This is a classic morality tale — a story of the eternal struggle between good and evil. It speaks of those who resisted that evil and of those who succumbed to it. Little is known about those whose courage and conviction drove them to risk and lose everything to bring the Third Reich to an end.

The story of Georg Elser and his attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler encapsulates the wider story of the anti-Nazi German resistance almost perfectly. All the moral and ethical issues and the practical problems that the resisters faced are found in his story. In sum, it is a microcosm of the larger story. Elser personified the entire resistance movement!

Presented within the broader context of German history and contemporary world events, this comprehensive study relies on extensive historiography by noted scholars to produce a well-balanced, timely narrative of the German resistance to one of history’s most violent regimes. Traitors or Patriots? tells a story of incredible courage and conviction that transcends time and place—a story for our own time and for all time.

Louis R. Eltscher

Books