Christian HardinghausGerman historian and author of books on World War II, true crime and propaganda
I write about how people live through war, crime and propaganda, and how they remember it afterwards. Most of my books are about the Second World War, told by the Germans who lived through it: soldiers, child soldiers, women, refugees. I also investigate unsolved disappearances and the ways propaganda works on us.
- 100+ eyewitness interviews
- PhD in propaganda research
- 12 books in English
Why I listen to the last witnesses
My grandparents came from East and West Prussia. They lived through the war, flight and expulsion, and their stories were where my questions began. Today I work with archives, oral history and the methods of a journalist: every account is checked against documents.
What interests me is not only what happened, but how people experienced it, what they kept silent about, and how they told it decades later.
Books in English
All books →World War II from a German Point of View · six volumes
The Cursed GenerationWehrmacht veterans talk for the last time.
Hitler’s Lost BoysGerman child soldiers of 1944–45.- Hitler’s Betrayed DaughtersGerman women remember the war.
- The Wolf GirlA wolf child from East Prussia survives alone.
- Ferdinand SauerbruchA surgeon in Nazi Berlin.
- The Iron Cross BargainLetters from the Eastern Front, 1941.
Novels · True crime · Film
- The Charité SpySpy novel set in Berlin’s Charité hospital.
The Tunnel Beneath the WallCities of Shadow, book 2.- In Annemarie’s EyesA novel of the Eastern Front.
- Still Lost in PanamaThe case of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon. With Annette Nenner.
- Crowdsolving True Crime FilesUnsolved cases for websleuths.
- The Key to Mulholland DriveDavid Lynch’s film, decoded.
Research and reference works
World War II
Eyewitness history, and four free reference works for anyone reading German letters, pay books or unit histories.
- Command & Compliance · organizations of the Nazi state
- Rank & Reputation · ranks of Wehrmacht, SS and party
- Color & Corps · branch colors
- Combat & Chains · unit structure
True Crime & Forensics
Missing persons, cold cases and digital evidence, researched from files and data rather than rumor.
- Still Vanished · encyclopedia of unsolved cases
- Panama: digital forensics · phones, camera, timeline
- Kremers & Froon case lexicon
Manipulation & Propaganda
How propaganda works, from the Second World War to today’s feeds. My doctoral research, explained with examples instead of jargon.
- Outsmarted · propaganda techniques A–Z
- Mindfuck movie list · films that deceive their viewers
Current investigation: Panama
In April 2014, the Dutch students Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon disappeared on the Pianista trail near Boquete, Panama. Together with my co-author Annette Nenner, who spent six months researching on site, I am still working on the case: the phone logs, the night photos, the official investigation.
Journal, press and contact
I also publish in German, with Piper and Europa Verlag. The German site is available through the language switch in the menu. On YouTube: @HardinghausBooks.
