{"product_id":"the-seventh-cross-paperback","title":"The Seventh Cross - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAnna Seghers\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eMargot Bettauer Dembo\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator), \u003cb\u003eThomas Von Steinaecker\u003c\/b\u003e (Afterword by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA revelatory World War II novel about a German prisoner of war fleeing for the border and encountering a variety of Germans, good and bad and indifferent, along his way. Now available in a new English translation.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most powerful, popular, and influential novels of the twentieth century, a hair raising thriller that helped to alert the world to the grim realities of Nazi Germany and that is no less exciting today than when it was first published in 1942. Seven political prisoners escape from a Nazi prison camp; in response, the camp commandant has seven trees harshly pruned to resemble seven crosses: they will serve as posts to torture each recaptured prisoner, and capture, of course, is certain. Meanwhile, the escapees split up and flee across Germany, looking for such help and shelter as they can find along the way, determined to reach the border. Anna Seghers's novel is not only a supremely suspenseful story of flight and pursuit but also a detailed portrait of a nation in the grip and thrall of totalitarianism. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMargot Bettauer Dembo's expert new translation makes the complete text of this great political novel available in English for the first time.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnna Seghers\u003c\/b\u003e (née Netty Reiling; 1900-1983) was born in Mainz, Germany, into an upper-middle-class Jewish family. She was a sickly and introverted child by her own account, but became an intellectually curious student, eventually earning a doctorate in art history at the University of Heidelberg in 1924; her first story, written under the name Antje Seghers, was published in the same year. In 1925 she married a Hungarian immigrant economist and began her writing career in earnest. By 1929 Seghers had joined the Communist Party, given birth to her first child, and received the Kleist Prize for her first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Revolt of the Fishermen\u003c\/i\u003e. Having settled in France in 1933, Seghers was forced to flee again after the 1940 Nazi invasion. With the aid of Varian Fry, Seghers, her husband, and two children sailed from Marseille to Mexico on a ship that included among its passengers Victor Serge, André Breton, and Claude Lévi-Strauss. After the war she moved to East Berlin, where she became an emblematic figure of East German letters, actively championing the work of younger writers from her position as president of the Writers Union and publishing at a steady pace. Among Seghers's internationally regarded works are \u003ci\u003eTransit\u003c\/i\u003e (1944, available as an NYRB Classic), the novella \u003ci\u003eExcursion of the Dead Girls\u003c\/i\u003e (1945), \u003ci\u003eThe Dead Stay Young\u003c\/i\u003e (1949), and the story collection \u003ci\u003eBenito's Blue\u003c\/i\u003e (1973). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMargot Bettauer Dembo\u003c\/b\u003e (1928-2019) was the translator of works by Judith Hermann, Robert Gernhardt, Joachim Fest, Ödön von Horváth, and Feridun Zaimoglu, among others. She was awarded the Goethe-Institut\/Berlin Translator's Prize in 1994 and the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize in 2003. Dembo also worked as a translator for two feature documentary films: \u003ci\u003eThe Restless Conscience\u003c\/i\u003e, which was nominated for an Academy Award, and \u003ci\u003eThe Burning Wall\u003c\/i\u003e. For NYRB Classics she translated \u003ci\u003eTransit\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross\u003c\/i\u003e by Anna Seghers and \u003ci\u003eGrand Hotel \u003c\/i\u003eby Vicki Baum. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas Von Steinaecker\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Germany in 1977. A novelist and journalist, he has also written extensively for radio and is the creator of several documentaries, including \u003ci\u003eRichard Strauss and His Heroines\u003c\/i\u003e. Two of his novels, \u003ci\u003eWallner beginnt zu Fliegen\u003c\/i\u003e (2007) and \u003ci\u003eDie Verteidigung des Paradieses\u003c\/i\u003e (2016), have been nominated for the German Book Prize.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 416\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 7.9 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 22, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42700802981951,"sku":"9781681372129","price":23.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/ee7e7ad5314fb4bdc881906fe1ec2f9f.webp?v=1765018234","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/the-seventh-cross-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}