Defying Hitler

Cheaper in another edition — £9.89 at LoveReading Defying Hitler · See that edition →

'If you have never read a book about Nazi Germany before, or if you have already read a thousand, I would urge you to read Defying Hitler. It sings with wisdom and understanding' CRAIG BROWN, MAIL ON SUNDAYAN ORDINARY GERMAN'S MEMOIR OF HITLER'S RISE TO POWERBorn in Berlin in 1907, Sebastian Haffner came of age against the backdrop of a rapidly-changing Germany: an economy ravaged by the First World War, the radicalisation of political parties through the Weimar years, the fateful rise of Hitler's National Socialists. He watched as his peers were entranced by Nazi propaganda, even himself briefly feeling the pull of an ideology that promised purpose and pride in the face of nihilism and defeat. Yet Haffner defied Nazism's promises and, as a political émigré, went on to author some of the century's most important studies of Hitler and the Nazis. This memoir - written in 1939 after his emigration to England, but only discovered after his death six decades later - is an astonishingly insightful portrait of that generation of Germans born in the first decade of the twentieth century who, in such large part, came to be seduced by Hitler and Nazism. Critically acclaimed around the world…

The cheapest new copy of Defying Hitler is £11.69 at LoveReading. Prices checked 13 Nov 2026

Other editions

More by Sebastian Haffner

More by Sebastian Haffner