The German Resistance to Hitler

This book includes four essays, each written by a German specialist, that discuss important problems of the German resistance with judgment and candor, offering the kind of interpretive judgment often lacking in other histories. Hermann Graml shows that as far as foreign policy, the resistance conservatives were never quite able to reconcile their hopes for a supranational solution in central Europe with their desire to fulfill traditional national aims from a position of German strength. Addressing the social policy of resisting groups, Hans Mommsen concludes that a central purpose was the "de-massing of the masses," while rejecting both communism and Western democracy. Hans-Joachim Reichhardt assesses the labor movement, wherein Communist leaders come out badly. Utterly failing to understand the threat of Hitler, they refused to join in efforts to thwart his coming to power. On the efforts of the religious, Ernst Wolf concludes, as have so many others, that the heroic resistance of individual Christians contrasts lamentably with the role played by organized Christianity. These thoughtful essays reinforce the impression gained in larger and more detailed studies: the resistance to Hitler's barbarism by decent German citizens was widespread, genuine--and tragically ineffective.