Four Years of Nazi Torture

Ernst Winkler, a soldier and pilot under the Weimar Republic, resigned when Hitler came into power and accepted a position as one of the leaders of the Catholic Youth Movement. In 1934, he was arrested by the Gestapo when he refused army service because, as a devout Catholic, he opposed the Nazis, and subjected to a series of concentration camps and all manner of physical brutalities.

On his return to his family in 1938, Winkler found them divided, his brothers Nazified. He left home and became part of the underground movement, broadcasting from mobile Freedom stations. Eventually, he was forced to escape to Switzerland, then over to France, and from France into Spain; his wife followed, and they reached their final destination by steamer: the United States.

Four Years of Nazi Torture, which was first published during World War II in 1942, is author Ernst Winkler’s gruelling personal account of punishment without crime under the Nazi regime.

“A terrible story—simply told”—Kirkus Reviews