Reddit mentions: The best historical france biographies

Back to answer the rest of that question. :) As I mentioned in the earlier post I linked about Marie Antoinette, male infidelity was almost a given among the upper class, but was much less common for women. It was much more difficult for a woman to get away with an affair due to pregnancy, even though early forms of condoms and other birth control were known to exist. Once a woman produced a few children, and especially a male heir for her husband, she was more free to look at extramarital options. While many women did have affairs that their husbands were perfectly fine with, these were very specific cases of high society women with enough fortune and power to get away with it. It was also largely a matter of culture; no princess of the incredibly strict Catholic Spain in the 1700's would dream of an affair. They were forced to wear black veils over their heads and faces in public to protect their purity, similar to burqas today. On the other hand, across the border in France, the high society culture was so flippant about extramarital affairs that a French aristocrat could proclaim to his wife upon catching her in the midst of lovemaking with another man: "My dear, you must be more careful! For what if anyone but I had caught you!" (I wish I could remember who uttered this hilarious quote, but for the life of me, I can't seem to find it at the moment.) If you're really interested in this stuff, I highly recommend either "The Sun King" or "Love and Louis XIV"; they both read like entertaining fiction and go into the juicy details of royal and aristocratic marriage at the French court.

Please note none of these are affiliate links. Just trying to be a good dude and help a brother out!

There's a great book called "Tales from the Toolbox" which is stories from mechanics etc... from that era. That's a really fun read. https://www.amazon.ca/Tales-toolbox-Michael-Oliver-ebook/dp/B009RUC638/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550261258&sr=8-1&keywords=tales+from+the+toolbox

There's also "The Last Road Race" which is a fascinating read. https://www.amazon.ca/Last-Road-Race-Williams-2004-03-01/dp/B01K144S6Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550261297&sr=8-1&keywords=pescara+last+road+race

I really enjoyed "The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit" even though if you know your racing history you know how it's going to end. https://www.amazon.ca/Limit-Life-Death-Grand-Circuit/dp/0446554731/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550261323&sr=8-1&keywords=the+limit

The best though for me was "Cars at Speed" by Robert Daley. At a time when racing was very romanticized and the carnage and loss of life was glossed over, he covered the sport honestly. It's harsh reading in spots but captures the era beautifully. https://www.amazon.ca/CARS-AT-SPEED-Grand-Golden-ebook/dp/B0091XMXJI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550261411&sr=8-1&keywords=cars+at+speed+robert+daley

And if you want something a little different, "Go Like Hell" is about Ferrari vs Ford at Le Mans, and that's a great read as well. https://www.amazon.ca/Go-Like-Hell-Ferrari-Battle-ebook/dp/B003K16PBY/ref=pd_sim_351_6/132-9271315-8602668?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B003K16PBY&pd_rd_r=b3ff6727-315d-11e9-acf9-71fc83dc301e&pd_rd_w=GnFre&pd_rd_wg=bQUij&pf_rd_p=29a85b27-a36a-4f8d-94ca-61aa962c5f39&pf_rd_r=R7RP2WR2JFDKZGV00V91&psc=1&refRID=R7RP2WR2JFDKZGV00V91

And Sid Watkins (former F1 doctor who is a big part of why the death rate dropped in F1) has a great autobiography. https://www.amazon.ca/Life-At-Limit-Triumph-Tragedy-ebook/dp/B00BQF6RBO/ref=pd_sim_351_4/132-9271315-8602668?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00BQF6RBO&pd_rd_r=b3ff6727-315d-11e9-acf9-71fc83dc301e&pd_rd_w=GnFre&pd_rd_wg=bQUij&pf_rd_p=29a85b27-a36a-4f8d-94ca-61aa962c5f39&pf_rd_r=R7RP2WR2JFDKZGV00V91&psc=1&refRID=R7RP2WR2JFDKZGV00V91

Hope this helps you out. I've read all these and they're all great. (Actually I did The Limit via audiobook. It's on Audible.)

