffenberg" will be available in early January. Most of us are aware of the attempt to assassinate Hitler but few know about those behind it. In this family history Peter Hoffmann reveals the tragic and heroic life of Claus, Count Stauffenberg, South German aristocrat and would-be assassin of Adolf Hitler. He details Stauffenberg's formative years, showing how his relationship with his brothers Berthold and Alexander, their association with the circle of the poet Stefan George, and their professional and political development led them to resist the tyranny of Hitler and the German government, first through established channels but culminating in the attempted assassination and coup of 20 July 1944. "Stauffenberg" is based on the most comprehensive collection of sources yet used, including family papers, correspondence, and information from numerous contemporaries, and includes a unique collection of illustrative material. This new edition includes important information Hoffmann, a consultant for the film "Valkyrie", has discovered since the book was first published.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0773535446/?tag=2022091-20
Hoffmann, Peter Conrad Werner was born on August 13, 1930 in Dresden, Germany. Came to Canada, 1970. Son of Wilhelm and Elfriede Frances (Müller) Hoffmann.
Student, University Stuttgart, 1953-1954;student, University Tübingen, 1954-1955;student, University Zurich, 1955;student, Northwestern University, 1955-1956;Doctor of Philosophy, U. Munich, 1961.
William Kingsford professor of history, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
( A dramatic account of life in Czechoslovakia's great ca...)
( Fascination with the evil of the Nazi regime has not d...)
(Coinciding with the release of Tom Cruise's highly antici...)
( The English version of the book has been extensively re...)
(Zum 50. Jahrestag des Anschlages auf Hitler im Jahre 1944...)
Author: Die diplomatischen Beziehungen zwischen Württemberg und Bayern im Krimkrieg und bis zum Beginn der Italienischen Krise (1853-1858), 1963, Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat: Der Kampf der Opposition gegen Hitler, 1969, Die Sicherheit des Diktators: Hitlers Leibwachen, Schutzmassnahmen, Residenzen, Hauptquartiere, 1975, The History of the German Resistance 1933-1945, 1977, Hitler's Personal Security, 1979, Widerstand gegen Hitler, 1979, La résistance allemande contre Hitler, 1984, German Resistance to Hitler, 1988, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg und seine Brüder, 1992, Tedeschi contro il nazismo: La Resistenza in Germania, 1994, Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944, 1995, Stauffenberg und der 20. Juli 1944, 1998.
Member of German Studies Association, Royal Society of Canada, Canada History Association, Württembergischer Geschichts- und Altertumsverein, Deutsche Schillergesellschaft, Canada Committee History of 2d World War, Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Married Helga Luise Hobelsberger, July 22, 1959.