Product Description

Gerhard Bast was found shot in an abandoned bunker in northern Italy close to the Austrian frontier in April, 1947. Martin Pollack, his son, was then three and has no memories of his father. A middle-ranking SS officer, Bast had been on the run since the end of the war. He was an early member of both SS and Nazi Party and during the war commanded small Einsatzkommandos in the Caucasus and in Poland. He ends the war involved in murderous rear guard actions and atrocities in Slovakia. In attempting to piece together his father's life, Pollack assembles the memories of family and friends - who all remain extreme German nationalists until they die - and confronts the past by carefully reconstructing their lives with an extraordinary historical investigation. Pollack digs deeply into the archives and travels to the places important in the history of the Bast family and in his father's Nazi career. It is a painful personal journey which Pollack describes, one he had put off for a long time, until he was well into his 50's. The result is remarkable both as history and as a family memoir.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2404099 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
"'The author's skilful melding of archival research and unfolding revelations makes a gripping story.' Annette Kobak, Sunday Times"

About the Author
Martin Pollack, born in Austria in 1944, is a highly acclaimed journalist, editor, writer and translator. The Dead Man in the Bunker is his third book, and the first to be published in English.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
The basic premise behind this book -- journalist summons up the courage to investigate exactly what his father did as a member of the SS during the war -- is rather undermined by the fact that he comes up with very few answers. This book starts with a detailed look at the German-speaking area (now part of Slovenia) where the author's father and grandfather grew up and how tensions increased in the 1930s as Germans became more nationalistic and started clashing with the locals. But the author draws a big blank when it comes to the centre of this work. It turns out he has very little idea what his father did during the war. He might have been involved in horrific massacres and war crimes, and then again, he might not. We see various photos of the SS man and then hear that his son has no idea when the photo was taken or what it really shows. There is far too much speculation and guesswork here to make this work anything more than of marginal interest.