![Cover image for The Bohemians [electronic resource] : The Lovers Who Led Germany's Resistance Against the Nazis](https://images.yourcloudlibrary.com/delivery/img?type=DOCUMENTIMAGE&documentID=yq33dr9&token=nobody "Cover image for The Bohemians [electronic resource] : The Lovers Who Led Germany's Resistance Against the Nazis")
Summary
Summary
"An astonishing story of the anti-Nazi resistance--a story of love, incredible bravery and self-sacrifice . . . brilliantly told." --Antony Beevor, New York Times -bestselling author Harro Schulze-Boysen already had shed blood in the fight against Nazism by the time he and Libertas Haas-Heye began their whirlwind romance. She joined the cause, and soon the two lovers were leading a network of anti-fascist fighters that stretched across Berlin's bohemian underworld. But nothing could prepare Harro and Libertas for the betrayals they would suffer in this war of secrets--a struggle in which friend could be indistinguishable from foe. Drawing on unpublished diaries, letters, and Gestapo files, Norman Ohler spins an unforgettable tale of love, heroism, and sacrifice in The Bohemians . "An unforgettable portrait of two young lovers and their circle of friends in the anti-Hitler resistance, The Bohemians offers a fascinating glimpse of life in Nazi Germany, where the simple self-assertion of youth was a political act, and daily life was a minefield where missteps could have fatal consequences." --Joseph Kanon, New York Times -bestselling author "A detailed and meticulously researched tale . . . that reads like a thriller." -- The New York Times Book Review "A taut, absorbing tale of anti-Nazi resistance . . . Sharply drawn characters enliven a tragic history." -- Kirkus Reviews "Each chapter leaves readers wanting more and rooting for the ill-fated group . . . Ohler's gifts as a writer shine as he brings to life the personalities, motivations, and machinations of the Red Orchestra." -- Library Journal "This deeply researched and stylishly written account unearths an appealing yet overlooked chapter in WWII history." -- Publishers Weekly
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Husband and wife resistance leaders Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen, who established a network of anti-Nazi spies in WWII-era Berlin, receive the full Bonnie-and-Clyde treatment in this colorful yet lopsided account from German novelist and historian Ohler (Blitzed). Though the "young and good-looking" couple both came from well-pedigreed family backgrounds, Ohler writes, their love-at-first-sight meeting, unconventional communal living arrangements, artistic pursuits, and open marriage marked them as bohemians in 1930s Germany. Arrested and brutally beaten by the SS in 1933, magazine editor Harro witnessed the murder of his Jewish friend and colleague. He went undercover as an office clerk in the Air Ministry ("a nerve center of the Nazi brain"), and shared military plans with the Soviets while secretly writing and publishing anti-Nazi propaganda and establishing links with other resistance groups. Meanwhile, poetry-loving, accordion-playing Libertas used her charm to help advance Harro's military career and talk her way out of an espionage charge for photographing Jewish refugees, though politics were not "her cup of tea." Unfortunately, Ohler glosses over potential reasons, including sexism, why Libertas's contributions to the resistance movement were perceived as more "superficial" than Harro's. Still, this deeply researched and stylishly written account unearths an appealing yet overlooked chapter in WWII history. Espionage enthusiasts will be riveted. Agent: Robin Straus, the Robin Straus Agency. (July)
Kirkus Review
The story of a valiant group of resisters who stealthily undermined the Nazi regime. Drawing on a trove of unpublished and archival documents from the German Resistance Memorial Center, the Institute for Contemporary History, and German, British, Russian, and American national repositories, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist Ohler creates a taut, absorbing tale of anti-Nazi resistance. Told in the present tense, the narrative conveys a sense of immediacy and encroaching terror. Central to the history are Harro Schulze-Boysen and his wife, Libertas, an attractive bourgeois couple, "apparently 'Aryan' through and through," who become the vortex for a daring movement. Harro began as an idealistic publisher of the Gegner, a prominent journal dedicated to raising consciousness about threats to society from the rise of Nazism. "A people divided by hate…cannot get up again," Harro wrote in one piece. He felt optimistic that Hitler would fail and that Germans' enthusiasm for the Nazis could be directed "toward a genuine social revolution." After he was arrested and tortured for his activities, however, Harro was forced to adopt a new strategy: "to appear outwardly unsuspicious in order to change the system from within." To further that strategy, he enlisted in the air force. Libertas, a publicist for MGM and a member of the Nazi Party, radically changed her "immature, Nazi-oriented worldview" after falling in love with Harro, soon becoming a valued, if sometimes erratic, member of their "social network," which spread and surfaced, focused in part on printing and disseminating pamphlets and flyers. Harro, whose military position put him "at a nexus of information of the German war machine," had a vital role in producing documents with which to "flood the country with sensitive information about how the war is going and bring about a popular revolt." Ohler capably recounts the intrepid activities, alliances, and betrayals that led to sweeping arrests and executions. Sharply drawn characters enliven a tragic history. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
German author Ohler follows his bestselling Blitzed (2017) with the fascinating and tragic tale of a ragtag, idealistic crew of nonconformists hiding in plain sight while secretly working to fight the Nazis from within. During Hitler's rise to power, Harro Schulze-Boysen and his wife, Libertas, developed a network of anti-Nazi comrades and friends who shared their bohemian lifestyle and feared the end of free expression in art, literature, music, and film. Harro, Libertas, and many others in their elite social circle held positions in the Nazi party and cloaked their clandestine resistance with lavish parties, picnics by the river, and trips to family estates also visited by Hitler's inner circle. Maintaining their freedom while attempting to send coded radio messages, subverting Nazi propaganda efforts, and papering Berlin with their own anti-Nationalist pamphlets proved too delicate a balancing act, resulting in the entire network being uncovered and destroyed. This unbelievable yet true story is richly detailed thanks to the participation of descendants of these courageous resistance fighters; with their help, Ohler succeeds in vividly thwarting the Nazis' attempts to erase these heroes from history.
