Killing Hitler

Description

From Publishers Weekly
Although Hitler took his own life, there was no shortage of people who wanted, and attempted, to do it for him throughout his political career. Drawing on newly opened archives in Germany and elsewhere, British historian Moorhouse (Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City) casts a wide net, chronicling failed assassination attempts by disaffected individuals in the early days of Hitler's reign, such as radical university student Maurice Bavaud, whose three easily thwarted tries in November 1938 got him guillotined; the efforts of a British group of James Bond–like spies armed with, among other things, "exploding rats"; and the well-known attempts of German officers, such as Hitler's architect Albert Speer. Moorhouse also brings to light little-known would-be-assassins, such as members of the Polish underground. Most of the assassination attempts Moorhouse describes failed because of poor planning; others fell victim to circumstance, while some may simply have been rumors, making for a compelling web of research, intrigue and conspiracy theory. Accessible prose, suspenseful narration and ample historical context make this a page-turner for WWII buffs as well as anyone with a passion for the underbelly of political power in one of the last century's darkest regimes. (Mar. 28)
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From Booklist
Few leaders have been the targets of so many assassinations attempts; German historians have identified 42 plots on Hitler's life. Twenty of the would-be assassins are chronicled here. They range from simple craftsmen to high-ranking soldiers, from the apolitical to the ideologically obsessed, and from enemy agents to his closest associates. Moorhouse writes that, for the most part, they are unknown. One was Maurice Bavaud, who never got close enough to Hitler to shoot him. Bavaud was guillotined in 1941. Georg Elser began to plot Hitler's murder in 1938. In 1939, Elser triggered a bomb that killed eight people and injured 62 others, but Hitler had already left the building. Moorehouse describes the would-be killers' plans, motives, and--inevitably--their failures. The book also tells the story of Hitler's survival. Moorehouse's documentation and analysis of this comprehensive history will keep readers interested to the end. George Cohen
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