Out of the NightA 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. |
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The hall was full of workless dockers. “The rich must die so that the poor may live,” he cried. There was a thunder of cheers. The sailor's Messianic fervor fired my imagination, yet there was nothing bloodthirsty about him as there was ...
The hall was full of workless dockers. “The rich must die so that the poor may live,” he cried. There was a thunder of cheers. The sailor's Messianic fervor fired my imagination, yet there was nothing bloodthirsty about him as there was ...
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The shipping office was a dark, gloomy hall. Thousands of men lounged in the backyard and in the hall. All seamen out of a job. I went to one of the barred windows and threw in my papers. The clerk looked at them, shoved them back.
The shipping office was a dark, gloomy hall. Thousands of men lounged in the backyard and in the hall. All seamen out of a job. I went to one of the barred windows and threw in my papers. The clerk looked at them, shoved them back.
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The thousands in the hall and down in the yard milled about, laughing, shouting, cursing. In the center of the hall a group of fifty men stood massed, yelling in chorus: “Hunger! Hunger! We want a ship!” A high-pitched scream came from ...
The thousands in the hall and down in the yard milled about, laughing, shouting, cursing. In the center of the hall a group of fifty men stood massed, yelling in chorus: “Hunger! Hunger! We want a ship!” A high-pitched scream came from ...
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... Hugo Marx and “Meyer” contacted me each time a German vessel had returned to Hamburg from New York or Buenos Aires. I was instructed to escort individually the selected communists among their crews to a basement beer hall on the.
... Hugo Marx and “Meyer” contacted me each time a German vessel had returned to Hamburg from New York or Buenos Aires. I was instructed to escort individually the selected communists among their crews to a basement beer hall on the.
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among their crews to a basement beer hall on the waterfront where they were interviewed by “Meyer.” I was not permitted to be present at these interviews. Invariably I received next day a brief note and a ten-dollar bill; ...
among their crews to a basement beer hall on the waterfront where they were interviewed by “Meyer.” I was not permitted to be present at these interviews. Invariably I received next day a brief note and a ten-dollar bill; ...
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Out of the Night: The Memoir of Richard Julius Herman Krebs Alias Jan Valtin Jan Valtin Limited preview - 2004 |
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Out of the Night |
| Author | Jan Valtin |
| Publisher | Pickle Partners Publishing, 2020 |
| ISBN | 1839742356, 9781839742354 |
| Length | 724 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |