Valkyrie: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler [Abridged] [Paperback]

Hans Bernd Gisevius (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2008

When on July 20, 1944, a bomb—boldly placed inside Hitler’s headquarters by Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg— exploded without killing the Führer, the subsequent coup d’état against the Third Reich collapsed. The conspirators were summarily shot or condemned in show trials and sadistically hanged. One of the few survivors of the conspiracy was Hans Bernd Gisevius, who had used his positions in the Gestapo and the Abwehr (military intelligence) to further the anti-Nazi plot. Valkyrie, an abridgment of Gisevius’s classic insider’s account To the Bitter End, is an intimate memoir as riveting as it is exceptional.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hans Bernd Gisevius (1904–1974) was one of the most active conspirators in the July 20, 1944, plot to kill Hitler, and later a prosecution witness at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; Abridged edition (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306817713
• ISBN-13: 978-0306817717
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #812,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books on Germany and WWII Ever Written, December 17, 2008

By 

W. H. McDonald Jr. "The American Author Assoc... (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Valkyrie: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler (Paperback)

This is not some professor guessing at what things were like from the safety of his office some decades after the events took place - this is an eye-witness and a participant to events that are both historic and insightful. The author Hans Bernd Gisevius takes us to the heart and the soul of WWII Germany and gives us a insider look at events. In his book "Valkyrie: An Insider's Account Of The plot To Kill Hitler" we get to understand much better the mindset of those involved in this assassination attempt and what motivated them.

Fascinating beyond belief - this true life story is an amazing tale. I am surprised that this was not a movie before now. There are real heros, and villains, and those that are hard to classify as either, and of course, there are so many victims. This was the author's memoir and it is rather odd that he doesn't try to show showcase himself in any better light - he seems brutally honest about himself. He tells of the planning, his fellow conspirators and of the events which drew them all to take this action. This should be a must read book for anyone trying to understand what was going on within Germany at that time.

If this was just a novel - no one would believe it! The Third Reich and much that it stood for are bared open for examination by readers. This is a powerful story and one that continues to have much energy and life over 60 plus years after the events. I highly recommend this book and give it the highest book rating from The Military Writer's Society of America - FIVE STARS!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rough beginning but eventually it makes up for it, December 16, 2008

By 

Ronniet102 "RonnietT102" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valkyrie: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler (Paperback)

The book was very rough in the beginning. The author uses the first 112 pages giving summaries about some of the people in the coup and some others who we never read of again. It was very hard to get through it- he has a very dynamic vocabulary and if your just an average Joe like me and not a English major you might have to read over a sentence more than once.
Once it gets into his diary of the days before during and after the attempt it gets very good. Since its a primary source written only a year or two after the war his perspective of things was not hindsight like of veterans stories written now.
I have read up on the assassination attempt and have saw many shows about it on the History channel but this book was not written by a historian 50 years after the fact- it was written a year after the war ended and by someone who was actually part of it. I gave it only three stars because of the beginning but the rest was amazing. For a primary source on a historical incident that was a lot more important than history makes it- you need to read this book.

Plus I am sure you want to know if that movie with Tom Cruise was historically accurate.

Hope this helps everyone

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An insider's view on a bad putsch, July 15, 2009

By 

Rick Amazon (Hayward, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valkyrie: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler (Paperback)

This book is an revised edition of the original "To the Bitter End" book. The first section (before the July 20th assignation attempt) appears to be a condensed version of the original. There are lots of details and information but not much substance.

Where the book really shines is with the July 20th putsch. Here you really get an insider's view of what happened and what went wrong. This view is clouded by the author's background and status, but that prejudice also comes through in the text. In this narration you feel like the "fly on the wall", watching things unfold to a bloody end. In all, it was a fascinating read and one of the best descriptions of the attempted Hitler assassination I've read.

Be sure to read the introductions both before and after you read the book. The introductions describe the interpersonal relations in the putsch and also show how these relations can cloud history.