Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Audiobook8 hours
A Crime in the Family: A World War II Secret Buried in Silence--and My Search for the Truth
Written by Sacha Batthyany
Narrated by Christopher Oxford
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
A memoir of brutality, heroism, and personal discovery from Europe's dark heart, revealing one of the most extraordinary untold stories of World War II
One night in March of 1945, on the Austrian-Hungarian border, a local countess hosted a party in her mansion, where guests and local Nazi leaders mingled. The war was almost over and the German aristocrats and SS officers dancing and drinking knew it was lost. Around midnight, some of the guests were asked to "take care" of 180 Jewish enslaved laborers at the train station; they made them strip naked and shot them all before returning to the bright lights of the party. It was another one of the war's countless atrocities buried in secrecy for decades–until Sacha Batthyany started investigating what happened that night at the party his great aunt hosted.
A Crime in the Family is the author's memoir of confronting his family's past, the questions he raised and the answers he found that took him far beyond his great aunt's party: through the dark past of Nazi Germany to the gulags of Siberia, the bleak streets of Cold War Budapest, and to Argentina, where he finds an Auschwitz survivor whose past intersects with his family's. It is the story of executioners and victims, villains and heroes.
Told partly through the surviving family journals, A Crime in the Family is a disquieting and moving memoir, a powerful true story told by an extraordinary writer confronting the dark past of his family–and humanity.
Unavailable
Related to A Crime in the Family
Related audiobooks
Those Who Forget Stormtroopers: A New History of Hitler's Brownshirts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Boy Soldiers: How My Father's Generation Was Trained to Kill and Sent to Die for Germany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUrchin at War: The Tale of a Leipzig Rascal and his Lutheran Granny under Bombs in Nazi Germany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDevil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Europe Against the Jews: 1880-1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMasters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Assassin: How a Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down the Butcher of Latvia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Surviving Katyn: Stalin's Polish Massacre and the Search for Truth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Borrowed Time: Survivors of Nazi Terezín Remember Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe in the Desperate Closing Months of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When We Cease to Understand the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Odessa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stalin, Volume II: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Letter: A Father's Struggle, A Daughter's Quest and the Long Shadow of the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944-45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill's German Army: The Germans who fought for Britain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Hitler's Munich: Jews, the Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Travelers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism: 1919-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Endpapers: A Family Story of Books, War, Escape, and Home Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Prevail until the Bitter End: Germans in the Waning Years of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hitler's Children: Sons and Daughters of Third Reich Leaders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic: The Rise of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Wars & Military For You
77 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related podcast episodes
How April 1945 Proved to Be 'Hinge of History' 0% found this document usefulWhoever Saves One Life, Saves the Entire World—A Secret History of Leica: Encore episode 0% found this document usefulBojan Aleksov, "Jewish Refugees in the Balkans, 1933-1945" (Brill, 2023): An interview with Bojan Aleksov 0% found this document usefulBojan Aleksov, "Jewish Refugees in the Balkans, 1933-1945" (Brill, 2023): An interview with Bojan Aleksov 0% found this document usefulHow Canada Became a Nazi Haven | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer 0% found this document usefulHow Canada Became a Nazi Haven 0% found this document usefulBojan Aleksov, "Jewish Refugees in the Balkans, 1933-1945" (Brill, 2023): An interview with Bojan Aleksov 0% found this document usefulS0206 Sanatorium Under The Sign of the Hourglass by Bruno Schulz 0% found this document usefulBOMBING HITLER'S HOMETOWN: 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries 0% found this document usefulTraitors and treachery: Historical figures branded traitors 0% found this document usefulRainer Sonntag, Vladimir Putin, and the German Far Right 0% found this document useful
Related articles
A Village in the Third Reich The OldieArticle
A Village in the Third Reich
May 4, 2022
Elliott & Thompson £25 Take a small English country town – Sherborne, say, or Kendal – picture-postcard cute and surrounded by beautiful landscape. Then imagine it after a defeat in war, a sixth of its men dead, chaos in the capital, hyper-inflation
3 min readThey Thought They’d Be Going Home. Instead They Were Shot The Big IssueArticle
They Thought They’d Be Going Home. Instead They Were Shot
Apr 18, 2022
3 min read'Travelers In The Third Reich' Examines Outsiders Views Of Hitler's Germany The Christian Science MonitorArticle
'Travelers In The Third Reich' Examines Outsiders Views Of Hitler's Germany
Aug 14, 2018
Similar books have been attempted before, but this one stands out due to both its the breadth of its investigation and the palpable tone of frustration that runs through it.
