Items related to The Power of Solitude: My Life in the German Resistance
Synopsis
“Dearly beloved Child of my Heart, we are probably standing at the end of our beautiful and rich life together. Because tomorrow the People’s Court intends to sit in judgment on me and others. I hear that we have been expelled from the army. They can take the uniform from us, but not the spirit in which we acted.”—Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, in a letter to his wife.
Marion Yorck von Wartenburg was involved in the Nazi resistance group known as the Kreisau Circle, whose cofounder was her husband, Peter. The Kreisau Circle participated in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944. Peter’s cousin Claus Stauffen-berg and other members of the military resistance carried out the attempt. When they failed, hundreds of people were arrested, tried, and executed, including Peter. Marion and other members of the conspirators’ families were also arrested and spent months jailed under miserable conditions. In this memoir Marion recreates the terrifying reality of her life as the wife of a resistance fighter and at the same time conveys the depth of the bond that existed between her and her husband.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Julie M. Winter is co-director of the Foreign Language Institute in Helena, Montana, and the author of Luther Bible Research in the Context of Volkish Nationalism in the Twentieth Century. Peter Hoffmann is William Kingsford Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal. His works include Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905–1944.
Reviews
At first glance, the memoirs of the wife of a central figure in the plot to assassinate Hitler should be a compelling historical document, especially as Yorck von Wartenburg was the first female judge to sit on the bench of the Federal Republic of Germany. Yet with only 80 pages of reminiscences, there is just not that much here. The author knew many important figures of the German Resistance and even went to school with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. She married Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, a cofounder of the Kreisau Circle (which participated in the assassination attempt), and thus had intimate knowledge of its celebrated bomb plot against Hitler. Surprisingly lightweight--in some ways, the book reminds one of an evening with grandmother--this memoir does not provide enough historically important material to merit the attention of anyone but the most serious scholar of the July 20, 1944 plot. Peter Hoffmann's brilliant introduction to the German Resistance is wasted, and the price seems a bit high for this bit of fluff. Recommended only for larger academic collections specializing in World War II studies.
-Randall L. Schroeder, Lib. in Exile, Wartburg Coll., Waverly, IA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.