Resisting Nazism: True Stories of Resistance to the World's Most Dangerous Ideology, from 1920 to the Present

Nazism has always faced resistance: from the German artists who caricatured the Nazis in the 1920s, or the man who infiltrated the SS to try and expose the Holocaust in the 1940s, or the people who uncovered former Nazis as part of a groundbreaking documentary in the 1970s. Resisting Nazism is the first book to connect such stories, painting a vivid picture of resistance to hatred and extremism across the generations. Built on original interviews with the people involved, their families, and their colleagues, as well as deep research, this book is a response to far-right populist threats and antisemitism that increasingly resemble the Nazi past. Each of its twelve chapters tells a different story of resistance. Sometimes, these stories involve incredible daring and enormous risk – but they also show that resistance can begin with something as simple as writing your ideas down or showing solidarity with the oppressed.

Table of Contents:
Guide to Common Abbreviations Introduction: In Search of My Grandfather I Cartoons: The Satirists Who Sounded the Alarm on Nazism in the 1920s II Sebastian Haffner: The Lost Book by the German Who Fled the Nazis and Helped the Allies III The Edelweiss Pirates: The Working-Class German Children Who Resisted Nazism IV Kurt Gerstein: The SS Man Who Tried to Blow the Whistle on the Nazis' Extermination Camps V Alexander Pechersky: The Jewish Soldier Who Led an Uprising in a Nazi Extermination Camp VI Field Security Sections: Finding and Arresting War Criminals in the Ruins of Nazi Germany VII Leon Bass: The Black American Soldier Who Told the World About Buchenwald VIII Emmi Bonhoeffer: The German Activist Who Helped Holocaust Survivors in the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial IX Gitta Sereny: The Journalist Who Interviewed a Nazi Mass Murderer X Shoah: The People Who Got Nazi War Criminals to Discuss Their Crimes on Camera XI The Holtzman Amendment: The People Who Expelled Nazi War Criminals From the United States XII Formers: The American Neo-Nazis Who Turned on Their Beliefs Conclusion Acknowledgements Further Reading Works Cited

About the Author :
Luke Berryman is the Founder and CEO of The Ninth Candle, a Chicago-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that helps schools to improve Holocaust education.

Review :
Resisting Nazism is a poignant, powerful and personal portrait of diverse ways in which people resisted Nazism during the Holocaust and in its aftermath. Many ways of resisting are depicted in this moving work, which has a special meaning in our time when non-violent resistance to authoritarian rule may well determine much of the future. I think that each reader can find in these portraits a model of a person to emulate, someone who challenges our complacency and shows us how we should act, how we must act! Resistance comes in many forms, especially when the trigger is Nazism. A stroke of the pen, a searing speech, an outreached hand can do more to fight back than a shower of bullets. In “Resisting Nazism,” Luke Berryman presents extraordinary stories of such resistance, meanwhile giving lie to one of the most pernicious myths of all: that Jews didn't resist during the Holocaust. The battle against Nazism continues, of course, and Berryman's book itself represents a potent form of resistance. Resisting Nazism by Luke Berryman should serve as a central text in teaching the Holocaust and enlightening readers about how Nazism has been thoughtfully confronted. The book is comprised of a discerning selection of texts toward the aim of understanding challenges to Hitler and his legacy of tyranny and genocide-which is more timely than ever. This book is a tribute to those who have and are resisting the Nazi movement. Knowing history is essential and this is a reminder that it is not only the great acts of defiance that shape our future, but the small, everyday choices we make to stand against hate. The accessible text brings together material on Nazi resistance in an eye-opening, powerful, and groundbreaking manner, allowing readers to ponder the connections between past and present. In these contentious times, this book illuminates our personal responsibility to become informed and resist propaganda and hatred prevalent today. In Resisting Nazism, Luke Berryman introduces us to ordinary people who became extraordinary resisters. By grounding us in the humanity of those who defied Nazism, he reminds us that resistance - spiritual, physical, and political - is both possible and necessary, even when we feel powerless to effect change. This book offers not only a record of the past but a blueprint for dignity and courage today.