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Hitler’s Demons: A Novel Of The German Resistance(*)
Author: Helena P. Schrader
Ebook version of An Obsolete Honor by the same author.
Published February 2012.
Buy it here.
♥
I mentioned this book in my latest book challenge update and also mentioned that I would be posting an in-depth review about the novel. I realise this novel may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I hope that all those bookworms out there take the opportunity to read this book – give it a chance, I’m sure you’ll love it!
Written by Helena P. Schrader, this book is set, as you would expect, in the 1930’s and 40’s and follows the lives of various German families as they muddle through the war with growing resentment for the man in charge of their country. Main characters include Baron Philip von Feldburg,, Marianne Moldenaeur, Alexandra v. Mollwitz and their various families.
Based on over 10 years of research and interviews with numerous survivors of World War Two, Helena has created a fictional work around the well-documented real life Valkyrie plot. It is no secret that there were, in fact, numerous German officers who disagreed with Hitler’s idea of Nazism and resented the damage he was doing to their country and their troops.
The author gives the definition of Hitler’s Demons as ‘those Germans who opposed his diabolical regime on moral grounds. They sought to defend human dignity and restore the rule of law.‘
Although I found this ebook a little hard to get into at first and struggled a little with the various military references, I found myself very sympathetic towards the main characters, especially Philip. As a military officer himself, he gets to see firsthand just how much damage Hitler is doing and although a little dubious at first, is more than enthusiastic eventually, to be involved in the Valkyrie Plot.
Schrader has cleverly created characters you almost fall in love with – Philip’s younger brother Christian is charming and from the way he’s described, extremely good looking; Marianne, an Aryan beauty, goes out of her way to help her Jewish friends, forever in fear of being caught; Yvette, the young French girl charmed by Christian’s friend Dieter, aloof but interesting. She also introduces some characters you can’t help but thoroughly dislike – Philip’s younger sister, Theresa, brainwashed by her money and power hungry husband into believing every word that comes out of Hitler’s mouth and who is forever insulting her family and those around them; Walther, Theresa’s husband, who thinks that his newly successful status means he is above others.
I often found myself worrying for those involved in the plot, there were so many near misses where they could get caught – and they make numerous attempts on Hitler’s life, leaving me with my heart in my mouth, wondering what would happen. As a fictional piece of work, I knew that Schrader could make anything happen and this kept me engrossed to the very last page. However, as we know, all assassination attempts on Hitler’s life ended unsuccessfully and the author kept true to real life in that respect.
I was a little disappointed in the ending, it seemed abrupt and I felt a little annoyed that some great characters were lost in a few sentences, rather than given the sendoff I felt they deserved. However, I found this an interesting read. I enjoyed learning more about real-life characters the author included in the book, such as General Olbricht.
As a history geek and a total bookworm, I found this very interesting and would like to read more of the authors work. If you have any interest in Hitler’s Germany, the Valkyrie Plot, history or just like reading in general, I’d definitely suggest giving this book a try.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Helena P. Schrader is a historian, novelist and diplomat
from the United States. She has written various other books
in various eras, such as Ancient Greece and Sparta, WWII
and the Middle Ages amongst others. She published her
first book in 1993. You can find out more about her here.
Would you be interested in reading this book? Are you a history buff like me?
xo
This is a sponsored review post.
This sounds like a really great read actually – I'll have to stick on my goodreads list 🙂 xxx