Hans Hellmut Kirst

Hans Hellmut Kirst (December 5, 1914 – February 13, 1989) was a German novelist from Osterode, East Prussia.

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 * All you have to do is anesthetize the masses by telling them they’re an elite, that they’ve got a mission, that they’re making history, that they’re fulfilling their destiny and fighting for a better world — and they swallow it like lambs — even when a guttersnipe says it.
 * The Night of the Generals (1962)