Some of you know that I have long had an interest in chess play and chess politics in the Soviet Union. How does one survive a brutal regime and what role might chess play in that?
My primary focus has been the Soviet Union. Sources such as Andy Soltis' major work, Soviet Chess 191 7-1991 are seminal along with various other memoirs by the likes of Genna Sosonko, David Bronstein and Yuri Averbach.
But, what of chess in Nazi Germany? Most serious chess players know of then World Champion Alekhine's dalliance with the Nazis. I recently came across a fascinating article on Edward Winter's chess history site about Hans Frank, "The Butcher of Poland," who organized chess tournaments in the 1930's in Germany and during World War II in Germany and occupied Poland. These tournaments drew chess players and visitors such as Alekhine, Nimzowhich, Mieses, Bogoljubow,Samisch and Euwe.
Hans Frank was tried at Nuremberg, found guilty of crimes against humanity and hanged.
Here's the link to the Winter's excellent article:
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/frank.html
Within the past year, a novel about chess and survival in the Nazi death camps was published. It's an interesting read, but not without some controversy, particularly in the Jewish press. It's titled The Death's Head Chess Club and can be found at the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/Deaths-Head-Chess-Club-Novel/dp/0374135703/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462457932&sr=8-1&keywords=death%27s+head+chess+club
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