---
product_id: 15718738
title: "Goodbye, Transylvania (Stackpole Military History Series)"
price: "40 DH"
currency: MAD
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.ma/products/15718738-goodbye-transylvania-stackpole-military-history-series
store_origin: MA
region: Morocco
---

# Goodbye, Transylvania (Stackpole Military History Series)

**Price:** 40 DH
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Goodbye, Transylvania (Stackpole Military History Series)
- **How much does it cost?** 40 DH with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ma](https://www.desertcart.ma/products/15718738-goodbye-transylvania-stackpole-military-history-series)

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## Description

Rare memoir of a foreigner serving with the Germans on the Eastern Front. Firsthand descriptions of combat at the siege of Budapest and the final battle for Berlin in 1945 Insights into what motivated soldiers to fight for Nazi Germany Copies of the out-of-print original edition are highly prized

Review: An excellent and moving account of personal war experiences by an ethnic German Waffen SS soldier of WWII - This is a book which tells an excellent and moving story of personal war experiences by an East European ethnic German Waffen SS soldier of WWII. I am a huge fan of all WWII stories and have bought a dozen of war memory books by former German soldiers from desertcart, but due to limits of time and inertia caused by daily work and chores, many of them have remain unread on my book shelf, which reminds me of an old saying: “You don’t read a book unless it is a borrowed one.” During the passing summer vacation, I spent sections of my hard-earned free time for a few days on reading the book continually and finished it from the first page to the last. I shall honestly say that it is really a superb book full of interesting and heart-touching facts and anecdotes of World War II about the writer, a former East European ethnic German Waffen SS soldier and his family relatives, friends, and people having ever played notable roles in his life. It helps unfold a vivid picture of the ethnic Germans and Hungarians living in post WWI Romania, of those involved in WWII and the subsequent ethnic persecution and cleansing of them, their accounts of travails, ordeals, and brave struggles amid chaos and afflictions, all forming a continuum of historical vicissitudes throughout the regions in the particular context of time. The author lays emphasis on the three major parts, namely, his war fighting experiences, his views on the conduct of German authorities towards people of occupied places in the high tide of German power, and the facts and eye witnesses of the Soviet brutality on German and other East European lands in the wake of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The war fighting in the Eastern theatre against the Soviet behemoth is truly a hardy and gritty undertaking, extremely exciting but enormously dangerous. The author Mr. Landau and his comrades fought so valorously and tenaciously against great odds and he personally had so many narrow escapes from the grip of death while his less fortunate friends and comrades fell down to earth one after another and often died grisly deaths on the merciless battlegrounds. The author is not a “reeducated” (read brainwashed) hater of Hitler and National Socialist Germany even though he did express his candid and critical view of some cocky and callous Nazi officials with their crass and ham-handed treatment of peoples of occupied countries which in my opinion is mostly fair and objective and not lost in context and proportion thus never appears as blind and sweeping accusations as we sometimes see in some other pathetic and guilt-laden memoirs by former German military men. The author’s descriptions of the utterly brutal, dishonorable, and inhumane conducts of Soviet army and its East European cohorts against German soldiers and civilians alike, many from his own personal experiences and eye witnesses look quite real and credible. Again, he maintains an factual and non-emotional tone in relating the Soviet way by not only revealing such gruesome atrocities but also giving credit and even gratitude to some kind elements of Soviet military and civilians when deserved from which readers can see his fair and balanced mind. On the preciously humane and benign side of the victors, he particularly renders his heartfelt thanks and praises to the English military and civil personnel for their generosity and assistance which according to him, not only saved his life, but also his sanity and helped put him back into a peaceful and civilize post-war life. The author’s writing style is one that really flows smoothly which makes this book very readable and a truly enjoyable page-turner. He seems quite a smart guy with great language and survival skills. Born an ethnic German he naturally speaks German as his mother tongue. As a former Romanian citizen, he speaks Romanian too. He also speaks good Hungarian language, plus his quick learning and masterful use of English later, one can’t help admiring his remarkable linguistic talent. Furthermore, in the book the author also shows his concise, insightful, and often trenchant observations on many aspects of war and life in the tumultuous years, which are often sprinkled with witty and humorous remarks, and are manifest in the three major parts mentioned in the previous two paragraphs that form the central thematic line throughout the book. As it turns out, the following are some interesting and thought-provoking tidbits in which I felt most deeply impressed: 1. Foreword, page IX, the introduction of Transylvanian-Saxons, their outstanding talent and abilities in building a well developed civil life. 2. Chapter 5, page 51, the three-line paragraph that summarize the Russian war-time mentality and behavior (ruthless and resilient in fight, brutal and merciless in victory, cowardly and abject in defeat) in succinct, accurate and unapologetically poignant words. 