World Enemy No. 1

[An] arresting and deeply researched new book – Ian Buruma * The New Yorker *
A history of World War II closely focused on its true epicenter: the Russian front … An essential contribution to the modern literature of what Russians still call the Great Patriotic War * Kirkus (starred review) *
It takes courage, as well as tremendous talent and dedication, to tell this story with so much empathy, eloquence, and insight. World Enemy No. 1 is a magnificent memorial to both the victims and the victors – Yuri Slezkine, author of The Jewish Century
In World Enemy No. 1, Jochen Hellbeck, a pioneering historian of Stalinism, has turned his attention to the German-Soviet genesis of the Holocaust. The book breaks new ground by shifting the focus from some primordial German hatred of Jews to the fierce political competition between Hitler’s fascism and Soviet Communism, which Hitler re-coded as ‘Jewish Bolshevism’ – Keith Gessen, author of A Terrible Country
In this passionate, original history, Jochen Hellbeck explores how Adolf Hitler fused his twin obsessions against Jews and Communists into a global battle to the death. A vivid, sometimes terrifying account of the Nazi crusade on the Eastern front - a war like no other – Victoria de Grazia, historian, Columbia University
Essential reading. Jochen Hellbeck brilliantly demonstrates how German brutality, recorded and retold by Soviet journalists and historians in the field, shattered Soviet citizens, enraged them, and mobilized them to fight back with bitter intensity. Hellbeck masterfully explains what made World War II on the Eastern front so destructive and why this matters today. A tour de force of historical writing – Paul Hanebrink, author of A Specter Haunting Europe
Jochen Hellbeck courageously sets out to restore the Soviet role in the defeat of Nazism. Soviet suffering, the colossal loss of more than 26 million Soviet citizens in their four-year war against Hitler, has been largely erased from public memory. Without excusing the pathologies and atrocities of the Stalinist system, Hellbeck unfolds the tragic tale of how a despotic regime saved the democratic world – Ron Suny, author of Stalin: Passage to Revolution

Jochen Hellbeck is Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University, specializing in modern Russia, the Soviet Union, and the history of World War II. The recipient of multiple prestigious fellowships, he is the acclaimed author of Stalingrad: The City That Defeated the Third Reich, Revolution on My Mind: Writing a Diary under Stalin, and the online project “Facing Stalingrad”. He lives in Brooklyn.

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