Courageous Hearts: Women and the Anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 [Hardcover]

Dorothee Von Meding (Author), Michael Balfour (Translator), Volker R. Berghahn (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1571818537 | ISBN-13: 978-1571818539 | Publication Date: July 1997

Nazi "justice" following the attempt on Hitler's life on 20 July 1944 led not only to the brutal execution of scores of conspirators, but also dramatically changed the lives of their families. However, whereas it is the husbands who are celebrated annually as heroes of the resistance, little mention is made of their wives. This collection of interviews, which the author conducted with eleven of them, reveals that it was the women's courage that sustained their husbands both before the plot and later, in the face of certain violent death.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[This book] is a woman's and journalist's daring venture into an area exhausted by research and controversy ... Engaging and revealing reading ... the reader begins to see eleven colorful personalities, with rich background not visible in history books on the topic - [the author] never becomes confrontational but emerges as a careful and sensitive interviewer ... This book resists stereotyping, juxtaposing men and women, and valorizing, and takes into account social status and class of families questioned. [The book], touching without becoming kitsch, promotes a discussion of the nature and values of 'Widerstand', as well as an examination of the impact of 20 July on Germany's 'Vergangenheitsbewaltigung'. I would recommend to anyone teaching the events of 20 July to include a couple of these interviews." * Caroline Schaumann, Women in German

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Berghahn Books (July 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571818537
• ISBN-13: 978-1571818539
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,170,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the last anti Nazi resistance within germany:, March 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Courageous Hearts: Women and the Anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Paperback)

Dorthea Meding's recent translation is timely and of interest to both historians of this important subject, the resistance, or Widerstand, within Germany itself to the course of the war, and its effects upon Germans then, and in the future. It is a remarkeable achievement in addition of skillful interviewing with the almost all of the surviving spouses of the key players in the 1944 plot to not only end HItler's lilfe, but to rescue the country from the brutal bombing, and mass expulsions taking place in the East at this time. It is humorously recounted, often (in the case of Dietrich Bonheffer's widow), always involved in the person of these women their constant concern for their children, their roles, and their views of the importance of the conspiracy later for Germany, and for what would came after the ashes of 1945. The women interviewed are extremely individualistic, and spirited, although many of them are close now to their eighties, or older. this reviewer regards the book as an important contribution to womens' literature, as well as to the literature of the resistance of this time.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hitler and the German women's courage, July 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Courageous Hearts: Women and the Anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Hardcover)

What you ever wanted to know about the wifes whose men died fighting against Hitler in the underground during the Third Reich. Very intimate, touching and informing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Corageous Hearts, July 25, 2010

By 

Helga Schmidt (Florida) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Courageous Hearts: Women and the Anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Paperback)

A thought provoking set of interviews from wives of the July 1944 Plot against Adolph Hitler. It provides a form for the subjects to share their views. It also leaves the reader with a myriad of questions about them, their environment, and their feelings. Sometimes it is confusing to separate actions from reflections. These women have suffered over an extended period of time and those facts show themselves. It was fascinating to read and to recognize that these women were educated to professional levels at a time when American women were confined to cleaning house and cooking supper.