3 min readMichael Wood On… BBC History MagazineArticle
Michael Wood On…
Feb 17, 2022
Recently, I saw the absolutely enthralling new production of Cabaret, which tells the tale of American writer Cliff Bradshaw in 1930s Berlin. This musical chronicles Bradshaw’s relationship with nightclub singer Sally Bowles, the fictional alter ego
3 min readThe Bitter Taste Of Victory BBC History MagazineArticle
The Bitter Taste Of Victory
Apr 16, 2020
9 min readFront-row Seat To History World War IIArticle
Front-row Seat To History
May 11, 2021
1 min readPutin’s Big Lie The AtlanticArticle
Putin’s Big Lie
Jan 5, 2020
7 min readOnce Dada, now Abba New Zealand ListenerArticle
Once Dada, now Abba
Oct 30, 2023
2 min readThe Masterpiece No One Wanted to Save The AtlanticArticle
The Masterpiece No One Wanted to Save
Feb 9, 2023
9 min readDeath Comes For The Gruppenführer The AtlanticArticle
Death Comes For The Gruppenführer
Sep 27, 2018
6 min readGermany's 'Babylon Berlin' Crime Series Is Like 'Cabaret' On Cocaine NPRArticle
Germany's 'Babylon Berlin' Crime Series Is Like 'Cabaret' On Cocaine
Jan 30, 2018
2 min readBeneath The Horror The OldieArticle
Beneath The Horror
Apr 3, 2024
3 min readMissing Monuments Manhattan InstituteArticle
Missing Monuments
Sep 21, 2017
3 min readStrategic Scapegoat World War IIArticle
Strategic Scapegoat
Apr 2, 2019
2 min readWilling Accomplice World War IIArticle
Willing Accomplice
May 11, 2021
2 min readNew Light On Kristallnacht BBC History MagazineArticle
New Light On Kristallnacht
Sep 30, 2021
4 min readPoland Memorializes Romani & Sinti Genocide World Coin NewsArticle
Poland Memorializes Romani & Sinti Genocide
Sep 18, 2019
1 min readBeyond The Wall The OldieArticle
Beyond The Wall
Jun 28, 2023
EAST GERMANY, 1949-1990 Allen Lane, 496pp, £25 Beyond the Wall ‘aims to show that real people lived real lives in a Germany that for forty years was utterly distinct from its neighbour to the west – and that this other Germany offered “opportunity an
1 min readIn Nazism, Joseph Roth Saw the End of Europe’s Cosmopolitan Dream Literary HubArticle
In Nazism, Joseph Roth Saw the End of Europe’s Cosmopolitan Dream
Oct 7, 2019
8 min readCommentary: Selective Outrage Won't Do Los Angeles TimesArticle
Commentary: Selective Outrage Won't Do
May 10, 2018
Nothing stays above politics forever, not even the Holocaust. Last week, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was caught spewing anti-Semitic vitriol, including the notion that Jews were responsible for the Holocaust. The denunciations from American Jewi
3 min readThe Man Who Started The War World War IIArticle
The Man Who Started The War
Dec 4, 2018
11 min readWhat Was Lost BBC History MagazineArticle
What Was Lost
Mar 16, 2023
In October 1938, some 6,500 Jews living in Germany were arrested without warning and dumped by police outside the Polish frontier village of Zbąszyń. At first, the surprised Polish border guards denied them entry but, after a standoff, these wretched
2 min readBeyond Belief New Zealand ListenerArticle
Beyond Belief
Jul 4, 2021
2 min readFrom A Picnic To The Berlin Wall: My 1989 Summer Of Revolution The GuardianArticle
From A Picnic To The Berlin Wall: My 1989 Summer Of Revolution
Aug 31, 2019
6 min readThe Sound Of Music New Zealand ListenerArticle
The Sound Of Music
Jan 19, 2020
‘Inconceivable, really, that someone should care that much about classical music that they should forbid its being played … a weird kind of flattery, being banned by the Nazis.” That’s a line from the 2009 documentary made by New Zealand actor and fi
8 min readNine Books To Read To Understand The War In Ukraine The AtlanticArticle
Nine Books To Read To Understand The War In Ukraine
Mar 11, 2022
8 min readThe Bureaucracy Of Evil BBC History MagazineArticle
The Bureaucracy Of Evil
Dec 23, 2020
2 min readBlue Bloods And Brownshirts The Critic MagazineArticle
Blue Bloods And Brownshirts
Apr 29, 2021
THE GERMAN ARISTOCRACY entered the twentieth century in several shapes and sizes. A whole slew of monarchs, grand dukes, mediatised princes and landgraves had survived Bismarck’s unification of the country. Prussian Protestant aristocrats remained lo
5 min readIn A Nutshell History RevealedArticle
In A Nutshell
Sep 29, 2022
3 min readPower Trip World War IIArticle
Power Trip
Aug 31, 2021
5 min read
Reviews for A Crime in the Family
Rating: 3.6578946526315796 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
19 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just how far down the family line does the effects of horror trickle down? Is it stain permanently marked on ones soul? This young author delves deeply into his own family history honestly and and with many pointed questions. A Crime in the Family takes a hard look at family and lives lived during WW2. He does not hold back as he could easily have done, and holds the readers interest.