RED ORCHESTRA, by Anne Nelson

Anne Nelson, who wrote the play I did last spring, THE GUYS, has revealed in this book a facet of her wide-ranging persona I was not initially aware of when I worked with her in April. I knew she was a renowned war correspondent, playwright, human-rights reporter, and professor, but I hadn't known she was also a historian. I've just finished her book RED ORCHESTRA and am thrilled (particularly thrilled, as one is when one finds something a friend has done has been done extremely well) to recommend it.

Red Orchestra (or Die Rote Kapelle) is the name given to Germans who formed the underground resistance to Hitler and the Nazis inside Germany. Some were members of the military or elite society, some were artists and intellectuals, some were simple working people, but all were devoted to bringing about the collapse of the Nazi regime and an end to its horrific abuses. The book is a sad chronicle of the times, particularly sad because so much of the bravery and effort exhibited by these women and men went for naught. Case after case is illustrated wherein Herculean attempts were made to assassinate Hitler or to convey to the countries allied against the Nazis the scope of the holocaust under way in Germany and to provide help in defeating Germany's war-and-murder machine, only to see chance or stupidity or arrogance defeat the effort. In the end, thousands of Germans loyal to the idea of a humane and free Germany paid with their lives for their refusal to bow down before dictatorship, and even then many of their stories were distorted and radicalized for political purposes by the victorious Anglo-American and Soviet governments. What is left is a dramatic and powerful story of human bravery in the face of near-certain death, and an understanding of how easily nations can be corrupted.

Additionally, RED ORCHESTRA provides a concise and extremely clear picture of what life in Germany was like between the World Wars and exactly how events progressed as a defeated and dispirited nation turned itself into a juggernaut of hate under the leadership of evil, spiteful, remorseless men. I've never understood so clearly before the sense of progression as the Nazis arose from the ashes of World War I on their road to destiny and infamy.

This is a terrific book, full of intimate detail and insight. I swear I'd think so even if the author weren't a friend of mine. But if she weren't, I'd probably never have known about this book, nor about the men and women of the so-called Red Orchestra, who stood up against evil when doing so was at the cost of life itself. ( )

Fræðandi frásögn um andspyrnu Þjóðverja við ógnarstjórn nasista í síðari heimsstyrjöld. Þetta var fjölmennur hópur sem stundaði njósnir, hjálpaði gyðingum að flýja og dreifðu andófsfréttum á meðal Þjóðverja. Fólkið var af öllum stéttum og barðist af hugsjón fyrir málefnum sínum.
Gestapo, leyniþjónusta Þjóðverja, gaf þeim nafnið Rauða hljómsveitin vegna fjölda senditækjanna sem sendu leynilegar upplýsingar en sjálf höfðu þau ekki gefið sér neitt nafn.
Upp komst um þau fyrir heimskulegt klúður leyniþjónustu Sovétríkjanna en njósnarar hópsins höfðu gefið nákvæmar upplýsingar um hernað og fyrirætlanir Þjóðverja til Sovétríkjanna.
Frásagnir um andspyrnuhópinn hafa ekki farið hátt því að eftir stríð tókust stórveldin á um arfleifð hans. Bandaríkjamönnum var ekki um það gefið að margir einstaklinganna höfðu verið vinstri menn og Sovétmenn ritstýrðu sögum eftirlifenda sér til hróss. Hins vegar höfðu aðilar hópsins ítrekað leitað aðstoðar bæði Breta og Bandaríkjamanna fyrir og við upphaf stríðsins en verið hafnað af ýmsum ástæðum. ( )

Fascinating. There was a lot going on in the resistance in Germany thruout the war that simply hasn't been big news to us. Mainly because the dreaded Communists were involved we've actively tried to hide that fact. An important and very interesting read. ( )

A great read, I particularly liked that the Author did her homework and started the story in the 1920's well before the Nazi's came to power. It showed the personalities involved and why they opposed Nazism. My only complaint is that there are so many involved that it can be hard to keep track of everyone, but really thats a very minor complaint. If your interested in the Inter war period, WWII, resistance movements, or German society in this period read this book. ( )

A good general history of the Red Orchestra.

This resistance group was far different from the well known July 20, 1944 Valkyrie assassination attempt on Hitler.

The Red Orchestra group was made up of a wide variety of individuals from intellectuals to artists, bureaucrats and some military officers, some with links to the German Communist party.

Sadly their attempts at sending out military information to the Allies' intelligence agencies was largely ignored.

There are a few mistakes in the text such as the commenting on Nazi Germany's toehold in Gibraltar?! News to me!

However I found some surprising information such as "Widows of officers and statesmen who gave their lives in the 20th July coup attempt were denied West German Government pensions until the 1960's." mainly due to "The history of the anti-nazi resistance was suppressed and the West German legal system upheld the convictions of Germans executed for resistance activities"

All in all worth a read especially if you are interested in espionage in World War 2 and German resistance activities.
( )