Sven Hassel, Novelist Who Depicted Nazi Soldiers’ Lives, Dies at 95

Love him, hate him. He served so I put the story here. Although his books are entertaining.

Sven Hassel, a Danish-born writer whose pulp novels depicting grunt life in the Wehrmacht during World War II — drawn, he said, from his own combat experiences — sold millions of copies worldwide died on Sept. 21 in Barcelona, Spain. He was 95. His death was announced by family members on his official Web site.

Mr. Hassel’s 14 novels portrayed German trench soldiers in a misfits’ brigade of convicts and deserters — a Third Reich version of the Dirty Dozen — who, like soldiers in all wars, eat badly, sleep little, live with death and struggle to retain their humanity.

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/b...ted-nazi-soldiers-lives-dies-at-95.html?_r=2&

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“Comrades of War”/Fawcett Publications

Sven Hassel in his German Army ID photo.

 

Well did he? he certainly didn't serve in all the places he claimed and having re-read "all quiet on the western front" recently he certainly plagaraised that to a greater or lesser degree.

Penal Panzer King Tigers with Flame throwers??!!

 

I loved reading his novels about the Ostfront. As a teenager i grew up with his literature. May he rest in peace

 

Well, you must say he made a living out of those books and lived to a fine age - so RIP indeed.

They're not to my taste, though ( although I still rate Wheels Of Terror as possibly the worst WWII movie ever... )

 

R.I.P. Sven

 

Lots of regret for the passing of the actual Sven Himself, as opposed to the Sven we are left to contemplate and argue about, the one in his books....

Many of my schoolfriends who later entered the military services were exposed to Sven Hassel's novels in our formative years. My step-father gave me a copy of "Reign of Hell" to read as a 15 year old. A Dutchman who was evacuated to Sweden, (Holland could not feed it's people during the occupation.) My step-father returned from Sweden unable to speak his native tongue.

He gave me the book with the comment that I should read it to find out what war was REALLY about. A pragmitic man, Hendrik. He could understand German as well, but felt insulted every time I "accused" him of being able to speak German.

Sven Hassel is another link from WW2 that has disappeared for ever. His books certainly deserved the celluloid treatment, but "Wheels of Terrror" was such an awful first movie! The soundtrack was particularly corny, for a band of thugs. The actor they cast in the role of Alfred Kalb, while a fine actor, was not the right person to play "The Legionaire". Little 'Alfred' is a scarred and wiry ex- Legion serviceman who wound up in a concentration camp called "Fagin". There, the SS doctor practices surgical techniques on camp inmates, and removes Alfred's testicles. The actor who played this colorful character from the novels carried on as if Alfred was something other than Hassels conception, as if he had not read anything of the book before shooting the movie.

So, goodbye Sven. RIP

 

I could echo this Volga, my dad was a Dutchman too and I grew up watching him read Sven Hassel and Hans Helmut Kirst (08-15). When I remember reading those novels, a smile comes to my mind because many are linked to nice events in my life, like reading a pocket book on a beach on a paradise island. [h=1][/h]