The secret war against Hitler

"One of the few survivors of the German Resistance, von Schlabrendorff traces the first awakening of anti-Nazi activity during his student days in the twenties. Later, once Hitler took power, von Schlabrendorff joined with others of the intelligentsia to form the tiny clandestine groups that would become the core of the Resistance. He recounts the futile secret meetings of the conspirators; their careful, agonizing efforts to enlist the aid of weak and vacillating German generals; their anguished appeals for help to Chamberlain and other British officials, and the author's personal plea to Churchill just before the outbreak of war in 1939. Von Schlabrendorff tells of the "double life" of the Resistance leaders during World War II, of the seeming invincibility of the Nazis, and how each Nazi success inevitably thwarted the conspirators. He recalls his intimate involvement in the first attempt against Hitler's life, then describes the Generals' Plot of July 20 and the torture and terror which followed. Throughout his book the moral dilemmas which shaped every action of the plotters are movingly revealed." --from inside jacket flap.