Volker Ullrich - Hitler: Downfall: 1939-1945

I have many people to thank for the fact that the concluding volume of this biography could appear in Germany in the autumn of 2018 and is now also available in English translation. My gratitude begins with the staff of the archives who offered their friendly assistance during my research: Beatrix Diestel at the Bundesarchiv-Militrarchiv in Freiburg, Annegret Neupert at the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz, Torsten Zarwel at the Bundesarchiv in Berlin-Lichterfelde, Klaus A. Lankheit at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich and Marlies Hertig at the Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv in Bern.

Once again I must thank Mirjam Zimmer and Kerstin Wilhelms at the documentation department of Die Zeit newspaper and Karl-Otto Schtt, the librarian at the Forschungsstelle fr Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg, who were very helpful to me in procuring literature.

In addition, I am grateful to Walter H. Pehle, editor of many years at S. Fischer, who saw the project he originally suggested through to its conclusion with constant friendly attention, reading the manuscript and selecting the pictures. Thanks are also due to his successor Tanja Hommen for her thorough editing.

I owe particular thanks to my colleague at Die Zeit, Benedikt Erenz, who went over the page proofs with the practiced eyes of an editor and whose critical suggestions greatly benefitted the text.

My greatest thanks, however, go to my wife, Gudrun, and my son, Sebastian, with whom I had many long conversations during my eight-year engagement with this terrible figure. Without their constant encouragement, questions and suggestions, this second volume would also never have been written.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Jefferson Chase for another very dedicated translation and Jrg Hensgen for seeing this volume through with great care to publication with The Bodley Head.

Volker Ullrich

Hamburg

November 2019