'Escape, Evasion and Revenge' - New Paperback Edition

Hi folks,

For those who might be interested, Pen & Sword has just released a paperback version of my book. The new cover is shown below. Online booksellers should have it available momentarily.

Many thanks for your interest,

Marc


ESCAPE & EVASION Front Cover - Paperback Lo Res by Carrera Marc, on Flickr

 

Tonight marks the 70th anniversary of the night my late Dad, Squadron Leader Peter Stevens MC, was shot down and began his 3 years and 8 months as a POW. As a German Jew fighting the Nazis, his entire period of captivity was without protection under the Geneva Convention. He went to become one of the most ardent POW escapers of the war, and is mentioned in at least 10 books (including my book: 'Escape, Evasion and Revenge'). Sadly, it also marks the death of Dad's rear gunner, Sgt Ivor Roderick Fraser, whose parachute failed to open when he bailed out over Berlin. Both gone, but never forgotten.

 

I am interested in reading this. Do you mind if I ask why he wasn't protected from the Geneva Convention? I am guessing because he was Jewish.

 

Actually, he had no protection under the Geneva Convention because he was still legally a German citizen for the entire war. His widowed mother sent him from Hannover to safety in London in 1934, and he stole a British identity (of a dead London schoolmate) in order to enlist in the RAF on Sept 3/39. There was actually a Police manhunt for him (as a potential enemy spy) in England from Sept/39 to Oct/41. When they finally realized that he'd stolen the identity of Peter Stevens (in Oct/41), he was already a POW in Germany.

As a German citizen fighting for England, the Nazis would have legally been within their rights to declare him a traitor (regardless of the fact that he was born Jewish), take him out of the POW camp and have him executed. Or they could have taken him out of a POW camp and legally sent him to a concentration camp.

In more than 20 years of research, I've never found a similar case.

Thanks for your interest in my father's story,

Marc