“A clear, unpretentious volume that justly celebrates a couple who risked all for others.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Defying the Nazis hooks you, catches you up in the narrative, and pulls you along by all the elements of great storytelling…It reads like a spy novel, but it’s all true.”
—Ken Burns
“This gripping tale of intrigue and courage, of love’s power and its loss, is both entertaining and inspiring. Heroes are often thought to be super-human. But Defying the Nazis proves that true heroes emerge not from the pages of comic books but the halls of everyday life. The common denominator is a stubborn faith in humanity and a conviction that the shape of history is ultimately in each of our hands.”
—William F. Schulz, president of the UUA, 1985–1993; executive director of Amnesty International USA, 1994–2006; and president of the UUSC, 2010–2016
Foreword by Ken Burns
Preface
CHAPTER ONE
The Eighteenth Choice
CHAPTER TWO
Learning the Ropes
CHAPTER THREE
Witnesses to History
CHAPTER FOUR
The Dying Republic
CHAPTER FIVE
Einmarsch—The Invasion of Czechoslovakia
CHAPTER SIX
Under the Swastika
CHAPTER SEVEN
Changing the Rules
CHAPTER EIGHT
Helping the Kulturträgers
CHAPTER NINE
Money Talks
CHAPTER TEN
Last Days in the Protectorate
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The First Choice
CHAPTER TWELVE
In Lisbon
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Helping Hands
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Reunion in Cerbère
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dividing Forces
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Emergency Rescue Committee
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Milk Arrives
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Refugees’ Odyssey
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Escape from Marseille
CHAPTER TWENTY
The Children’s Journey
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Home Front
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Family
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Back to Europe
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A Run for Congress
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Palestine
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Civil Rights and Chicago
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Divergent Paths
Epilogue
Rescue and Relief Organizations
Acknowledgments
Notes
Works Consulted
Index