3. Chapter 11, page 84, 85, the vivid and impactful description of scenes of the war fighting against a ruthless enemy from an disadvantaged position. 4. Chapter 13, page 96, the sober and graphic descriptions of the unbelievably cruel Russian massacre and mutilation of German soldiers and the author’s indignant feeling and thoughts. 5. Chapter 14, page 107, 108, the eye witness accounts of the brutal fighting in the West front against the allies in a desperate situation; Page 120, descriptions of the saving by the author and his comrades of a German woman from being gang raped by Russian soldiers in war devastated Berlin; Page 126, paragraph 2, the author’s searing condemnation of the Russians and their grotesque brutalities with acutely intense and impressive rhetoric of analogy. (This chapter has the most concentrated and breathtaking accounts of fighting in the entire book.) 6. Chapter 15, page 144, on the top, on Russians’ mixed feeling of the hate and fear towards German soldiers; Page 146, on the exemplary and unbending fortitude of the big majority of German POWs refusing to give in to the Russian demands in extremely adverse conditions. 7. Chapter 16, page 159, 167, the author’s sincere and deeply touching lamenting and reflection over the issue of war and humanity for the kind-hearted help he received from some Russian civilians on his escape route from the POW camp in Russia; Page 163, the author’s pertinent and truthful exposition of the ghastly atrocious crimes perpetrated against German civilians by East Europeans especially Czechs amid a rabid, morbid, and unjustified frenzy of hatred and vengefulness in contrast with the relatively much more decent and humane treatment of occupied peoples by German authorities based on well documented and demonstrable facts. 8. Chapter 17, page 178, the last paragraph, the author’s strong statement on the amazing achievement of the Transylvanian Saxon community in North America, pronouncing that “there are more doctors and professors per capita among the scattered Saxon than any other nation on earth”, to which I honestly feel half-believing and half-incredulous and which, if proven true, is undoubtedly an awesome and brilliant feat. The book has 193 pages of writing including Foreword and Epilogue as well as 16 full pages of old pictures portraying the author in various military uniforms or civilian clothing from his childhood to post-war days and also those featuring his beloved families, friends and comrades. These pictures are largely quite clear and telling. All in all, a very good and interesting read! Five stars!
Review: Hell on earth, in the wild, wild, East. - Back in the 90's, a few paragraphs were included in Russ Schneider's book "Gotterdammerung 1945," from Heinz Landau's book which perked my interest in someday obtaining it. But the rare times I could locate a copy, it was always priced too high. Now that I have a cheaper paperback edition, it was worth the wait & was a good read. Landau saw extensive combat action with the Waffen SS as a Roumanian volunteer from ethnic German extraction. The ethnic Germans & Roumanians in that country absolutely loathed each other, & few Germans wanted to serve in the Roumanian army, due to the persecution & sometimes murder of Germans in Roumania before the war, so when war broke out with the USSR, many joined the Wehrmact & Waffen SS. The Roumanians fought treacherously during the war, as did the Italians. They would later switch sides & fight with the Red Army in 1944, causing the loss of an entire German army. Landau describes one battle, where the attackers were entirely Roumanians serving the Red Army. He & his comrades were so enraged, they beat back the assault with few Roumanian survivors, with such savagery, even the Russians were astounded by the losses! Heinz was sickened by the monstrous atrocities committed by the Red Army against Hungarian & German civilians, especially the mass rape of women. He & his comrades would execute with a bullet in the head, all Red rapists who fell into their hands alive. Heinz personally destroyed several Soviet tanks with Panzerfaust bazookas, as did many of his comrades in an anti-tank company with their PAK-40 anti-tank guns, or in close combat with hand held weapons. He was very lucky to have survived the war with all the injuries he suffered, & we are very fortunate to have his written account of his experiences today. I highly recommend this book.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,894,518 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1,995 in WWII Biographies #7,650 in World War II History (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.2 out of 5 stars 186 Reviews |

## Images

![Goodbye, Transylvania (Stackpole Military History Series) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91mkxXoWU+L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An excellent and moving account of personal war experiences by an ethnic German Waffen SS soldier of WWII
*by F***T on August 23, 2015*

