Gernika, 26 April 1937. Following Franco's orders, the Condor Legion and Italian air force units bombed the Biscayan town until it was reduced to ashes. The architect of the massacre, Lieutenant Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, had completed his monument to death, his great masterpiece. His acheivements will make him the youngest field marshal in the Reich. Germany, 1945. During the final days of World War II, Richthofen lies dying in a military hospital, accompanied by his daughter, Ellen, who reads his diary and tries to understand who her father was and who she is. Germany, 2001. Ellen, tormented by her moral dilemmas, confesses to her son the role his grandfather played in the war. A Gift for Hitler is a historical and military novel that examines the extent to which the legacies passed on from parents can mark their children's lives.