Defying the Nazis. The Sharps' War

Joukowsky, Artemis

ISBN 10: 080707182X / ISBN 13: 9780807071823

Published by Beacon Press, Boston, 2016

About this Item

Large octavo size [16x24cm approx]. Near Fine copy in Very Good dustjacket. Dustjacket is now protected in our purpose-made plastic sleeve. A nice copy. Illustrated with Black and White Photographs. Robust, professional packaging and tracking provided for all parcels. 255 pages.

Seller Inventory # 309193

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Defying the Nazis. The Sharps' War
• Publisher: Beacon Press, Boston
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080707182X
• ISBN 13: 9780807071823
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Military-WW2

About this title

Synopsis

The little-known story of the Sharps whose rescue and relief missions across Europe during World War II saved the lives of countless Jews, refugees, and political dissidents. Official companion to the Ken Burns PBS film.

For readers captivated by the story of Antonina Zabinski as told in The Zookeeper's Wife and other stories of rescue missions during WWII, Defying the Nazis is an essential read.

In 1939, the Reverend Waitstill Sharp, a young Unitarian minister, and his wife, Martha, a social worker, accepted a mission from the American Unitarian Association: they were to leave their home and young children in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and travel to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to help address the mounting refugee crisis. Seventeen ministers had been asked to undertake this mission and had declined; Rev. Sharp was the first to accept the call for volunteers in Europe.

Armed with only $40,000, Waitstill and Martha quickly learned the art of spy craft and undertook dangerous rescue and relief missions across war-torn Europe, saving refugees, political dissidents, and Jews on the eve of World War II. After narrowly avoiding the Gestapo themselves, the Sharps returned to Europe in 1940 as representatives of the newly formed Unitarian Service Committee and continued their relief efforts in Vichy France.

A fascinating portrait of resistance as told through the story of one courageous couple, Defying the Nazis offers a rare glimpse at high-stakes international relief efforts during WWII and tells the remarkable true story of a couple whose faith and commitment to social justice inspired them to risk their lives to save countless others.

About the Author

Artemis Joukowsky is an author, filmmaker, and socially conscious venture capitalist. He is the grandson of Waitstill and Martha Sharp and has spent decades researching his grandparents’ heroic rescue missions in Europe. He is also codirector, with Ken Burns, of the companion PBS documentary film Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War.