Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934 - 1941, an Unparalleled Eyewitness Account of Hitler's Germany - Couverture rigide

William Lawrence Shirer (February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist, war correspondent, and historian, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history of Nazi Germany which has been widely read and cited in scholarly works for over fifty years. Originally a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, Shirer was the first reporter hired by Edward R. Murrow for what would become a team of journalists for CBS radio. Shirer became famous for his broadcasts from Berlin, from the rise of the Nazi dictatorship through the first year of World War II. With Murrow, Shirer organized the first broadcast world news roundup, a format still followed by major news broadcasts. Shirer's other books include his three volume autobiography, “Twentieth Century Journey.” He was European correspondent for the Chicago Tribune from 1925 to 1932, covering assignments in Europe, the Near East and India. Shirer lived and worked in France for several years beginning in 1925. He left in the early 1930s but returned frequently to Paris throughout the decade. He lived and worked in the Third Reich from 1934 to 1940. As a print journalist first and later as a radio reporter for CBS, Shirer covered the strengthening of one-party rule in Nazi Germany beginning in 1934. Shirer reported on Adolf Hitler's peacetime triumphs like the return of the Saarland to Germany and the re-militarization of the Rhineland. Shirer was the first of the group that would be called "Murrow's Boys" — the broadcast journalists who provided outstanding news coverage during World War II and afterward. CBS's prohibition on its correspondents talking on the radio ended in March 1938. Shirer was in Vienna on March 11, 1938 when the German annexation of Austria (Anschluss), took place after weeks of mounting pressure by Nazi Germany on the Austrian government. As the only American broadcaster in the Austrian capital at the time, Shirer had a major scoop, but lacked the facilities to report the momentous events of the Anschluss to his CBS radio audience. He was not permitted to broadcast by occupying German troops controlling the Austrian state radio studio. At Murrow's suggestion, Shirer flew to London via Berlin — he recalled in Berlin Diary that the direct flight to London was filled with Jews frantically trying to escape German-occupied Austria. Once in London, Shirer broadcast the first uncensored eyewitness account of the annexation. Meanwhile, Murrow flew from London to Vienna to cover for Shirer.

Here is the first uncensored and intimate account of Germany in the Second World War. Here is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of a great foreign correspondent, in which he tells the things he saw and experienced during the seven terrible years in which Hitler rose to power and conquered most of the continent. Millions of Americans who listened to William L. Shirer's remarkable broadcasts from Berlin and other European cities can read the things that couldn't be said through censored microphones. Nowadays, the name of William L. Shirer is virtually a household word among those interested in the study of his era. This is because of the publication in 1960 of his authoritative masterpiece, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". Shirer had been virtually the only correspondent able to report on the startling events which occurred during the period 1934 to 1940, with the rise to power and eventual domination by Adolph Hitler. Shirer had been near to Hitler during this period and he almost alone was able to report first hand on the startling events of that period. Shirer was the only Western Correspondent in Vienna on March 11, 1938 when the German Troops marched in and took over Austria. Shirer alone was the one who reported the surrender by France to Germany on June 22, 1940, even before the Germans reported it. During this entire time, Shirer kept a diary, a record of events many of which could not be publicly reported because of censorship by the Germans. In December 1940, Shirer learned that the Germans were building a case against him for espionage, which was punishable by death. Shirer did the right thing: He escaped and fortunately was able to take most of his diary with him.