So much has been written about the final months of the Second World War in recent years that it is hard to imagine there is anything much left to say. Randall Hansen has chosen to focus on Germans who ‘disobeyed’ Hitler, on the grounds that they somehow provided an essential psychological and material step towards the construction of a democratic Germany once the war was over. He insists that disobedience is distinct from other forms of dissent and resistance (where it was possible to obey the rules while contesting the system), though to those familiar with the final death throes of the Third Reich, the distinction might appear unnecessarily academic.

Subscribe or Sign In to read the full article