A major work about the most fateful period of German history and the outstanding figure of a man whose biography has yet to be written. Hans Magnus Enzensberger has researched the history of General Kurt von Hammerstein from all available sources and unfolds it in a genre he masters like no other: the documentary novel. Kurt von Hammerstein was the Chief of the Reichswehr, a grand seigneur, an unwavering opponent of National Socialism, and an incorruptible witness to the downfall of his class, the German military nobility. He took his leave after Hitler revealed his plans for world domination in a secret speech in 1933. But it also concerns the life stories of his wife and seven children: marked by the catastrophes of the 20th century, by betrayal, resistance, espionage, and collective punishment.