Book description
Most people have heard of the Stauffenberg Plot but it is not widely
known that this was only one of a long series of attempts on the life
of Adolf Hitler. The Germans, Soviets, Poles and British all made
plans to kill the Fuhrer. Lone gunmen, disaffected German officers and
the Polish Underground, the Soviet NKVD and the British Special
Operations Executive were all involved. Their methods varied from
bombing, poisoning or using a sniper, to infiltrating the SS, or even
sending Rudolf Hess back to Germany under hypnosis. Many of the plans
did not make it beyond the drawing board, some were carried out. All
of them failed.
Alongside the dramatic and largely unknown stories of Hitler's
numerous assassins, this book presents a fascinating investigation of
a number of broader issues, such as the complex motives of the German
Resistance, the curious squeamishness of the British, and the
effectiveness of the Nazi security apparatus.
Drawing on memoirs and original archival sources in Poland, Germany,
Russia and Britain, Killing Hitler offers a unique perspective
on the history of the Third Reich.
Roger Moorhouse is an historian and author specialising in modern
German history. He is the co-author, with Norman Davies, of
Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City
, and the author of
Berlin at War.