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If he likes history and finesse, I'd recommend Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand.

I'm particularly interested in negotiation and diplomatic strategy, and this read was both what I expected and what I love. Talleyrand was arguably the greatest foreign affairs minister in Europe, having to deal with the difficulties of peace treaties while serving under one of the biggest warmongers Europe ever knew: Napoleon.

It's an amazing read, really, and it's full of little power levers, witty retorts and, of course, a lovely sense of grandeur. You mentioned in another comment that your grandpa is a devout christian. Well, to make things better, Talleyrand was an archbishop at some point in his life, before going back to secular life for less than pure reasons ;)

If anything, he's regarded as one of the masterminds of diplomacy and negotiation. This man once convinced with a single sentence all the great leaders of Europe, emperors and kings, gathered in a single room, who went out of their way to kick Napoleon's ass, to drop the idea of humiliating and dismantling France in a situation where no one was able to protect her anymore.

Ironically, I had to read the work of an English man to learn that much about that fellow Frenchman.

I found the book in the bookshelf, it's "And There Was Light" by the French Resistance hero Jacques Lusseyran.

I haven't read far enough yet to get indications of something "magical" or that he developed other skills to see like seeing by sound or such, but when reading about the book on the web, as it was referenced on many places, it seems to be a great book in many ways and I'm glad you reminded me about it.

Regarding more rigorous experiments I guess such equipment I intended to build to investigate the dowsing rods, could be useful also here, as it would be to match coordinates in space mainly I guess, for statistical analysis. Regarding the dowsing rods, I got a few old ball mice where I can use the sensor wheels for sensing the position of the rods, but that may or may not be relevant, well as an arm position sensor possibly.

Anyway, for the space coordinate measurements I've pondered long time over how to do it simply (that is not too costly) and a method I'm intending to test soon is to have highly synchronised timers, e.g. by using something like Raspberry Pi and these Arduino compatible HC-SR04 ultra sonic distance meters which have a precison of around 1cm. The timer synchronisation can be achieved through a wireless protocol. My intention is simply to separate sender and receiver. The sending side starts an ultrasonic pulse and a timer at a precise moment, which the receiving sides know (can be many for triangulation), and can thus measure 3D coordinates. However, when thinking about it Thanks 8-) it is possible to utilize the same principle reversely. One can have a fix transmitter, and then plenty of receivers which are moving, stuck to arms, legs and such and get a coordinate for each receiver. I have to test this. One can also imagine that Kinect could be useful for this, but I don't know if it has enough precision. (The Kinect doesn't require Microsoft sw, they released open source drivers so you can work with them on any system, which I guess is the reason why they have been so extremely successful, I'm a Linux user).

Edit: sorry, it must have been too early in the morning... In the latter example I claimed it would be enough with one fix sender, to estimate a lot of 3D coordinates. One need of course 3 fix senders to be able to do that, which imples that you have to lower the dynamic resolution to 1/3, by doing three separate measures in sequence. Ideally this could be performed with wideband utrasonic speakers and microphones, but then those simple and affordable HC-SR04 may not be suitable.

I don't feel qualified to answer your question directly as I haven't served in the FFL(yet), but I would recommend this book written by a veteran of the Canadian armed forces who served in the Legion from 89-94. Some of the information is probably a bit dated by now but It does a great job of giving you practical information. Even in today's internet age there isn't much hard information out there about what to expect from the Legion and IMO his book is the most useful resource I have found yet.

He discusses this subject in the book and he says that there are a lot of things that the FFL does differently from most military units that veterans of most other services would find objectionable. He warns the reader, especially veterans, to be ready to accept some pretty large departures from usual military doctrine. For example, it is apparently commonplace for NCOs to hand off their weapons to their subordinates for cleaning after range time. He also talks about how the language barrier can be a hindrance to a unit's performance. In one instance while he was deployed in Chad, a Legionnaire was given an order not to fire his weapon while on guard post under any circumstance unless getting it cleared first. He had misunderstood the order to mean that he could fire at anything WITHOUT clearance, and ended up causing an unfortunate situation for him and his unit. It's not all bad though. He praises the extremely strong bond that the between legionnaires that the Legion fosters, and acknowledges that when the fighting gets thick it is these type of familial bonds that can pull a unit through a tough situation.

