For more than 20 years, the Cologne based journalist and political scientist Hermann Rheindorf has been dealing with the film history of Cologne and the Rhineland. He has searched all over the world for film footage from the region. Since 2005 he has published around 30 feature-length film documentaries and has been awarded with the Rhineland Medal by the Rhineland Regional Council for his services to film history. Nevertheless the images of the end of World War II in Cologne wouldn't let him go for years. He decided to search systematically for archivals relating to Cologne at the end of the war: in the archives of the Western Allies as well as in the remaining files of the German army. He traveled the world to meet contemporary witnesses who were still alive. He published the first results in highly acclaimed film documentaries in 2005 and 2008, followed by the first English-Original Soundtrack version in 2013 and the first german edition of this book in 2014. In 2020 the completely revised and extended second edition of the book was again highly recommended by the press and historians. In addition to his works as a journalist and filmmaker Rheindorf is the representative of the Cologne Film Heritage Foundation.