Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [316]
They bumped together. The packages in Hilde’s arms tumbled to the ground and they both knelt instinctively to pick them up.
“I beg your pardon, fraulein,” Sean said.
“I am clumsy, it was my fault,” Hilde answered.
“Please let me help you.”
He fitted the packages into her arms. He put his fingers to his cap in a salute. “Aufwiedersehen, fraulein,” he said.
“Aufwiedersehen,” she answered.
The two of them went their separate ways.
A Note of Thanks
It is impossible to mention everyone who helped me on this project. Some of those who helped me behind the Iron Curtain cannot be mentioned by name. However, it would be impossible not to acknowledge others.
For their logistical support, my deepest gratitude is extended to: General Lucius B. Clay; Father of the Airlift, Lieutenant General William Tunner; and to my good and true friend, Brigadier General Frank Howley, who was Commandant of Berlin in those fearsome days.
I am indebted to the United States Air Force for unstinting cooperation. To Colonels James Hunter and “Dinny” Dinsmore, who set up the complicated German and American contacts, interviews, and itineraries; to Air Force Historian Joseph Tustin; Captain Lionel Patenaude, the PIO Officer, Tempelhof and Berlin; and my pal Lieutenant Colonel William G. Thompson, who traveled with me throughout Germany and later guided me through the Airlift and flying phases of the writing.
I am proud to be associated with Helmut and Nina Kindler of Kindler Publishers of Munich, and am grateful for their support. I thank my editors, Ernest Landau and Dr. Erhard Wendelberger. And, affectionately to Katrina Heinnemann-Leber, who mentored me through the difficult research in Berlin, East and West.
I wish to acknowledge and thank Columbia Film Studios, which sponsored my research; the University of Southern California Library, which has never failed me; and the United States Army and United States Information Agency in Berlin.
A Biography of Leon Uris
Leon Uris (1924–2003) was an author of fiction, nonfiction, and screenplays who wrote over a dozen books including numerous bestselling novels. His epic Exodus (1958) has been translated into over fifty languages. Uris’s work is notable for its focus on dramatic moments in contemporary history, including World War II and its aftermath, the birth of modern Israel, and the Cold War. Through the massive popularity of his novels and his skill as a storyteller, Uris has had enormous influence on popular understanding of twentieth-century history.
Leon Marcus Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son of Jewish parents of recent Polish-Russian origin. As a child, Uris lived a transient and hardscrabble life. He attended schools in Baltimore, Virginia, and Philadelphia while his father worked as an unsuccessful storekeeper. Even though he was a below-average student, Uris excelled in history and was fascinated by literature; he made up his mind to be a writer at a young age.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Uris dropped out of high school to enlist in the Marine Corps. From 1942 to 1945 he served as a radio operator in the South Pacific, and after the war he settled down in San Francisco with his first wife, Betty. He began working for local papers and wrote fiction on the side. His first novel, Battle Cry, was published in 1953 and drew on his experience as a marine. When the book’s film rights were picked up, Uris moved to Hollywood to help with the screenplay, and he stayed to work on other film scripts, including the highly successful Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1957.
Uris’s second novel, The Angry Hills (1955), is set in Greece but contains plot points that center on Jewish emigration to the territories that would eventually become Israel. The history that led to Israel’s earliest days is also the subject of Uris’s most commercially successful novel, Exodus. Not long after Israel first achieved statehood, Uris began researching the novel, traveling 12,000 miles