Suddenly an Englishman
Louis Hagen, as a young German Jew in 1934, aged only 17, was sent to a Nazi concentration camp, betrayed for an off-hand joke by a Nazi-sympathising family maid. His time there was mercifully cut short when he was released to his school friend’s father, a senior Nazi Judge, and he escaped to the UK, immediately joining up to fight the Nazis upon the outbreak of war. During his adventurous army career, he became a Glider Pilot and famously fought at Arnhem, swimming the Rhine to escape the German army, subsequently awarded the Military Medal for bravery. He wrote the bestselling Arnhem Lift only three weeks after his return, initially published anonymously, and ultimately successful all over the world. After Arnhem, Hagen was transferred to India, becoming a war correspondent and travelling around southeast Asia. Post-war, he continued to write, and set up a film production company. This gripping, lively, often racy, and never-flinching autobiography reveals Hagen’s life in candid detail, the perfect companion to his bestselling book Arnhem Lift.
Louis Hagen (1916-2000), born into a Jewish banking family, was sent to a concentration camp for writing an anti-Nazi joke on a postcard. A high-ranking Nazi judge and friend of the family got him out and he escaped to England, where he became a glider pilot, fighting for the British at Arnhem. He was the author of several books, including Ein volk, ein Reich, and went on to be a successful journalist and film producer. Caroline Hagen-Hall, his daughter, has edited his unpublished autobiography.