The Plots Against Hitler - Hardcover

Orbach, Danny

3.89

173 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0544714431 ISBN 13: 9780544714434

Publisher: Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016

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A new and definitive account of the anti-Nazi underground in Germany and its numerous efforts to assassinate Adolf Hitler

In 1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. A year later, all parties but the Nazis had been outlawed, freedom of the press was but a memory, and Hitler’s dominance seemed complete. Yet over the next few years, an unlikely clutch of conspirators emerged – soldiers, schoolteachers, politicians, diplomats, theologians, even a carpenter – who would try repeatedly to end the Fuhrer’s genocidal reign. This dramatic and deeply researched book tells the full story of those noble, ingenious, and doomed efforts. This is history at its most suspenseful, as we witness secret midnight meetings, crises of conscience, fierce debates among old friends about whether and how to dismantle Nazism, and the various plots themselves being devised and executed.

Orbach’s fresh research takes advantage of his singular skills as linguist and historian to offer profound insight into the conspirators’ methods, motivations, fears, and hopes. Though we know how this story ends, we’ve had no idea until now how close it came – several times – to ending very differently. The Plots Against Hitler fundamentally alters our view of World War II and sheds bright – even redemptive – light on its darkest days.

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From the Back Cover:

Fears were haunting Elser, and he just had to check the bomb one last time. All his worldly possessions were a suitcase—clothes, half a sausage, a little money, tools, and some spare parts. At 9:30 p.m., he reached Munich and headed to the beer hall, which was still open: “Immediately upon my arrival at the hall I climbed the gallery . . . Putting my ear against the pillar, I heard the clock ticking softly. Then I opened the secret door with a knife . . . [and] checked with my pocket watch whether the clock was running too fast or too slow. Everything was fine.”

Elser was happy. His masterpiece, laboriously assembled through those long, lonely months, was ticking away undiscovered.

The next day, Hitler would speak at the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch. He left his Munich residence and traveled in a black Mercedes to the beer hall. There, he was greeted by an electrified crowd of veterans. He stepped into the great hall and climbed onto the podium. The time was 9:00 p.m., and just behind the F�hrer, Elser’s time bomb ticked away.

About the Author:

A veteran of Israeli intelligence, Dr. DANNY ORBACH earned a B.A. in history and East Asian studies from Tel Aviv University, and a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. He is a senior lecturer for history and East Asian studies in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As a historian, commentator, and political blogger, he has published extensively on German, Japanese, Chinese, Israeli, and Middle Eastern history, with a special focus on military resistance, disobedience, rebellions, and political assassinations.

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