Für Volk and Führer: The Memoir of a Veteran of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamed of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen—SS unit. Tall, blond, blue—eyed, and just seventeen—years—old, Erwin fulfilled his dream on Mayday 1941, when he gave up his apprenticeship at the Glaser Bakery in Memeler Strasse and walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw, volunteer recr...