The Bohemians

April 27, 2020
Husband and wife resistance leaders Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen, who established a network of anti-Nazi spies in WWII-era Berlin, receive the full Bonnie-and-Clyde treatment in this colorful yet lopsided account from German novelist and historian Ohler (Blitzed). Though the “young and good-looking” couple both came from well-pedigreed family backgrounds, Ohler writes, their love-at-first-sight meeting, unconventional communal living arrangements, artistic pursuits, and open marriage marked them as bohemians in 1930s Germany. Arrested and brutally beaten by the SS in 1933, magazine editor Harro witnessed the murder of his Jewish friend and colleague. He went undercover as an office clerk in the Air Ministry (“a nerve center of the Nazi brain”), and shared military plans with the Soviets while secretly writing and publishing anti-Nazi propaganda and establishing links with other resistance groups. Meanwhile, poetry-loving, accordion-playing Libertas used her charm to help advance Harro’s military career and talk her way out of an espionage charge for photographing Jewish refugees, though politics were not “her cup of tea.” Unfortunately, Ohler glosses over potential reasons, including sexism, why Libertas’s contributions to the resistance movement were perceived as more “superficial” than Harro’s. Still, this deeply researched and stylishly written account unearths an appealing yet overlooked chapter in WWII history. Espionage enthusiasts will be riveted. Agent: Robin Straus, the Robin Straus Agency.

May 15, 2020
The story of a valiant group of resisters who stealthily undermined the Nazi regime. Drawing on a trove of unpublished and archival documents from the German Resistance Memorial Center, the Institute for Contemporary History, and German, British, Russian, and American national repositories, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist Ohler creates a taut, absorbing tale of anti-Nazi resistance. Told in the present tense, the narrative conveys a sense of immediacy and encroaching terror. Central to the history are Harro Schulze-Boysen and his wife, Libertas, an attractive bourgeois couple, "apparently 'Aryan' through and through," who become the vortex for a daring movement. Harro began as an idealistic publisher of the Gegner, a prominent journal dedicated to raising consciousness about threats to society from the rise of Nazism. "A people divided by hate...cannot get up again," Harro wrote in one piece. He felt optimistic that Hitler would fail and that Germans' enthusiasm for the Nazis could be directed "toward a genuine social revolution." After he was arrested and tortured for his activities, however, Harro was forced to adopt a new strategy: "to appear outwardly unsuspicious in order to change the system from within." To further that strategy, he enlisted in the air force. Libertas, a publicist for MGM and a member of the Nazi Party, radically changed her "immature, Nazi-oriented worldview" after falling in love with Harro, soon becoming a valued, if sometimes erratic, member of their "social network," which spread and surfaced, focused in part on printing and disseminating pamphlets and flyers. Harro, whose military position put him "at a nexus of information of the German war machine," had a vital role in producing documents with which to "flood the country with sensitive information about how the war is going and bring about a popular revolt." Ohler capably recounts the intrepid activities, alliances, and betrayals that led to sweeping arrests and executions. Sharply drawn characters enliven a tragic history.

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June 12, 2020

Readers may be familiar with the names of von Stauffenberg, Bonhoeffer, and Scholl in relation to German Resistance during World War II, but other individuals have been virtually "erased" from history. Journalist and novelist Ohler (Blitzed) profiles Luftwaffe officer and early Resistance figure Harro Schulze-Boysen, who has received little attention outside of Germany. With his wife, Libertas, Harro led a group people from different backgrounds gathered by a common goal to resist Nazi oppression. The Gestapo labeled the group the Red Orchestra in an attempt to tie them to communism and Russia; however, it wasn't so much a cohesive communist ideology for most of the members than an attempt to undermine the autocracy of the current Nazi regime. Each chapter leaves readers wanting more and rooting for the ill-fated group. Harro is a particularly heroic and strongly idealistic figure, who, along with Arvid Harnack, actively and with some success thwarted some of the regime's attempts at indoctrination. VERDICT Ohler's gifts as a writer shine as he brings to life the personalities, motivations, and machinations of the Red Orchestra. Complementary works include Shareen Blair Brysac's Resisting Hitler and Fritz Stern and Elisabeth Sifton's No Ordinary Men.--Maria Bagshaw, Elgin Community Coll. Lib., IL

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June 1, 2020
German author Ohler follows his bestselling Blitzed (2017) with the fascinating and tragic tale of a ragtag, idealistic crew of nonconformists hiding in plain sight while secretly working to fight the Nazis from within. During Hitler's rise to power, Harro Schulze-Boysen and his wife, Libertas, developed a network of anti-Nazi comrades and friends who shared their bohemian lifestyle and feared the end of free expression in art, literature, music, and film. Harro, Libertas, and many others in their elite social circle held positions in the Nazi party and cloaked their clandestine resistance with lavish parties, picnics by the river, and trips to family estates also visited by Hitler's inner circle. Maintaining their freedom while attempting to send coded radio messages, subverting Nazi propaganda efforts, and papering Berlin with their own anti-Nationalist pamphlets proved too delicate a balancing act, resulting in the entire network being uncovered and destroyed. This unbelievable yet true story is richly detailed thanks to the participation of descendants of these courageous resistance fighters; with their help, Ohler succeeds in vividly thwarting the Nazis' attempts to erase these heroes from history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)