About the Book
This docu-drama presents the story of Claus von Stauffenberg's assassination and coup attempt against Hitler on 20th July 1944 with perhaps greater clarity and psychological insight than any straight factual account could succeed in conveying.
Table of Contents:
List of illustrations between pages 134 - 135Alexander, Claus and Berthold von Stauffenberg in the Old Castle in Stuttgart, 1913Berthold, Alexander and Claus von Stauffenberg at Lautingen, 1917Garden at Lautingen, 1917. From the left: Alexander, Claus and Berhtold Stauffenberg with their parentsCourtyard at Lautingen, 1917: the three Stauffenberg brothers, Claus (on donkey), Alexander (with hat) and Berthold (on box)The circle around Stefan George in the Gatekeeper's lodge of the Berlin-Grunewald villa, November 1924Claus and Berthold Stauffenberg and their mother in Lautingen, 1928Nina and Claus von Stauffenberg leaving St. James's church at Bamberg after their wedding on 26th September 1933Stauffenberg with his children in Lautingen, 1943Stauffenberg with his two sons, Franz Ludwig and Heimeran in Wuppertal, 1940Stauffenberg in uniform before the Second World WarStauffenberg (left), on manoeuvres in 1930General Ludwig Beck, former staff chief of the German army, who resigned his commission in 1938 in protest against Hitler and subsequently took part in the July rebellionGeneral Major Henning von Tresckow, one of the leading figures in the July rebellionRommel (centre) visiting the 10th Panzer division commandpost on 19th February 1943 in Africa. Stauffenberg on Rommel's leftLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSHelmuth James von Moltke, leader of the Kreisau Circle, associated with the July rebellionGeneral Major Henning von Tresckow, a leading figure in the conspiracy against HitlerThe old guard of the Nazi party members salute Hitler on 8th November 1943 in the Lowenbraukeller, Munich, on 20th anniversary of the attempted putsch against the Bavarian government. To the right of Hitler is Hermann GoringAxel von der Busche, 1943, who volunteered to blow himself up together with HitlerStauffenberg and Colonel von Quirnheim at Winniza in the Ukraine, 1942Olympic games in Berlin 1936: the masses greet HitlerHitler discussing a model for a new administrative building in Weimar with chief architect, von Speer, in 1936Brigandier Baron von Broich and Stauffenburg at the 10th Panzer division command post in Kasserine station on 20th February 1943Meeting between Stauffenberg and Hitler at the Wolf's Lair 5 days before the assassination attemptExalted, Hitler receives the new of the French offer for an armistice, close to Bruly de Peche in Belgium on 17th June 1940Hitler at the peak of his power delivering a speech in the Berliner Sportspalast to 12,000 officers on 28th September 1942A decrepit Hitler, Summer of 1944 at the BerghofHitler receiving Mussolini at the train station in Restenburg, close to the Wolf's Lair, only 3 hours after the assassination attemptLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSHitler and Mussolini amongst the destruction of the Speer barracks of 20th July 1944Claus von Stauffenberg shortly before 20th July 1944Hitler at the Wolf's Lair making his radio broadcast to the German people on the night of 20th July 1944A shaken Hitler together with Goring shortly after the assassination attemptThe destroyed trousers of Hitler after the assassination attempt on 20th July 1944CONTENTSAuthor's Introductory Note page - 3Part I 19th July 1944 page - 13Part II 20th July 1944 page - 137List of Characters page - 211
About the Author :
Stig Dalager is one of the leading lights of contemporary Danish literature, the author of novels, plays for the theatre, radio, and TV, film scripts, volumes of poetry, and belles-lettres. He is also the editor of a leading cultural magazine. His novel, Journey in Blue, was nominated for the Impac Prize 2008. His works have been published and/or staged in over 20 countries. Two Days in July is the first documentary novel to deal with the attempted coup staged by German officers during the Second World War which came within a hair's breadth of success. Had it not been thwarted, it could have been a turning point in the war and changed the course of world history. On that day, 20th July 1944, a small group of German officers, supported by German officials, undertook the only organised attempt by the Germans to unseat the Nazi regime. In so doing, they gave the lie to the impression of apparently unanimous support for the Hitler regime both among the German people and in the German army. After the war Winston Churchill paid tribute to the action of these German officers and officials as one of the few true heroic actionsA" of the war.
Review :
Leading reviews from the Danish & German press - The documentary-fiction of Stig Dalager is deeply fascinating as well as intriguing both as an elementary exciting tale and as a demonstration of the psychological and sociological factors which together influence human lives, and at some point with immense consequences for the world. The portrait of Hitler has an especially deep impact: the psychopath, whose illness makes him blind to the normal ethics of good and evil.A" Jyllandsposten"Dalager draws a penetrating portrait of Hitler and raises a wonderful memorial for the men who fought in vain against the evil". Der neue Tag Perhaps the Danish writer, Stig Dalager, found the real human being behind the hero's image. Punctually on the 60th anniversary at the end of June appeared the German translation of the novel Two Days in July. The days around the bomb attack are portrayed in two perspectives: Stauffenberg's and Hitler's. Dalager's Fuhrer is a pitiable almost whimpering figure, looking back to his childhood, and conscious of the prospect of his downfall. Parallel to that, the romantic Stauffenberg in his self-imposed role of hero, experiences delusions of grandeur, fanaticism, and contempt for Adolf Hitler, all going hand-in-hand psychologically in order for him to succeed in his mission. Stauffenberg is obsessed. The picture which emerges of him is less heroic or sympathetic than usually portrayed but because of that is more credible.Matthias Lohre in Das Parliament