I assume you're mostly looking for novels, right?

You might know Antoine de Saint-Exupery as the author of The Little Prince, but he was also one of the pioneering pilots of the early days of airmail, and wrote several short novels about flying. My favorite is Flight to Arras, but Night Flight is also worth checking out.

I've recommended Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey so many times that I'm surprised I haven't developed a reputation, but it's along similar lines, and well worth the read.

If you're into books that depict the darker side of life, there are a lot of great shorter books in roman noir and roman dur territory. Check out James Cain's Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, or Georges Simenon's Tropic Moon.

If she likes politics, a good presidential biography, such as Truman by McCullough, Team of Rivals by Goodwin, The General by Fenby or Edmund Morris' the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt are classic choices. Biographies are good choices, as they're like novels and are easy to read, whilst being intellectually stimulating.

Oh yes Mario raced under the American flag. He's a rather proud naturalized citizen.

If you mean world championship, yes Phil Hill won in 1961. A highly recommended read: http://www.amazon.com/Limit-Life-Death-Grand-Circuit/dp/0446554731

Actually the 60's were a pretty good time for US drivers. Hill, Gurney and Richie Ginther all had pretty good success. Then Revson in the early 70's until his death.

After Andretti the last remotely successful US driver was Eddie Cheever, 9 podiums but no wins.

First, I want to say that one of the first things you're taught when studying history is not to measure something as "good" or "bad", especially in a very different time and place, because then you're imposing modern sensibilities and concepts onto a period when those simply didn't exist. So saying that the medieval period was somehow worse than Rome just isn't a sound historical comparison to make.

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Now to answer your question, bad things certainly happened in the medieval period, but with them came plenty of good things. If you want an interesting historical read, this book talks about a young woman accused of poisoning her husband. If anything, the story of the trial of this woman, named Margarida de Portu, shows what a great job the church and the legal system did at protecting a young girl against a powerful man. If you're into war history, one of my favorite stories about the Hundred Years War involves the blind John of Bohemia asking to be led into battle. His men do so in order to maintain his dignity. They tie their horses to his, and at the end of the battle, the horses are found still tied together, as are the remains of the men. To a modern audience, this may seem bizarre, but it seems that the English were appreciative of the gesture; Edward III had the man's body washed, wrapped in linen and returned to Germany in a litter. This is an impressive amount of respect to show one's enemy, since most of the bodies were buried in a mass grave.

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I know there's a tendency to define the Middle Ages by the Crusades, but that simply isn't the case. Even with Europe's interference in the Crusades, if you look at books like this one, there tends to be a complicated picture of even life in Jerusalem. There was tension, of course, and rulers like Saladin were intolerant of other people, but the Mamluks in particular focused their attention on restoring Jerusalem and spreading Muslim architecture in particular. The Mamluks seemed not to have ill will towards Jews or Christians. Muslims, of course, made important contributions to things like mathematics, art, and architecture in the medieval period. On the topic of conversions, not all conversions to Christianity were bloody. The conversion of England in particular seems to have happened in relative peace.

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I'm not as brushed up on what happened in medieval Asia, so I don't feel comfortable telling you much about that, but I strongly encourage you to look into that.

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If you feel the need to compare all this to Rome, I suggest being very careful. Roman history tends to get appropriated for all sorts of sinister purposes, from British imperialism to furthering the agenda of white supremacists. Antiquity isn't really my area to study, but I'm a research assistant for my university's classics department, and I can tell you that a lot of the literature has an incredible emphasis on violence. If you want a super long example of this, I would suggest reading Silius Italicus' Punica, which is a poem retelling the Punic Wars. Of course, it's fiction, so it takes some liberties. Hannibal is regarded as one of the greatest generals of all time. This was one of my favorite sections of the poem (courtesy of the Loeb Classical Library), in which Hannibal seems very vengeful over the death of his brother Hasdrubal. Of course, Rome isn't all bad either, but my point is, it's unfair to make those moral comparisons.

