Hans Herlin (1925–December 20, 1994) was a German

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. Born in

Stadtlohn Stadtlohn (; ) is a city in western Münsterland in the northwest of North Rhine-Westphalia, and is a district town of the Borken administrative district. The city had a population of 20,746 inhabitants as of 2020.North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

(Germany), he was drafted into the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and trained as a pilot. In 1944 he fled to Switzerland and lived in France from 1972. He started a writing career as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and worked his way up to become

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edi ...

of ''Molden'', one of Germany's largest publishing houses. In 1961 he wrote a detailed account of the ''

St Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

'' voyage with 900+ Jewish refugees from Hamburg to Cuba and on to Antwerp, called "Kein gelobtes Land". In 1972 he began writing books full time, and in 1975 published his best known novel ''Commemorations'' (''Freunde''), about "Nazi skeletons in the national closet"."Commemorations by Hans Herlin," ''Time'', October 10, 1975 ''Commemorations'' was published in the United States in 1975 by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

. His books have been published in more than 18 countries. Herlin died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at age 68, at his home in Autun,Burgundy on December 20, 1994.

List of Novels

*''Udet, eines Mannes Leben und die Geschichte seiner Zeit'' (1958) ( ''Der Teufelsflieger. Ernst Udet und die Geschichte seiner Zeit'') ** English: ''Udet: A Man's Life'', translation by Mervyn Savill (1960) *''Verdammter Atlantik. Schicksale Deutscher U-Boot-Fahrer. Tatsachenbericht'' (1959) *''Kain, wo ist dein Bruder Abel? Die Flieger von Hiroshima und Nagasaki'' (1960) ( ''Achtung Welt, Hier ist Kreuzweg! Die Flieger von Hiroshima'') *''Kein gelobtes Land. Die Irrfahrt der St. Louis'' (1961) *''Die Welt des Übersinnlichen'' (1965) *''Freunde'' (1974) ** English: ''Commemorations'', translation by Eric Mosbacher (1975) ( ''The Reckoning'') *''Feuer im Gras'' (1975) ** English: ''Which Way the Wind'', translation by

Richard and Clara Winston Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and ...

(1978) *''Tag- und Nachtgeschichten'' (1978) *''Der letzte Mann von der Doggerbank. Tatsachenbericht'' (1979) ** English: ''The Survivor. The True Story of the Sinking of the Doggerbank'', translation by John Brownjohn (1995) *''Die Sturmflut. Nordseeküste und Hamburg im Februar 1962'' (1980) *''Die Geliebte. Die tragische Liebe der Clara Petacci zu Benito Mussolini'' (1980) *''Satan ist auf Gottes Seite'' (1981) ** English: ''Solo Run'', translation by John Brownjohn (1983) *''Der letzte Frühling in Paris'' (1983) ** English: ''The Last Spring in Paris'', translation by John Brownjohn (1985) *''Grishin oder das Lächeln Lenins'' (1985) ** English: ''Grishin'', translation by John Brownjohn (1987) *''Sibirien-Transfer'' (1988) ** English: ''Siberian Transfer'', translation by John Brownjohn (1992) *''Die Belmonts. Roman einer Bankiersfamilie'' (1992) ( ''Das Gesetz der Belmonts'') *''Das Erbe'' (1996)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herlin, Hans 1925 births 1994 deaths People from Borken (district) People from the Province of Westphalia Writers from North Rhine-Westphalia Luftwaffe personnel of World War II 20th-century German novelists German male novelists 20th-century German male writers