Bombing Hitler: The Story of the Man Who Almost Assassinated the F?hrer

Georg Elser was just an ordinary working-class citizen living in Munich, Germany. He was employed as a carpenter and had spent some time working in a watch factory. That all changed when he took it upon himself, without telling his family or friends, to single-handedly attempt to assassinate the most powerful man in all of Germany: the Führer, Adolph Hitler.

Elser’s plan was centered on the Munich Beer Hall, where he knew Hitler would be making a speech. Working slowly and in secret, he started to assemble the bomb that he would use to try to kill Hitler. When finished, the bomb was hidden in a hollowed-out space near the speaker’s podium.

The bomb went off successfully, killing eight people . . . but Hitler was not one of them.

Bombing Hitler is an incredible tale that takes you back to 1939, and recreates the steps that led Elser from the Munich Beer Hall, to his attempted escape across the Swiss border, and sadly, to the concentration camp where his heroic life ended. Hear for the first time the epic and tragic story of a man who stood up for what he knew was right, opposed the most powerful man in Germany, and came close to single-handedly ending the war.

Hellmut G. Haasis was born in 1942 in the town of Mühlacker in southwestern Germany. He is the author of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, genannt Jud Süß, and Tod in Prag. He has also published short stories, poems, dramas, and radio plays, as well as a novel in Swabian dialect. He is the recipient of the Thaddäus-Troll-Preis award, the Schubart Prize, and the Civis Prize.

William Odom studied at the Freie Universität Berlin, entering the university in 1961 as construction on the Wall was beginning. He holds a PhD in German from Tulane University and is the author of German for Singers and translator of Jazz: A Photo History and Hörspiel. He has been a professor of German for more than forty years.