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Defying Hitler: : The Germans Who Resisted Nazi Rule
Greg Lewis

Defying Hitler: : The Germans Who Resisted Nazi Rule

The enthralling story of the Germans from all walks of life who resisted Hitler and risked their lives to stand up to the evil of 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 Führer to be more important than their own survival. Their bravery is astonishing – a student beheaded by the Gestapo for distributing anti-Nazi fliers; a German American teacher who smuggled military intel to Allied 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.

Book Details:

  • Author: Greg Lewis
  • Published Year: 2017
  • Rights Sold
    • US: Caliber
Greg Lewis

Greg Lewis

Greg Lewis is a writer and television producer/director who has written extensively about espionage, resistance and the Second World War. His book, Defying Hitler (written with Gordon Thomas) was published by Penguin Random House and was a top-five pick in both USA Today and the New York Post. It was described by New York Times bestselling author Alex Kershaw as a “terrifying and timely account of resistance in the face of the greatest of evils”. Shadow Warriors has been published in five countries and was optioned for a film/mini-series. Clare Mulley (Agent Zo, The Women Who F...
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Book Reviews

  • "Shows 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, author of Avenue of Spies, The Liberator and The Bedford Boys
  • "Stirring."
    USA Today
  • "Fascinating."
    New York Post
  • "Gripping . . . manages to keep you guessing what some of the outcomes might be, despite our overall knowledge of Germany's ultimate fate. . . . [Defying Hitler] reminds us all that good people can dare to stand and fight evil and powerful regimes regardless of the odds."
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  • "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)
  • "An engrossing and accessible history of Germans who risked, and mostly lost, their lives opposing the Nazi regime . . . An informative counterpoint to accounts of widespread German complicity with the Holocaust."
    Publishers Weekly
  • "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 Reviews
  • "A] well-researched volume. . . Highly recommended for those wishing to comprehend life in Nazi Germany and what courage it took not to surrender to authority. This masterful work will best serve general audiences and historians alike."
    Library Journal (starred review)