Georg Elser: The Zither Player

ISBN-13: 9781517710217 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 332 str.

Tom Ferry; Peter Koblank

Opis

No anti-Nazi group or individual came closer to decapitating the Nazi Party than Georg Elser. Once written off as a Nazi stooge, Elser's reputation underwent a resurrection with the unearthing of his 203 page Gestapo interrogation report. The grim detail of his lethal plan to rid Germany of the Nazi menace is recorded, as is much of the private life of the enigmatic musician turned lone wolf assassin. Escaping his debt-ridden alcoholic father Elser wandered from rural life, his musical ability enabling him to socialise while his charm prospered his prolific love life. Repulsed by the populist xenophobic agenda of the fascist dictator he became obsessed with preventing the war he foresaw would bring only death and misery to millions. But he had no way of knowing his political intervention would intersect with the last-ditch British attempt to avoid war with Germany: the calamitous Venlo Incident. Nor did he foresee the 'miraculous' escape of the Nazi leaders from his bomb attack would promote the myth of Hitler's invincibility and spawn a cacophony of conspiracy theories. Worst still after capture, interrogation and confession he became a personal prisoner of the criminal dictator condemned to live through the atrocities of the Third Reich - the evil he was so intent to prevent - playing his zither to the bitter end. Illustrated.