Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero
    The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero
    The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero
    Ebook153 pages1 hour

    The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero

    By Patricia McCormick

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Perfect for fans of suspenseful nonfiction such as books by Steve Sheinkin, this is a page-turning narrative about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor and pacifist who became an unlikely hero during World War II and took part in a plot to kill Hitler. Written by two-time National Book Award finalist Patricia McCormick, author of Sold and Never Fall Down and coauthor of the young reader’s edition of I Am Malala.

    It was April 5, 1943, and the Gestapo would arrive any minute. Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been expecting this day for a long time. He had put his papers in order—and left a few notes specifically for Hitler’s men to see. Two SS agents climbed the stairs and told the boyish-looking Bonhoeffer to come with them. He calmly said good-bye to his parents, put his Bible under his arm, and left. Upstairs there was proof, in his own handwriting, that this quiet young minister was part of a conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler.

    This compelling, brilliantly researched account includes the remarkable discovery that Bonhoeffer was one of the first people to provide evidence to the Allies that Jews were being deported to death camps. It takes readers from his privileged early childhood to the studies and travel that would introduce him to peace activists around the world—eventually putting this gentle, scholarly pacifist on a deadly course to assassinate one of the most ruthless dictators in history. The Plot to Kill Hitler provides fascinating insights into what makes someone stand up for what’s right when no one else is standing with you. It is a question that every generation must answer again and again.

    With black-and-white photographs, fascinating sidebars, and thoroughly researched details, this book should be essential reading.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 13, 2016
    ISBN9780062411105
    Author

    Patricia McCormick

    Patricia McCormick is a former journalist and a two-time National Book Award finalist whose books include Cut, Sold, Never Fall Down, The Plot to Kill Hitler, the young readers edition of I Am Malala, and the award-winning picture book Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero. Patricia lives in New York. Visit her online at pattymccormick.com.

    Related to The Plot to Kill Hitler

    Related ebooks

    Children's Historical For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Holocaust

      Dec 15, 2020

      The Holocaust
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz

      Jan 27, 2021

      The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Real Housewives Of The Third Reich: Wealth, Power And Petty Rivalries

      Jan 16, 2021

      WHO among us hasn’t felt that schadenfreudian thrill of wondering, “How on Earth can she be married to him?” (Apologies, Ms Chao!) At once superior and voyeuristic, the question assumes that the woman is perfectly nice, even charming, while her husba

      2 min read

    • Article

      Brave Faith

      Jan 26, 2023

      On a cold, foggy day in December 2005, my husband, John, and I arrived in Flossenbürg in eastern Germany, the site of the concentration camp where Dietrich Bonhoeffer was taken more than 75 years ago. In snow above our ankles, we groped our way towar

      7 min read

    • Article

      I guarded Albert Speer

      Jun 30, 2021

      In Berlin in 1961, aged 18, serving with the Royal Sussex Regiment, I was detailed for my first two-day duty as guard commander at the nearby gloomy Spandau Prison. It housed the last three Nazi war criminals: Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess; the Hitler

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hitler’s Women

      Feb 4, 2020

      Hitler’s Women
      15 min read

    • Article

      What Kind of Nazi Was He?

      May 22, 2023

      What Kind of Nazi Was He?
      11 min read

    • Article

      Letter Of The Month

      Jun 21, 2021

      Letter Of The Month
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Enemy Within

      Mar 16, 2021

      The Enemy Within
      12 min read

    • Article

      Escape To Victory

      Jun 28, 2023

      Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival By Daniel Finkelstein William Collins £25 Danny Finkelstein is a columnist at the Times, and a moderate Tory peer, and he lives in Pinner, north London. My mother asked me, ‘Why does

      3 min read

    • Article

      Translating Evil

      Feb 21, 2019

      Translating Evil
      8 min read

    • Article

      Fascist Propagandists

      May 23, 2019

      A co-founder of the Dutch National Socialist Movement, van Geelkerken created the party in the image of the German National Socialists, pretty much just translating their ideology into his native language. He was more hands-on than his leader, Anton

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hitler’s Assassins

      Jul 11, 2019

      Hitler’s Assassins
      9 min read

    • Article

      Outcast Of The Angry Generation

      May 27, 2021

      Outcast Of The Angry Generation
      11 min read

    • Article

      Agent A12

      Oct 26, 2023

      Agent A12
      9 min read

    • Article

      Les Monstres Among Us

      Jul 16, 2018

      Les Monstres Among Us
      6 min read

    • Article

      Debunking Hitler’s Survival

      Apr 16, 2020

      Debunking Hitler’s Survival
      4 min read

    • Article

      Anne Frank

      Jan 21, 2022

      Anne Frank
      4 min read

    • Article

      Mengele’s Babies

      Oct 26, 2021

      Mengele’s Babies
      3 min read

    • Article

      Mengele’s Babies

      Oct 26, 2021

      Mengele’s Babies
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Power Of Living

