Their names are listed at the back of this book.I am also especially grateful to Steven Simon and Virginia Liberatore, who extended generous hospitality to my wife and me during our working visit to Washington DC. Dr Helmut Schnatz and Frau Ursula Schnatz were extraordinarily kind and attentive hosts in Koblenz, where they further provided me with a number of introductions that led to fascinating conversations about what happened in their beloved city during those grim years of defeat and deprivation. The staff of the National Archives at Kew, London, and the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland, were, as usual, helpful, informative and patient in their dealings.For their constant – not to say ruthless – encouragement, I should also gratefully acknowledge my agent in Britain, Jane Turnbull, and Dan Conaway at Writers’ House in New York. And for all the aforementioned, plus a strong dollop of patience, Bill Swainson, my editor at Bloomsbury Publishing in London.Finally, the warmest of thank-yous to Alice, my wife, who not only provided domestic and editorial support but also tirelessly and skilfully photographed documents during our archival research trips.
