To the Bitter End: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler

Hans Bernd Gisevius

Perseus Books Group, 1947 - History - 630 pages

When on July 20, 1944 a bomb - boldly placed inside the Wolf's Lair (Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia) by the German Anti-Nazi Resistance - exploded without killing the Fuhrer, the subsequent coup d'etat against the Third Reich collapsed. The conspirators were summarily shot or condemned in show trials and sadistically hanged. Unfortunately, the image (initiated by Hitler himself) of a small, inept faction of disgruntled generals desperate to delay defeat has prevailed in the public's mind. The reality of the conspiracy, which involved a wide circle of former politicians, diplomats, and government officials as well as senior military men, is far more dramatic. The Resistance, largely motivated by moral outrage than by political expediency, had started as early as 1933 and involved several putsches and assassination attempts. One of the most active plotters, and later a prosecution witness at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, Hans B. Gisevius (1904-1974) used his positions in the Gestapo and the Abwehr (military intelligence) to further the anti-Nazi conspiracy. He knew well or met the major figures - including Beck, Canaris, Oster, Goerdeler, and von Stauffenberg - and barely escaped after the coup's failure. One of the few survivors of the German Anti-Nazi Resistance, Gisevius traces its history, from the 1933 Reichstag fire to Germany's defeat in 1945, in a book as riveting as it is exceptional.

What people are saying

Review: To The Bitter End

User Review  - Nick Black - Goodreads

Amazon 2008-12-12. How did I miss an important Hitler book!?? Thankfully, I've got Conrad watching my back... Pretty good, and in parts exceptional; both the beginning and end were sorely in need of ...

Review: To The Bitter End

User Review  - Conrad - Goodreads

I FINALLY TRACKED YOU DOWN, YOU BASTARD. Some people might remember early on in my goodreads life when I was trying to figure out the name of this book; I found it while pulling my books out of ...

About the author

One of the earliest and most active plotters, and later a prosecution witness at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, Hans B. Gisevius (1904–1974) used his positions in the Gestapo and the Abwehr (military intelligence) to further the anti-Nazi conspiracy.

Bibliographic information

• Title: To the Bitter End: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler
• Author: Hans Bernd Gisevius
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group, 1947
• ISBN: 0306808692, 9780306808692
• Length: 630 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Germany; History / Modern / 20th Century