In 1968, 11-year-old Mary Bell was found guilty of the manslaughter of two young boys. This study asks why one child would murder another, and provides the background to the Bell case. The author also gives her account of the case of James Bulger, now that the debate has tragically re-opened.
Only four men commanded Nazi extermination (as opposed to concentration) camps. Franz Stangl was one of them; he commanded Treblinka and was found guilty of co-responsibility for the slaughter of at least 900,000 people. This is an investigation of Stangl's mind and the influences which shaped him.
A biography of Albert Speer, an important figure of the Nazi High Command. An architect and an intellectual, he was seen to be a humane man, but, as Minister for Armaments, how could he not have known about the concentration camps? This book examines such moral issues about Speer and the Nazis.
Pieces together the damaged life of Mary Bell, who aged 11 was tried and convicted of manslaughter after the death of two young boys. Only as an adult has she been able to realize the moral enormity of her crimes. The story of her life forces the reader to consider society's responsibility for children's crime. Originally published in 1998.
Gitta Sereny is one of the world's most respected journalists and historians. This book gathers together her writing on Germany. It amounts to a portrait of the country and its people, how they have come to terms with their Nazi past, both collectively and in specific instances - and how the burden of their guilt has altered the national identity.