It's time once again for the AskHistorians Book Giveaway! Our lucky winner this month is Trevor Davis! The selection of books we have available this month are:

• The Allure of the Archives by Arlette Farge, recommended by /u/caffarelli.
  
  
• The culture of consent: mass organisation of leisure in fascist Italy by Victoria DeGrazia, recommend by /u/sunshine_bag.
  
  
• Fit to Be Citizens?: Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879-1939 by Natalie Molina, recommended by /u/cordis_melum.
  
  
• And my own suggestion this month, The Plague Files: Crisis Management in Sixteenth-Century Seville by Alexandra Parma Cook & Noble David Cook.
  
  Want a chance to get a free book? Help support the podcast via Patreon!

Me again :) I had some more ideas.

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You might also enjoy Livy's War with Hannibal, a really exciting book about the battle between Hannibal and Fabius Maximus, and their different fighting styles (Maximus was very cunning, or maybe just considered so because he won). I have this exact edition and it's a fun read, also full of gossip about goings-on in Rome at the time.

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You could also have a look at Caesar's Conquest of Gaul: the history of his conquest, straight from the horse's mouth, as it were. I recall it being a bit dry and self-congratulatory, but hey, it's the man himself!

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If you're looking at a very realistic description of political leadership (including military), have a look at Machiavelli's Prince. Despite having a reputation that's, well, Machiavellian, it's actually a very reasonable books about attaining and keeping political power. It's very much in line with what you say about

\> not making them the perfectly good side

plus he talks a lot about his ideal Prince, the infamous Cesare Borgia (who was a condottiere, or military leader of sorts). Loads of examples about his military achievements are given.

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From modern history, De Gaulle's War Memoirs is very well-written and makes one fully realise the difficulties he faced and the responsibilities he took!

"Napoleon: A Life" and "Napoleon the Great" are the same book. The US release has a different name for some reason. This should help with price shopping. Life is a cheaper hardcover. Great is a cheaper paperback.

https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Great-Andrew-Roberts/dp/0141032014

https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts/dp/0143127853

I've learned so much more by reading personal diaries and accounts pertaining to history than any other book that tries to provide a summary. Some specific ones:

I Shall Bear Witness, the diary of a Jewish professor who barely survived WWII thanks to being married to an Aryan woman. That's the first of three volumes. Maybe the most amazing thing I've ever read.

Mary Chestnut's Civil War - the diary of a well-connected society woman living in the South during the American civil war.

Eyewitness To History - First person accounts of many historical events.

I'm in the middle of the new Mark Twain autobiography which is great too.

Anyone else have recommendations along these lines?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0688169783

The Days Of The French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert was a great narrative of the revolution that was quite easy to read.

I followed that up with Napoleon by Vincent Cronin which was a fantastic bio of Napoleon and shows how post-revolutionary france so easily fell into monarchy with Napoleon as emperor.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0006375219/ref=mp_s_a_14?qid=1335725819&sr=8-14

For one personal view, take a look at the diaries of Victor Klemperer. One volume, I Will Bear Witness, covers the years 1933-1941. Another volume covers the years 1942-1945. (I think there are four volumes in the English translation.)

Klemperer was a professor in Dresden when the Nazis came to power. He lost his position at the university due to Nazi edicts, eventually worked in a factory, was moved (with his wife, who was not classified as a Jew) to a Judenhaus, and was about to be sent to a concentration camp when Dresden was bombed by the allies. He and his wife fled in the confusion of the bombing and made their way to allied forces.

His diary gives interesting insight not only into his thought processes about the changes around him, but also some glimpse of the society around him. It's been several years since I read this, but I recall reading of his trip on a street car and his comments on the reactions of various people seeing someone wearing the yellow star (I'm sorry, but I don't remember the details of this exchange to recount it here). Another interesting detail is to read his thoughts on conversations that he had with friends who either planned to leave Germany themselves or tried to encourage him to leave. His diaries also raise questions about the identity of one's self versus the identity placed on a person by others.

