Ascension Series A Novel of Nazi Germany by Max Overton
Before he fully realized the diabolical cruelties of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, Konrad Wengler had committed atrocities against his own people, the Jews, out of fear of both his faith and his heritage. But after he witnesses firsthand the concentration camps, the corruption, the inhuman malevolence of the Nazi war machine and the propaganda aimed at annihilating an entire race, he knows he must find a way to turn the tide and become the savior his people desperately need.
Ascension Series, Book 1: Ascension
Being a Jew in Germany can be a dangerous thing…
Fear prompts Konrad Wengler to put his faith aside and try desperately to forget his heritage. After fighting in the Great War, he’s wounded and turns instead to law enforcement in his tiny Bavarian hometown. There, he falls under the spell of the fledgling Nazi Party. He joins the Party in patriotic fervour and becomes a Lieutenant of Police and Schutzstaffel (SS).
In the course of his duties as policeman, Konrad offends a powerful Nazi official who starts an SS investigation. War breaks out. When he joins the Police Battalions, he’s sent to Poland and witnesses there firsthand the atrocities being committed upon his fellow Jews.
Unknown to Konrad, the SS investigators have discovered his origins and follow him into Poland. Arrested and sent to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Konrad is forced to face what it means to be a Jew and fight for survival. Will his friends on the outside, his wife and lawyer, be enough to counter the might of the Nazi machine? 
GENRE: Historical: Holocaust Word Count: 156, 793
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Rating
A gripping read
For me Max Overton's Ascension was a gripping read that explored the personal struggles of the principal character Konrad, born of a Jewish mother and German father, a mischling under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Bullied because of his association with Jews at school, Kondrad denies his own Jewishness, and later joins the German Army and fights and is wounded in the First World War. Afterwards he manages to join the Order Police as a single officer in a rural district. As the National Socialists and Hitler come to power Konrad is swept up in local intrigues where his honesty and regard for the law are at odds with his superior. He finds himself drafted into the Police Battalion 101, a unit under the control of the SS that was involved in "resettlement actions'' in the Warthegau district, following behind the Wehrmacht as they invaded Poland. Konrad's moral code is sorely tested during these harrowing horrific events, and he is oblivious to the dark mechinations of others that soon envelop him, but from which he eventually is freed. The historical details portrayed in Ascension are detailed and accurate. Max Overton's vivid writing made me feel as if I was there sharing with Konrad the horrors and pain he experienced. The novel ends in suspense, and I look forward to ''Maelstrom'' and ''Dammerung'', the remaining titles in this trilogy. I also found that this novel dovetailed quite well with Max Overton's book ''We came from Konigsberg'', an excellent and moving novel based on a true story of the flight by a mother and her five young sons from Konigsberg in Eastern Prussia to escape the atrocities and horrors of the Russian advance in the dying stages of World Ward 2 in Europe.
Moseley
April 12, 2016
Four Stars
Good read
keith wood
March 5, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars Unforgettable story ...
This is my first Max Overton novel and I have to say I am in awe of his abilities as a storyteller. Overton draws you in from the first page and holds your attention with his finely drawn characters and knowledge of the period. This book is full of revelations for me - what it would feel like to be an SS officer with a conscience - how the local German townspeople reacted to the purges -and what it would feel like to live and work in a concentration camp. Make no mistake, this a chillingly realistic depiction. But told with great skill. Meticulously researched, powerful and immersive storytelling - Ascension is a novel you will not soon forget.
Theo Cage
June 19, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars WWII from a different perspective
A gripping novel about a Nazi with a conscience. The story begins when Konrad is a young boy in Germany before the First World War. His mother was Jewish but because of violent taunting by a gang of boys, Konrad rejects his faith and becomes a "good German". We follow his ascension from youth to soldier to war hero to policeman and SS officer. In the course of his duties, he discovers that his superior officer is taking advantage of his position to defraud people of their land. Konrad now has a powerful enemy who digs into his past, finds out he is Jewish and has him thrown into a concentration camp. Konrad survives but is haunted by what he witnessed while he was incarcerated. I want to know what happens next: that author finishes with Konrad saying to his beloved wife "There's something I must tell you..." and then tantalisingly: Konrad's story continues in "Book 2 - Maelstrom". This book made me think that our government is not much better than the Nazis when they incarcerate asylum seekers for years in remote locations without charge, trial or hope of a decent life.
Margaret Darley
September 8, 2013
Ascension Series, Book 2: Maelstrom
Never underestimate the enemy…
Konrad Wengler survived his brush with the death camps of Nazi Germany. Now, reinstated as a police officer in his Bavarian hometown despite being a Jew, he throws himself back into his work, seeking to uncover evidence that will remove a corrupt Nazi party official.
The Gestapo have their own agenda and, despite orders from above to eliminate this troublesome Jewish policeman, they hide Konrad in the Totenkopf (Death’s Head) Division of the Waffen-SS. In a fight to survive in the snowy wastes of Russia while the tide of war turns against Germany, Konrad experiences tank battles, ghetto clearances, partisans, and death camps (this time as a guard), as well as the fierce battles where his Division is badly outnumbered and on the defence.
Through it all, Konrad strives to live by his conscience and resist taking part in the atrocities happening all around him. He still thinks of himself as a policeman, but his desire to bring the corrupt Nazi official to justice seems far removed from his present reality. If he is to find the necessary evidence against his enemy, he must first survive…
| Amazon | Apple Books | Google Play | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Scribd | Smashwords | Angus & Robertson Print |
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(ebooks are available from all sites, and print is available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble)
Rating
Ascension Series, Book 3: Dämmerung
Konrad Wengler is captured and sent from one Soviet prison camp to another. Even hearing the war has come to an end makes no difference until he’s arrested as a Nazi Party member. In jail, Konrad refuses to defend himself for things he’s guilty of and should be punished for. Will his be an eye-for-an-eye life sentence, or leniency in regard of the good he tried to do once he learned the truth?
Genre: Historical: Holocaust Word Count: 153, 405
| Amazon | Apple Books | Google Play | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Scribd | Smashwords | Angus & Robertson Print |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | | | |
(ebooks are available from all sites, and print is available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble)
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