Defying Hitler: The Germans Who Resisted Nazi Rule

Coming soon from Dutton Caliber in the US (published April 2019):Defying Hitler cover USAn enthralling work of popular history that vividly resurrects the web of everyday Germans who resisted Nazi rule

Nazi Germany is remembered as a nation of willing fanatics. But beneath the surface, countless ordinary, everyday Germans actively resisted Hitler. Some passed industrial secrets to Allied spies. Some forged passports to help Jews escape the Reich. For others, resistance was as simple as writing a letter denouncing the rigidity of Nazi law. No matter how small the act, the danger was the same–any display of defiance was met with arrest, interrogation, torture, and even death.

Defying Hitler follows the underground network of Germans who believed standing against the Fuhrer to be more important than their own survival. Their bravery is astonishing–a schoolgirl beheaded by the Gestapo for distributing anti-Nazi fliers; a German American teacher who smuggled military intel to Soviet agents, becoming the only American woman executed by the Nazis; a pacifist philosopher murdered for his role in a plot against Hitler; a young idealist who joined the SS to document their crimes, only to end up, to his horror, an accomplice to the Holocaust. This remarkable account illuminates their struggles, yielding an accessible narrative history with the pace and excitement of a thriller.

Praise for Defying Hitler:

“The question was often asked amid the ruins of the Third Reich: why did the Germans fight on for so long when all was lost? Those liberated from concentration camps knew the answer. Terror, mass murder, ruthless and barbaric persecution—all opposition had been mercilessly quashed. In Defying Hitler, Gordon Thomas and Greg Lewis show in chilling and vivid detail just how courageous were those who dared to defy Hitler. A terrifying and timely account of resistance in the face of the greatest of evils.”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family’s Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris

“This carefully researched book challenges the myth that the German people were virtually unanimous in support of Hitler… Defying Hitler is filled with almost unbearable suspense and drama.”Booklist (starred review) 

“A deeply researched work that passionately challenges the popular myth that ‘the German people followed Hitler as if as one mass, mesmerized like the children of Hamelin by the Pied Piper.'”Kirkus 

One thought on “Defying Hitler: The Germans Who Resisted Nazi Rule

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  1. I have enjoyed reading your recent book “Defying Hitler” . I know it is hard to try and cover the many names and stories of this vast nature. But i was surprised that you did not mention the name of Helmut Hubener from Hamburg who was the youngest boy (age 17) to be executed by the NAZIS for listening to the BBC Broadcasts. He then printed what he had heard on leaflets and distributed them around the greater Hamburg area. Even though he was not an adult he was nevertheless tried as an adult by the “Blood Court” of Roland Freisler. I can’t even imagine what this young boy felt facing his fate at Plotzensee Prison. Again enjoy your books, especially the WWII related ones. thanks for reading this.

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