This is a book which tells an excellent and moving story of personal war experiences by an East European ethnic German Waffen SS soldier of WWII. I am a huge fan of all WWII stories and have bought a dozen of war memory books by former German soldiers from amazon, but due to limits of time and inertia caused by daily work and chores, many of them have remain unread on my book shelf, which reminds me of an old saying: “You don’t read a book unless it is a borrowed one.” During the passing summer vacation, I spent sections of my hard-earned free time for a few days on reading the book continually and finished it from the first page to the last. I shall honestly say that it is really a superb book full of interesting and heart-touching facts and anecdotes of World War II about the writer, a former East European ethnic German Waffen SS soldier and his family relatives, friends, and people having ever played notable roles in his life. It helps unfold a vivid picture of the ethnic Germans and Hungarians living in post WWI Romania, of those involved in WWII and the subsequent ethnic persecution and cleansing of them, their accounts of travails, ordeals, and brave struggles amid chaos and afflictions, all forming a continuum of historical vicissitudes throughout the regions in the particular context of time. The author lays emphasis on the three major parts, namely, his war fighting experiences, his views on the conduct of German authorities towards people of occupied places in the high tide of German power, and the facts and eye witnesses of the Soviet brutality on German and other East European lands in the wake of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The war fighting in the Eastern theatre against the Soviet behemoth is truly a hardy and gritty undertaking, extremely exciting but enormously dangerous. The author Mr. Landau and his comrades fought so valorously and tenaciously against great odds and he personally had so many narrow escapes from the grip of death while his less fortunate friends and comrades fell down to earth one after another and often died grisly deaths on the merciless battlegrounds. The author is not a “reeducated” (read brainwashed) hater of Hitler and National Socialist Germany even though he did express his candid and critical view of some cocky and callous Nazi officials with their crass and ham-handed treatment of peoples of occupied countries which in my opinion is mostly fair and objective and not lost in context and proportion thus never appears as blind and sweeping accusations as we sometimes see in some other pathetic and guilt-laden memoirs by former German military men. The author’s descriptions of the utterly brutal, dishonorable, and inhumane conducts of Soviet army and its East European cohorts against German soldiers and civilians alike, many from his own personal experiences and eye witnesses look quite real and credible. Again, he maintains an factual and non-emotional tone in relating the Soviet way by not only revealing such gruesome atrocities but also giving credit and even gratitude to some kind elements of Soviet military and civilians when deserved from which readers can see his fair and balanced mind. On the preciously humane and benign side of the victors, he particularly renders his heartfelt thanks and praises to the English military and civil personnel for their generosity and assistance which according to him, not only saved his life, but also his sanity and helped put him back into a peaceful and civilize post-war life. The author’s writing style is one that really flows smoothly which makes this book very readable and a truly enjoyable page-turner. He seems quite a smart guy with great language and survival skills. Born an ethnic German he naturally speaks German as his mother tongue. As a former Romanian citizen, he speaks Romanian too. He also speaks good Hungarian language, plus his quick learning and masterful use of English later, one can’t help admiring his remarkable linguistic talent. Furthermore, in the book the author also shows his concise, insightful, and often trenchant observations on many aspects of war and life in the tumultuous years, which are often sprinkled with witty and humorous remarks, and are manifest in the three major parts mentioned in the previous two paragraphs that form the central thematic line throughout the book. As it turns out, the following are some interesting and thought-provoking tidbits in which I felt most deeply impressed: 1. Foreword, page IX, the introduction of Transylvanian-Saxons, their outstanding talent and abilities in building a well developed civil life. 2. Chapter 5, page 51, the three-line paragraph that summarize the Russian war-time mentality and behavior (ruthless and resilient in fight, brutal and merciless in victory, cowardly and abject in defeat) in succinct, accurate and unapologetically poignant words. 3. Chapter 11, page 84, 85, the vivid and impactful description of scenes of the war fighting against a ruthless enemy from an disadvantaged position. 4. Chapter 13, page 96, the sober and graphic descriptions of the unbelievably cruel Russian massacre and mutilation of German soldiers and the author’s indignant feeling and thoughts. 5. Chapter 14, page 107, 108, the eye witness accounts of the brutal fighting in the West front against the allies in a desperate situation; Page 120, descriptions of the saving by the author and his comrades of a German woman from being gang raped by Russian soldiers in war devastated Berlin; Page 126, paragraph 2, the author’s searing condemnation of the Russians and their grotesque brutalities with acutely intense and impressive rhetoric of analogy. (This chapter has the most concentrated and breathtaking accounts of fighting in the entire book.) 6. Chapter 15, page 144, on the top, on Russians’ mixed feeling of the hate and fear towards German soldiers; Page 146, on the exemplary and unbending fortitude of the big majority of German POWs refusing to give in to the Russian demands in extremely adverse conditions. 7. Chapter 16, page 159, 167, the author’s sincere and deeply touching lamenting and reflection over the issue of war and humanity for the kind-hearted help he received from some Russian civilians on his escape route from the POW camp in Russia; Page 163, the author’s pertinent and truthful exposition of the ghastly atrocious crimes perpetrated against German civilians by East Europeans especially Czechs amid a rabid, morbid, and unjustified frenzy of hatred and vengefulness in contrast with the relatively much more decent and humane treatment of occupied peoples by German authorities based on well documented and demonstrable facts. 8. Chapter 17, page 178, the last paragraph, the author’s strong statement on the amazing achievement of the Transylvanian Saxon community in North America, pronouncing that “there are more doctors and professors per capita among the scattered Saxon than any other nation on earth”, to which I honestly feel half-believing and half-incredulous and which, if proven true, is undoubtedly an awesome and brilliant feat. The book has 193 pages of writing including Foreword and Epilogue as well as 16 full pages of old pictures portraying the author in various military uniforms or civilian clothing from his childhood to post-war days and also those featuring his beloved families, friends and comrades. These pictures are largely quite clear and telling. All in all, a very good and interesting read! Five stars!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hell on earth, in the wild, wild, East.
*by L***G on June 2, 2015*

