When the Lights Went Out: SS-Totenkopf: from Dachau to the Eastern Front

‘When the Lights Went Out’ presents the life story of Hans Koch, who joins the SS and works as a Concentration Camp Guard. In 1942 he joins the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf as a Waffen SS Corporal, and meets up with two Russian T 34 tanks, which eliminates their ‘Tiger’. When Hans recovers from his injuries he’s posted to Majdanek Extermination Camp in Lublin, Poland. Before leaving he visits Hermann Müller, an Allgemeine SS Sergeant, attached to SS HQ in Berlin. Both of them are sceptical of Hitler’s continuous interference in the military campaigns, and are aware of the corruption and bungled bureaucracy that permeates the Nazi Reich like a cancer. The historical background is interwoven into a story of many different characters including Hans who is the main thread that weaves through the book. It’s briskly paced and written with passion, emotion and intensity.