The Plots Against Hitler

August 15, 2016
In this comprehensive history, Israeli historian Orbach scrupulously analyzes the resistance movements that opposed the Nazis from 1933 to 1945. His superb research includes interviews with resistance survivors, family members, and relevant records from archives around the world. It is a balanced history of the resistance that covers the famous Operation Valkyrie plot, but gives equal treatment to the other serious attempts to resist the Nazis and assassinate Hitler. For many readers the extent of the resistance efforts of Admiral Canaris (head of German Military Intelligence), among others, will be surprising. This book is unique in that Orbach attempts to determine the motivation of the resisters in moral and ethical terms. He explains that most historians have either idolized the resisters as heroes or condemned them as self-serving criminals. Orbach sets the record straight when he concludes that the resisters to Hitler’s Nazi government were imperfect but in most cases exceptional human beings who reacted with action to the criminal deeds of the Nazis. Likely to become the definitive general history of the subject and the starting place for all future research, Orbach’s work is a fascinating story of courage and an excellent study of the struggle of individuals to act morally and honorably. B&w insert. Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary (U.K.).

A robust history of the German conspiracy against Nazism.Orbach (History and East Asian Studies/Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) combines intellectual inquiry with thriller dynamics, explaining that "resistance to Hitler...is a field in which historical arguments are not purely academic but wrought through with passions." The author acknowledges both the admirable aims and ultimate shortcomings of the conspirators, arguing that their story, culminating in Operation Valkyrie in 1944, is deceptively complex, while the plotters' moral standings remain subject to competing interpretations. Today, he notes, many doubt "not only the moral integrity of the conspirators and their motives but their military skill as well." Orbach counterbalances this by examining the connections between principal figures as the Nazis took hold of German society. Initially, defiance developed among conservative iconoclasts from the military and the nobility. The author uses organizational theory to explore how resistance to totalitarianism moved from such secretive "cliques" to broader networks, potent but more vulnerable. Of these early groups, "most...were never involved in opposition to the Nazi regime, but a tiny portion went through a process of revolutionary mutation in the opening months of 1938." A planned coup nearly occurred that year, during Hitler's aggression against Czechoslovakia, but it fizzled out following appeasement. As one plotter noted, "never, since 1933, was there such a good chance to free Germany and the world." Amazingly, a disgruntled lone wolf nearly killed Hitler the following year, an event that stands in ironic contrast to the increasingly labyrinthine networks. Orbach tracks the conspiracy's rise and fall over several years; some participants were motivated by spiraling defeats on the eastern front, others through witnessing genocidal acts. The charismatic Claus von Stauffenberg linked the military, bureaucratic, and civilian cliques into a "wheel conspiracy"; unfortunately, its efficiency permitted the Nazis to punish most plotters following his failed bombing of Hitler's hideaway. Orbach is thoughtful and careful in portraying a rebellion against evil that ended "honorably, perhaps, but in utter failure." A dense but gripping look at a historical counternarrative that remains relevant and disturbing. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 15, 2016

In this account, historian Orbach (fellow, Weatherhead Ctr. for International Affairs) explores the psychological, social, and military dynamics of the network of groups who tried to assassinate German politician and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler between 1938 and 1943. The author uses newly discovered diaries and documents to characterize the attempted murder plots, notably the Oster Conspiracy in 1938, led by Gen. Hans Oster; and Operation Valkyrie in 1944, headed by Officer Claus von Stauffenberg in 1943. Owing to chance or miscalculations, Hitler managed to avoid death at the hands of these high-ranking officials. Another recent work addressing this topic is Philip Freiherr Von Boeselager et al.'s Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot To Kill Hitler, by Its Last Member. VERDICT This fresh look at the German Resistance will be appreciated by students of World War II history.--Harry Willems, Great Bend P.L., KS

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