Back in the 90's, a few paragraphs were included in Russ Schneider's book "Gotterdammerung 1945," from Heinz Landau's book which perked my interest in someday obtaining it. But the rare times I could locate a copy, it was always priced too high. Now that I have a cheaper paperback edition, it was worth the wait & was a good read. Landau saw extensive combat action with the Waffen SS as a Roumanian volunteer from ethnic German extraction. The ethnic Germans & Roumanians in that country absolutely loathed each other, & few Germans wanted to serve in the Roumanian army, due to the persecution & sometimes murder of Germans in Roumania before the war, so when war broke out with the USSR, many joined the Wehrmact & Waffen SS. The Roumanians fought treacherously during the war, as did the Italians. They would later switch sides & fight with the Red Army in 1944, causing the loss of an entire German army. Landau describes one battle, where the attackers were entirely Roumanians serving the Red Army. He & his comrades were so enraged, they beat back the assault with few Roumanian survivors, with such savagery, even the Russians were astounded by the losses! Heinz was sickened by the monstrous atrocities committed by the Red Army against Hungarian & German civilians, especially the mass rape of women. He & his comrades would execute with a bullet in the head, all Red rapists who fell into their hands alive. Heinz personally destroyed several Soviet tanks with Panzerfaust bazookas, as did many of his comrades in an anti-tank company with their PAK-40 anti-tank guns, or in close combat with hand held weapons. He was very lucky to have survived the war with all the injuries he suffered, & we are very fortunate to have his written account of his experiences today. I highly recommend this book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great Eastern Front memoir from the German side
*by P***R on May 4, 2016*

I got this book as another Eastern Front memoir from the German point of view. The author was an ethnic German from Transylvania who enlisted in the SS to avoid service in the hated Romanian army. He was in a unique position to see the war from a variety of locations, units, and positions due to his assignment to an internal security CID-type unit. He spent part of the war operating undercover in different units and organizations, including SS, Organization Todt, NSKK, etc to root out fraud, waste, and abuse. His account of what motivated him, his ethnic background and how it informed his decisions and affected his life, and his experiences in the SS were fascinating in a way no strategic-level book can ever be. One of the most important aspects of this personal account is the human face it puts on the German soldier AND the SS soldier. If your history only comes from pop culture sources, mainstream text books, or movies, you have absolutely no idea what really happened and just who the German soldier was. If you've never dug into their personal accounts, you have no way of knowing they weren't the faceless Nazi monsters movies portray them as. Landau, for instance, discusses how sarcastic and derisive SS soldiers (supposedly mindless Nazi fanatic automatons) could be towards the government. He also describes the horror they experienced fighting the Russians and the war crimes the Russians routinely committed (whitewashed by the victors) against both soldiers and civilians. Landau's story is also partly a bittersweet story of his return home to Transylvania many years after the war and after the collapse of the USSR and his reunion with his surviving family. If you're interested in personal accounts of the war, you will really enjoy this book.

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