I'd like to chime in and recommend you Stefan Zweig's biography of Montaigne. There's a beautiful description of Montaigne's childhood. He came from a similar family (financially secure), but reading how his father went about raising his son is very inspirational (on par with Gibran's 'On Children' in The Prophet). And don't worry, it's a short book, unlike the actual Essais.

To go along with AdonisBucklar's excellent response, I would recommend The First Total War and The Wars Against Napoleon.

The former is an excellent summary of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars directed at the idea that they represented the first 'total war' of the modern era. David A Bell does an excellent job of explaining the circumstances that led to Napoleon's hand being largely forced.

The latter is decidedly pro-Napoleon. It is a polemic book, but is a view of him that is not often encountered in America which more often takes the opposite look at him due to our strong English ties. While I may not agree with all of their justifications, it is very interesting and informative.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

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amazon.com.au

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amazon.de

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I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

I really enjoyed [this book] (http://www.amazon.com/Poilu-Notebooks-Corporal-Barrelmaker-1914-1918/dp/0300191596). Read a Dutch translation about 10 years ago but i am reading it again.

Louis Barthas, the writer, was called up in 1914 and survived the entire war. He fought at Verdun, the Somme, Champagne and The Argonne.

Anyway, great read. The reviews on amazon should tell you enough.

https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Magic-Ancient-Egypt-Rosalie/dp/0140262520 This book i found to be very interesting when talking about old egyptian history. It gives a look into early society and how they went from scattered communities to a kingdom, but it focuses on the religious aspect.

I would think a book on Napolean would be a good start, and also a book on the French Revolution.
https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts/dp/0143127853

https://www.amazon.com/Citizens-Chronicle-Revolution-Simon-Schama/dp/0679726101/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TS49J5H345TC8T3XXSS5

I'm reading a really excellent book on Napoleon at the moment. Recommended.

Napoleon: A Life

I agree. I've been reading a great deal about that period in the last year or so, both pre-1933 and post. This book, which I've read twice, shows how people didn't think Hitler would last long once he came to power.

The difference between Bevin and a head of state is that a state governor ultimately is limited in his or her power. However, when you put a fascistic narcissistic dissembler in the head of state chair, it's a very different story.

If you like non-fiction and WWI, I've been reading Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker which is amazing first-account of a a French soldier, from his conscription, to the end of the war.

Barthas is just a cooper, but his writing is amazing. He was in his 30's when he was conscripted, and he has this "I'm too old for this shit" attitude (combined with his socialist beliefs).

The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit is a great read on Phil Hill, Ken Miles, and the other drivers of the era. It delves into the Ford vs Ferrari duel as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0446554731/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_AcsEDb20YFGKQ

Poilu is another remarkable WWI memoir, written by barrelmaker Louis Barthas. The Kaiser's Reluctant Conscript is also good; Dominik Richard was a man from Alsace (one of the regions seized from France in 1871) drafted into the German army (and not very happy about it).

If you want to know more about him (and Phil Hill and the rest of F1 at the time), I cannot recommend enough The Limit. Fantastic read.

The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit

by Michael Cannell

one if the best books I've read on any subject

https://www.amazon.ca/Limit-Life-Death-Grand-Circuit/dp/0446554731#productDescription_secondary_view_div_1488207401716

My two favorites.

https://www.amazon.com/Go-Like-Hell-Ferrari-Battle/dp/0547336055/ref=sr_1_1?crid=368C6TS70KZSG&keywords=aj+baime+go+like+hell&qid=1570326528&sprefix=AJ+Ba%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Limit-Life-Death-Grand-Circuit/dp/0446554731/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1Z02C9YX16Y22&keywords=the+limit&qid=1570326512&sprefix=The+Lim%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-1

Yo, if you are at all intrigued by this, you gotta check out And There Was Light by Jacques Lusseyran. It's the autobiography of a blind member of the French Resistance during WWII, and it is an amazing book.

