Plotting Hitler's Death: The Story of German Resistance

Prodigious research and a commonsensical tone distinguish this compelling survey of the German resistance. Fest (Adolf Hitler, etc.) challenges the idea of ""everyday resistance"" in Nazi Germany, which has often been extended to include adolescent rebellion, antisocial behavior and the telling of jokes about Nazi bigshots. Any attempt to give ordinary people a consequent role in resisting National Socialism founders, he contends, on the realities of a totalitarian system, which can be challenged effectively only by those with the protection and influence to shield themselves as they draw conclusions and make plans. Fest focuses on the men and women whose rejection of Nazism culminated in the July 20, 1944, attempt on Hitler's life. Carl Goerdeler, Claus von Stauffenberg and most of their counterparts were slow to accept the need to act until well into the war. The author insists that the resisters were more than simple opportunists seeking to escape a sinking ship, however. Their growing awareness of Nazi atrocities, he explains, generated a corresponding sense that Germany was under the rule of a criminal regime. Opposition became a moral imperative regardless of its practical chances for success. While the resisters had no head for conspiracy and no coherent concept of Germany's future, they did accurately perceive their essential task: to remove Hitler, at whatever cost. Though they failed, Fest makes a convincing case that they nevertheless established an enduring moral standard not only for Germany but for the world. Photos. (Oct.)