      May 5, 2020

      The Power Of Living
      6 min read

    • Article

      Q&A With Jennifer Steil, Author Of ‘Exile Music’

      Jun 18, 2020

      Author Jennifer Steil discusses Jewish history in Bolivia, creating imaginary worlds, and musical expression.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tom Paine’s Bones

      Aug 14, 2022

      Tom Paine’s Bones
      4 min read

    • Article

      My Hunt For Josef Mengele

      Aug 31, 2023

      My Hunt For Josef Mengele
      11 min read

    • Article

      Escaping Genocide

      Feb 2, 2020

      The Theresienstadt concentration camp, near Prague, was presented to the world as an idyllic thermal spa, Hitler’s “gift to the Jews”. Hitler’s propaganda machine ensured that the camp, established in an old stone-fortress town, received favourable c

      6 min read

    Reviews for The Plot to Kill Hitler

    4.5/5

    14 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This may be a book for young adults, but I’d give it to any adult interested in the US political system as it is playing out after the 2016 election. How interesting that the assassination plot involved a clergyman who refused to let his national leader override his religious and moral views.

    Book preview

    The Plot to Kill Hitler - Patricia McCormick

    DEDICATION

    To my nephews, Jack, Wisler, Champ, and Mychal

    EPIGRAPH

    He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

    —Martin Luther King, Jr.

    CONTENTS

    Dedication

    Epigraph

    Cast of Characters

    Prologue

    Chapter One: A Big, Rambunctious Family

    Chapter Two: War Breaks Out

    Chapter Three: Bonhoeffer Seals His Destiny

    Chapter Four: Leaving Home for the First Time

    Chapter Five: The Trip That Changed Everything

    Chapter Six: The Men Who Would Change Bonhoeffer’s Fate

    Chapter Seven: A New Idea of What a Church Could Be

    Chapter Eight: From Faith to Action

    Chapter Nine: Grappling with the Existence of God

    Chapter Ten: A Decisive Experience: Visiting the United States

    Chapter Eleven: Heil, Hitler!

    Chapter Twelve: Speaking Out against the Führer

    Chapter Thirteen: The Aryan Paragraph

    Chapter Fourteen: Committing Treason

    Chapter Fifteen: Bonfire of Hatred

    Chapter Sixteen: A Nazi Church

    Chapter Seventeen: A Different Kind of Resistance

    Chapter Eighteen: Night of the Long Knives

    Chapter Nineteen: A Breakaway Church

    Chapter Twenty: A Conspiracy Begins

    Chapter Twenty-One: The War Hits Home

    Chapter Twenty-Two: A Dark Night of the Soul

    Chapter Twenty-Three: From Clergyman to Courier

    Chapter Twenty-Four: Undercover

    Chapter Twenty-Five: Sounding the Alarm

    Chapter Twenty-Six: Love in Wartime

    Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Noose Grows Tighter

    Chapter Twenty-Eight: Assassination Attempts

    Chapter Twenty-Nine: Caught

    Chapter Thirty: Another Attempt on Hitler’s Life

    Chapter Thirty-One: Evidence of Treason

    Chapter Thirty-Two: The End of the War

    Chapter Thirty-Three: Eternity at Last

    Epilogue

    Author’s Note

    Acknowledgments

    Timeline

    Endnotes

    Selected Bibliography

    About the Author

    Books by Patricia McCormick

    Credits

    Copyright

    About the Publisher

    CAST OF CHARACTERS

    THE FAMILY

    DR. KARL BONHOEFFER

    Dietrich’s father was one of the most prominent psychiatrists in Germany.

    PAULA BONHOEFFER

    Dietrich’s mother was trained as a teacher and was one of the few women of her generation to earn a college degree. The Bonhoeffers lost two sons and two sons-in-law because of their involvement in the plot against Hitler.

    KARL-FRIEDRICH BONHOEFFER

    Seven years older than his brother Dietrich, he was a brilliant physicist and would go on to help Albert Einstein split the atom.

    WALTER BONHOEFFER

    Six years older than his brother Dietrich, he was an aspiring botanist. He died of injuries in World War I.

    KLAUS BONHOEFFER

    Five years older than his brother Dietrich, he was one of the original members of the conspiracy. As an attorney for a German airline, he used his ability to travel to build support for the coup. He was killed by a firing squad just days before the fall of Berlin.

    URSULA BONHOEFFER

    Four years older than her brother Dietrich, she married Rüdiger Schleicher, an attorney who was one of the original members of the conspiracy. He was killed by a firing squad just days before the fall of Berlin.

