Hans Herlin

Who was Hans Herlin?

Hans Herlin was a German novelist. Born in Stadtlohn / Westphalia, he was drafted into the Luftwaffe in WWII and trained as a pilot. In 1944 he fled to Switzerland and lived in France from 1972. 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, about "Nazi skeletons in the national closet". Commemorations was published in the United States in 1975 by St. Martin's Press. His books have been published in more than 18 countries.

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