German Resistance Against Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad, 1938-1945 [Hardcover]

Klemens von Klemperer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198219407 | ISBN-13: 978-0198219408 | Publication Date: June 18, 1992

This book traces the many efforts of the German Resistance to forge alliances with Hitler's opponents outside Germany. The Allied agencies, notably the British Foreign Office and the U.S. State Department, were ill-prepared to deal with the unorthodox approaches of the Widerstand. Ultimately, the Allies' policy of "absolute silence," the Grand Alliance with the Soviet Union, and the demand for "unconditional surrender" pushed the war to its final denouement, disregarding the German Resistance. Von Klemperer's scholarly and detailed study uncovers the activities and beliefs of numerous individuals who fought against Nazism within Germany. He explores the formation of their policy and analyzes the relations of the Resistance with the Vatican and the ecumenical movement, the intelligence agencies of the Allied powers, and the resistance movements outside Germany. Measured by the conventional standards of diplomacy, the German Resistance to Hitler was a failure. However, von Klemperer shows that many of the principles and strategies of the German Resistance, albeit ignored or overridden by the Allies during wartime, were to find their place in the concerns of international relations in the post-war period.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Nuanced and persuasive....An impressively researched and finely balanced summation of an important subject."--American Historical Review

"A meticulously researched and marvelously detailed account....It contains much new information."--The New York Review of Books

"Written with rare compassion and genuine sensitivity to the moral dilemmas in which those Germans who had the courage to resist Hitler invariably found themselves.. In no other study in this field is the relationship between public passivity and genocidal responsibility so starkly detailed."--German Studies Review

"Well-written, highly informative....His account is well founded and provides a great deal of new evidence."--Central European History

"A well-written book that surely will become the standard work on the subject."--Choice

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Klemperer is the editor of the well-received A Noble Combat: The Letters of Sheila Grant Duff and Adam von Trott zu Solz 1932-39 (OUP, 1988). He lives in Massachusetts, USA. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 18, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198219407
• ISBN-13: 978-0198219408
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,859,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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