Out of the Night

Description

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. Title Page Contents Book One - THEY CALLED IT DAWN Chapter One - LUMPENHUND Chapter Two - SAILOR’S WAY Chapter Three - I STRIKE OUT Chapter Four - SMUGGLING FOR THE COMINTERN Chapter Five - “DID YOU EVER KILL A MAN?” Chapter Six - SCAPEGOATS ON THE BARRICADES Chapter Seven - RED VAGABONDAGE Chapter Eight - PASSAGE TO CONSPIRACY Chapter Nine - I ATTACK THE PACIFIC Chapter Ten - THE ROAD TO LENINGRAD Chapter Eleven - COURIER TO THE ORIENT Chapter Twelve - FROM SHANGHAI TO SAN QUENTIN Book Two - THE DANCE OF DARKNESS Chapter Thirteen - NEW WEAPONS Chapter Fourteen - THE INFALLIBLES Chapter Fifteen - FIRELEI Chapter Sixteen - FIRELEI MAKES HER DECISION Chapter Seventeen - BETWEEN THE HAMMER AND THE ANVIL Chapter Eighteen - SOVIET SKIPPER Chapter Nineteen - IMPOTENT AND OMNIPOTENT Chapter Twenty - THE MAN HUNTERS Chapter Twenty-one - STALIN OVER THE SEVEN SEAS Chapter Twenty-two - INSPECTOR-GENERAL FOR ENGLAND Chapter Twenty-three - HOW WE ENGINEERED MUTINIES Chapter Twenty-four - THE SWASTIKA CASTS ITS SHADOW Chapter Twenty-five - SCANDINAVIAN INTERLUDE Book Three - THE NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES Chapter Twenty-six - STORM SIGNALS Chapter Twenty-seven - IN THE HURRICANE Chapter Twenty-eight - DEAD MEN ON FURLOUGH Chapter Twenty-nine - IN THE LANDS OF TWILIGHT Chapter Thirty - WEST OF THE RHINE Chapter Thirty-one - “DEATH IS EASY” Chapter Thirty-two - CAPTURED Chapter Thirty-three - THE GESTAPO QUESTIONS ME Chapter Thirty-four - HELL Chapter Thirty-five - I SIGN A CONFESSION Chapter Thirty-six - OF COMRADES AND THE HEADSMAN Chapter Thirty-seven - MAN-CAGE MAGIC Chapter Thirty-eight - MY BATTLE FOR MEIN KAMPF Chapter Thirty-nine - DARK DUEL Chapter Forty - I JOIN THE GESTAPO Chapter Forty-one - FREEMAN ON A LEASH Chapter Forty-two - ABDUCTED Chapter Forty-three - FLIGHT WHO’S WHO