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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... face was gray. “Snatch your coffee in a restaurant,” he said crisply. “A friend wants to see you.” We rode in a taxi to a little hotel in Neukölln. In a dingy front room of the hotel a man clad in pajamas rose from the bed when we ...
... face was gray. “Snatch your coffee in a restaurant,” he said crisply. “A friend wants to see you.” We rode in a taxi to a little hotel in Neukölln. In a dingy front room of the hotel a man clad in pajamas rose from the bed when we ...
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... faces were surly or stoic, and except for the ribaldry of a few intoxicated sailors, men spoke in whispers. After a ... face was gaunt and sunken from lack of sleep. On the way, the prisoner next to him, a gorilla of a man, lashed out ...
... faces were surly or stoic, and except for the ribaldry of a few intoxicated sailors, men spoke in whispers. After a ... face was gaunt and sunken from lack of sleep. On the way, the prisoner next to him, a gorilla of a man, lashed out ...
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... face brought beer. She put it on the table, then she suddenly ran her arm down Bandura's neck through the opening of his shirt. “Beer for me too?” she cried. Bandura pushed her away. “Off with you,” he snarled. “You stink.” “How goes ...
... face brought beer. She put it on the table, then she suddenly ran her arm down Bandura's neck through the opening of his shirt. “Beer for me too?” she cried. Bandura pushed her away. “Off with you,” he snarled. “You stink.” “How goes ...
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... face of an officer of the Hamburg harbor police. The German police had pushed him clandestinely into Holland. Arrested again in Rotterdam, the Dutch police had pushed him into Belgium. I met Weiss in a half-dark backroom of a saloon ...
... face of an officer of the Hamburg harbor police. The German police had pushed him clandestinely into Holland. Arrested again in Rotterdam, the Dutch police had pushed him into Belgium. I met Weiss in a half-dark backroom of a saloon ...
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... face. He was a specialist in communist war fleet organization. Later in 1931, he became the director of the Comintern passport forging bureau, with offices on the Ogorodnikova in Leningrad. “Ah, a real sailor,” Atchkanov muttered when I ...
... face. He was a specialist in communist war fleet organization. Later in 1931, he became the director of the Comintern passport forging bureau, with offices on the Ogorodnikova in Leningrad. “Ah, a real sailor,” Atchkanov muttered when I ...
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