Hans Herlin

[1] Born in Stadtlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), he was drafted into the Luftwaffe in World War II and trained as a pilot.

He started a writing career as a journalist and worked his way up to become managing editor of Molden, one of Germany's largest publishing houses.

In 1961 he wrote a detailed account of the St Louis voyage with 900+ Jewish refugees from Hamburg to Cuba and on to Antwerp, called "Kein gelobtes Land".

In 1972 he began writing books full time, and in 1975 published his best known novel Commemorations (Freunde), about "Nazi skeletons in the national closet".

Herlin died of a heart attack at age 68, at his home in Autun,Burgundy on December 20, 1994.