Author:Helga Schneider,Shaun Whiteside
When Helga Schneider was four, her mother, Traudi, abandoned her to pursue her career. In 1998, Helga received a letter asking her to visit Traudi, now 90-years old, before she dies. Mother and daughter have met only once after Traudi left, on a disastrous visit where Helga first learnt the terrible secret of her mother's past.
Traudi was as an extermination guard in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck and was involved in Nazi 'medical' experiments on prisoners. She has never expressed even the slightest remorse for her actions, yet Helga still hopes that at this final meeting she will find some way to forgive her mother.
A powerful, painful book about moral responsibility
—— GuardianRemarkable... Helga Schneider's frank account is desperately sad and powerful. Unforgettable
—— Jewish TelegraphFrightening and fascinating
—— Mail on SundayLet Me Go grips the reader completely
—— Glasgow HeraldThe book evocatively portrays the deprivations of wartime Berlin and the devastating emotional impact of one evil individual
—— Irish TimesHe examines every branch of warfare in its history, psychology, metallurgy, genetics, logistics, archaeology, tactics and strategy...He is as much at home in the Empire of Babylon as he is on the Somme...On every subject he has something fresh to say. His learning is staggering and his gift for exposition unequalled.
—— Nigel Nicolson , Daily TelegraphKeegan's power as a writer derives from the fact that he does not see himself merely as a chronicler of battles, but as a student of the human condition. It is the breadth of his grasp of civilisation, as well as of the soldier's art, that makes this book so formidable.
—— Max Hastings , Evening Standard