Author: Prit Buttar (Osprey Publishing, HB, 2013)
Price: £20
Collectible status: Abingdon-based author Prit Buttar signed these first edition copies at a special event in the Mostly Books garden on June 6, 2013.
In 2010, Abingdon GP and military history enthusiast Dr Prit Buttar published 'Battleground Prussia'. Stemming from an interview with an elderly patient almost seven years previously, the book was based on years of original research, first-hand interviews and brilliant analysis. It met with significant critical acclaim as one of the most important English-language books to appear on the subject in recent times.
Now, in 'Between Giants', Prit has published 'Between Giants', the story of how the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia fared, caught between the Soviet empire and the Third Reich.
In a special event at Mostly Books on June 6, 2013, Prit discussed how the book came to be written - and told the moving stories he had uncovered about some of the heroes - and villains - who had such a big impact on each of the States.
Price: £20
Collectible status: Abingdon-based author Prit Buttar signed these first edition copies at a special event in the Mostly Books garden on June 6, 2013.
In 2010, Abingdon GP and military history enthusiast Dr Prit Buttar published 'Battleground Prussia'. Stemming from an interview with an elderly patient almost seven years previously, the book was based on years of original research, first-hand interviews and brilliant analysis. It met with significant critical acclaim as one of the most important English-language books to appear on the subject in recent times.
Now, in 'Between Giants', Prit has published 'Between Giants', the story of how the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia fared, caught between the Soviet empire and the Third Reich.
In a special event at Mostly Books on June 6, 2013, Prit discussed how the book came to be written - and told the moving stories he had uncovered about some of the heroes - and villains - who had such a big impact on each of the States.
Prit spoke movingly of some of the soldiers stories, explained the politics and forces behind what happened - which still impacts significantly on how history is seen today. The writing is difficult to read in places. The chilling brutality of Franz Walter Stahlecker needs to be set against the quietly moving and inspirational figure of Anton Schmid, an Austrian who helped saved many Jews, and whose letter to his family on learning that he was to be executed is as devastating as it is heroic.
On the evening, one of the audience brought two letters written to families, from German soldiers caught up when the Soviets retook the Baltics States. A special moment - the letters had been found unexpectedly in a jumble sale only a few weeks before...
