A Bounty of Books

My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich by Dietrich von Hildebrand and John Henry Crosby is a collection of memoirs and scholarly works by one of the staunchest intellectual opponents of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. Von Hildebrand was a respected Catholic philosopher who taught at the University of Munich. He was such a fierce opponent of Nazism, even before anyone outside of Germany was really paying attention, that he found himself on several Nazi death lists. In fact, his stance led to his having to flee from Germany, and later from Austria, because he was marked for death.

Crosby took memoirs written by von Hildebrand for his second wife, and translated and edited them into somewhat of a narrative style that covers von Hildebrand's life in the 1920s and 1930s. Crosby adds some historical context to von Hildebrand's memoirs, which helps the reader better understand von Hildebrand's words. The first half of the book is taken from von Hildebrand's informal memoirs and is broken down by year, with portions of context preceding each change in subject. The second half of the books is comprised of articles and excerpts of articles von Hildebrand wrote against Nazism and antisemitism. Most of these articles were originally written for Der Christliche Ständestaat (The Christian Corporative State) the journal von Hildebrand headed up while he was in Austria; the stated purpose of this journal was to combat Nazism specifically and nationalism in general on an intellectual level.

I am amazed that I had never heard of Dietrich von Hildebrand before reading this book. He seems to have been such an influential opponent of Hitler and Nazism, that I wonder why he isn't more widely known. I really enjoyed reading about his life in his own words. Crosby did a great job of adding just enough notes and context to make sense of von Hildebrand's words without adding anything unnecessary. He recognizes that von Hildebrand's work is strong enough to stand on its own. The second half wasn't quite as easy to read as the first, as it was written on more of a scholarly, philosophical level. I understood enough to know that he was brilliant and would be a worthy opponent of any ideology he didn't agree with.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII, philosophy, Catholic intellectual life, or Europe in the time between the world wars.

Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255