Unfortunately, I think it's gone out of print recently. There are 37 copies left on [Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/And-There-Was-Light-Autobiography/dp/B00AZ8KI22), though, and the good news is that they are hella cheap.

It's on Amazon for anywhere from $12.19 for paperback to $27.44 for hardback and $15.99 for Kindle.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts/dp/0143127853/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484429520&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Napoleon%3A+A+Life%3B+Hardcover%3B+Author+-+Andrew+Roberts

Here's an amazon links for everything I can think of:

[The Burning of the World by Bela Zombory-Moldovan] (https://www.amazon.com/Burning-World-Memoir-Review-Classics/dp/1590178092)

[Poilu by Louis Barthas] (https://www.amazon.com/Poilu-Notebooks-Corporal-Barrelmaker-1914-1918/dp/0300191596/ref=pd_sim_b_22?ie=UTF8&refRID=08182FWK7NN6N9QSEAF7)

[Infantry Attacks by Erwin Rommel] (https://www.amazon.com/Infantry-Attacks-Marshall-Erwin-Rommel/dp/1607963353)

[Outside Verdun by Arnold Zweig] (https://www.amazon.com/Outside-Verdun-Arnold-Zweig/dp/1908754524)

[Storm of Steel by Ernst Juenger] (https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Steel-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0142437905)

[Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves] (https://www.amazon.com/Good-Bye-That-Autobiography-Robert-Graves/dp/0385093306)

http://www.amazon.com/Marie-Antoinette-Journey-Antonia-Fraser/product-reviews/0385489498/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

Lady Antonia Fraser (wonder if you can get more questionable than her) has a vested interest in rewriting that part of history because of how relevant it is to now. Her father is Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies, which was merged over time into Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs held currently by William Hague. Lady Antonia Fraser is an apologist for past elites, she tries to have us "understand" the actions of elites that think they act divinely (even if it's the devil they whisper their allegiance to). She defends Oliver Cromw

>rightist

There is no "rightist". Fascism is just economic leftism with some nationalism and racism tossed in for good measure. Mussolini was a life-long socialist, and Hitler ordered that all communists be automatically allowed to join the Nazi party because they had so much in common. Even Victor Klemperer remarked that the differences between the Nazis and the Bolsheviks were trivial.

Napoleon by Vincent Cronin

http://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Vincent-Cronin/dp/0006375219/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1417095263&sr=8-4&keywords=Napoleon

the limit

For 1961, there's a book worth reading about Phil Hill and von Trips, The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit

reading this rn, about Napoleon

https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts/dp/0143127853

then on to Adorno
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0745611796/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Memoirs-Charles-Gaulle-English/dp/0786705469

In Victor Klemperer's diary published in volumes from 1933 to 1941 and from 1942 to 1945, he describes how even in Germany small pockets of the Jewish population remained all the way to the end. Every week a few were picked up from his friends' circle never to return, and as early as 1941 he writes it was generally known that if you went to these camps, you died.

Klemperer himself was a jew who fell between the cracks of subsequent waves of arrests. He a) was married to a German woman, b) had converted to Protestantism before WWI, c) had served in the German army during WWI and most importantly d) they had no children, so hadn't "produced mixed offspring" (families with mixed children were prioritized for the camps). Hitler himself had signed laws giving a special pension to WWI veterans, so Klemperer created a head scratcher for nazi bureaucrats who didn't know how to deal with it, so they always let him go after questioning.

Amazingly enough, he was saved by the Dresden bombing. Klemperer lived in the outskirts of Dresden, and could flee to allied territory when the city was in chaos after the firebombing.

Interesting! Didn't mean to correct you in a negative way. Here is the version I read:

https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts/dp/0143127853/ref=asc_df_0143127853/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312021252609&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=416878126582658830&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001934&hvtargid=pla-435230722737&psc=1