Out of the NightPickle Partners Publishing, 2020 M01 30 - 724 pages A bestseller in 1941, selected by the Book of the Month Club for a special edition and described by Book of the Month Club News as: “...full of sensational revelations and interspersed with episodes of daring, of desperate conflict, of torture, and of ruthless conspiracy...It is, first of all, an autobiography the like of which has seldom been.” The son of a seafaring father, Richard Julius Herman Krebs, a.k.a. Jan Valtin, came of age as a bicycle messenger during a maritime rebellion. His life as an intimate insider account of the dramatic events of 1920’s and 1930s, where he rose both within the ranks of the Communist Party and on the Gestapo hit list. Known for his honesty and incredible memory, Krebs dedicated his life to the Communist Party, rising to a position as head of maritime, organizing worldwide for the Comintern, only to flee the Party and Europe to evade his own comrade’s attempts to kill him. As a professional revolutionary, agitator, spy and would-be assassin, Krebs traveled the globe from Germany to China, India to Sierra Leon, Moscow to the United States where a botched assassination attempt landed him a stint in San Quentin. From his spellbinding account of artful deception to gain release from a Nazi prison and his work as a double-agent within the Gestapo, to his vivid depiction of a Communist Party fraught with intrigue and subterfuge, Krebs gives an unflinching portrayal of the internal machinations of both parties. |
From inside the book
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... stood in a corner of the living room and told about the victory of the Bolsheviki and the first workers' government in the world. He drank great quantities of bad, black, unsugared coffee, and talked until he was hoarse. The room was ...
... stood in a corner of the living room and told about the victory of the Bolsheviki and the first workers' government in the world. He drank great quantities of bad, black, unsugared coffee, and talked until he was hoarse. The room was ...
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... stood a squad of customs officials and harbor police. Each worker, before he was allowed to pass, was searched for contraband by the officers. One worker had concealed under his coat a small bag of flour he had taken from some ship's ...
... stood a squad of customs officials and harbor police. Each worker, before he was allowed to pass, was searched for contraband by the officers. One worker had concealed under his coat a small bag of flour he had taken from some ship's ...
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... stood at the corners watching for police. Twice police patrols surprised us. They came running, swinging their clubs. But we ran faster and escaped. “Some day,” the leader of the Young Communist group said, “we won't run. We'll have ...
... stood at the corners watching for police. Twice police patrols surprised us. They came running, swinging their clubs. But we ran faster and escaped. “Some day,” the leader of the Young Communist group said, “we won't run. We'll have ...
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... stood a truck. Two sinewy truckmen were waiting. I stopped and listened to the argument. The woman could not pay her rent. The official showed her a warrant of eviction. Every day there were mass evictions. To attract the least ...
... stood a truck. Two sinewy truckmen were waiting. I stopped and listened to the argument. The woman could not pay her rent. The official showed her a warrant of eviction. Every day there were mass evictions. To attract the least ...
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... stood in the crowd around the windows, shoved me aside. “Come on, partner,” he said to the clerk, “register this fellow. An equal deal to everybody.” “I can't,” protested the clerk, “that's against the regulations.” “Damn your ...
... stood in the crowd around the windows, shoved me aside. “Come on, partner,” he said to the clerk, “register this fellow. An equal deal to everybody.” “I can't,” protested the clerk, “that's against the regulations.” “Damn your ...
Other editions - View all
Out of the Night: The Memoir of Richard Julius Herman Krebs Alias Jan Valtin Jan Valtin Limited preview - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
aboard agents Albert Walter Antwerp Apparat arms arrested arrived ashore asked Bandura Berlin British Brownshirts Captain cell chief Cilly Comintern Communist Party Comrade Copenhagen courier crew death Dimitrov door Elite Guards Ernst Wollweber eyes face Firelei front Fuhlsbüttel gave Gestapo girl guns Hall Halvorsen Hamburg hands harbor head headquarters Heinz Neumann Heitman Hertha Jens Hitler Hugo Marx hundred Inspector Kraus International Club Jensen John Scheer Karl Liebknecht knew later leaders Leningrad looked marine mass Michel Avatin morning Moscow murder Murmansk mutineers Narvik Nazi never night organization passport Pioner police policemen political ports prison Profintern propaganda Radam Reichswehr Rotterdam Russian sailors Samsing seamen secret sent shouted smuggled socialist Soviet Union station steamer stood storm troopers street strike told took towline train voice waiting walls wanted waterfront Western Secretariat window woman workers yard young