About Me

My photo
Author, film researcher and member of the Swedish Military History Commission.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Bruno Manz Lived Here

One of the great moments during this summer´s Narvik trip was to see the house which during WWII was the first German military HQ in front of the Swedish border town (village) of Riksgränsen. During the closing months of WWII one very special German soldier lived in this house: Bruno Manz.

It is in my opinion one of the most important and moving books to emerge from WWII: A Mind in Prison by Bruno Manz.

The house in Norway (Björnfjell, Narvik region) where Bruno Manz lived during the final days of WWII. I am holding a copy of Bruno´s memoirs. PHOTO: Mikael Norman

Mr. Manz has recorded not only his wartime tour of Finland and Norway in the German air force and army (he was transferred from the air force) and what it was like travelling through Sweden as a German soldier. His book is also a strong father-son story and a thought-provoking description of how propaganda works. One of the most memorable passages of the book is about his emotions in April-May 1945. This part of the book takes place mostly in Björnfjell, where he stayed in the above house.

A Mind in Prison made such a strong impression in me that I strongly recommended it be translated. The result was a Swedish version, Fångad av hakkorset.
created by at
Labels: , , , , ,

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous6 November 2011 at 14:55

    I'm still reading the book and love it. His story is not as harrowing as Guy Sajer's in "The Forgotten Soldier", but I like his perspective. With six years in the German military he must have had many stories to tell. Instead he took a more global perspective of his life. Many authors of the period tell us just about their wartime experiences but Bruno tells the whole story from mental enslavement to spiritual freedom. I also like his view of America. Not that we are perfect but that we are special and we should be thankful for what we have. Bruno's book should be required reading for every high school student. Jim S., Charleston, South Carolina

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7 February 2012 at 21:33

    Very, very good book. Reading it for the third time at the moment.

    However, i wonder if Bruno is still alive? Would be interesting to know.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lars Gyllenhaal9 February 2012 at 14:44

    Hi,

    I have just requested Mr. Manz to reply here.

    Cheers,

    Lars

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous15 February 2012 at 19:37

    Thank you! I planed on writing an essey regarding this subject in school. It would be very interesting to Mr. Manz. If you want to I can give you my mail and we'll keep contact there!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rosa Sala Rose27 December 2012 at 17:27

    Hi,

    I was also very impressed by Mr. Manz's book and I hate to see it so rarely quoted by scholars, since I consider it such a valuable testimony. So thank's to contribute to let people know him better through your blog!

    I am a Spanish writer on Nazism and I started recently my own blog in English. My last post was devoted to his "A mind in prison". You will find it here: http://rosasalarose.com/?p=108

    Best regards,

    Rosa Sala Rose

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous16 June 2016 at 05:14

    Dr. Manz passed away last December.

    http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/abqjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=176824605

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown6 April 2022 at 21:14

    I met Dr. Manz several times, he was friends with my best friends father (Who was also recruited under Project Paperclip.) Dr. Manz's son and I were also on our high schools soccer team. Dr. Manz did a book signing and talked about his book at a bookstore here in Albuquerque shortly after the book was published, I was fortunate to attend.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lars Gyllenhaal14 April 2022 at 08:31

    Thank you for your feedback.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)