    CHRISTEL BONHOEFFER

    Three years older than her brother Dietrich, she married Hans von Dohnanyi, the architect of the conspiracy. Dohnanyi compiled proof of Nazi atrocities, a file he called the Chronicle of Shame. Christel was arrested along with her husband but released; she brought coded messages to him in prison so the conspiracy could continue. Dohnanyi was hanged at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

    SABINE BONHOEFFER

    Dietrich’s twin, she married Gerhard Leibholz, a baptized Christian who came from a Jewish family. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans von Dohnanyi helped them flee to Switzerland before they could be sent to a concentration camp.

    SUZANNE BONHOEFFER

    Three years younger than her brother Dietrich, she married the philosopher Walter Dress, a friend of her brother’s.

    MARIA VON WEDEMEYER

    Dietrich’s fiancée. After the war, she came to the United States and studied mathematics at Bryn Mawr College.

    THE CONSPIRACY

    ADMIRAL WILHELM CANARIS

    Chief of the German intelligence agency, he originally went to Hitler to tell him about atrocities in Poland, only to find out Hitler had ordered the killings himself. Canaris then became a key member of the conspiracy and was executed at Flossenbürg alongside Bonhoeffer.

    GENERAL HANS OSTER

    Deputy head of German intelligence, he was Dohnanyi’s superior and allowed him to hire Bonhoeffer and to collect information about war crimes. When those files were discovered, Oster was hanged at Flossenbürg alongside Bonhoeffer.

    LIEUTENANT FABIAN VON SCHLABRENDORFF

    A member of the conspiracy, he placed a bomb disguised as a bottle of cognac on Hitler’s plane. He was arrested and tortured but never revealed the names of the other conspirators. He was moved from one concentration camp to another, including Flossenbürg, where he saw Bonhoeffer’s body carried to an open fire. He avoided being executed at Flossenbürg because of a clerical error and lived until 1980.

    MAJOR RUDOLPH-CHRISTOPH VON GERSDORFF

    A member of the conspiracy, he activated a pair of bombs inside his coat while giving Hitler a tour of his headquarters; Hitler left unexpectedly and Gersdorff disabled the bombs. Because none of the conspirators ever revealed his name, even under torture, he was never caught by the Gestapo and lived until 1980.

    CLAUS SCHENK GRAF VON STAUFFENBERG

    A member of the conspiracy, he placed a bomb under the map table at Hitler’s headquarters. The bomb successfully went off, killing four people; Hitler escaped relatively unharmed. Stauffenberg was killed by firing squad that night.

    WERNER VON HAEFTEN

    The young soldier who asked Bonhoeffer if he should shoot Hitler, he drove the getaway car for Stauffenberg and was killed by firing squad.

    BISHOP GEORGE BELL

    A member of the British parliament, he served as Bonhoeffer’s secret contact in the British government. He was outspoken in his opposition to Hitler and delivered Bonhoeffer’s eulogy on a radio broadcast three months after his death. Many years later, Bell was accused of child abuse.

    PROLOGUE

    APRIL 5, 1943

    The Gestapo would arrive any minute. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, waiting peacefully in his book-lined study, had been expecting this day for a long time. He arranged his files carefully on his desk and opened his diary to a page with fake entries to throw Hitler’s men off his trail. Then he removed a panel from the ceiling and hid a letter alongside a sheaf of papers he’d stashed there earlier.

    The purr of a diesel engine announced the arrival of a black Mercedes on the leafy Berlin street outside his house. Two of Hitler’s secret police agents got out and climbed the stairs to the third-floor study. They told the blond, boyish-looking Bonhoeffer to come with them. He calmly said good-bye to his parents, put his Bible under his arm, and left.

    Upstairs under the rafters was proof, in his own handwriting, that this quiet young minister was part of a conspiracy to kill Hitler.

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s desk and piano

    ONE

    A BIG, RAMBUNCTIOUS FAMILY

    1906–14

    Most of the homes in Breslau, Germany, had tidy front yards, neatly tended gardens, and thick Persian rugs in the parlor. But at the Bonhoeffer home, chickens strutted across the tennis court. Lizards, snakes, and rabbits were kept in a small zoo near the kitchen. And the family’s pet nanny goat wandered freely in and out of the parlor.

    The children—four boys and four girls—went to school at home, in a makeshift classroom with desks, chalkboards, and a trunk full of wigs, hats, and costumes. The family had a governess, a nursemaid, a cook, a housemaid, and a chauffeur, but their mother, Paula Bonhoeffer, was their teacher. She was strict when it came to table manners, but otherwise she loved to say yes to her children’s ideas. So when her oldest sons—Karl-Friedrich, fourteen; Walter, thirteen; and Klaus, twelve—asked to dig up the front yard to create an underground passageway, she agreed.

    Paula Bonhoeffer with her eight children. Dietrich is in the first row, second from left, and Klaus is in the second row, far right. Photographed in Breslau by Rotraut Forberg, 1911 or 1912.

    The boys tunneled all the way to the edge of the property,

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1