Hitler's Compromises

Nathan Stoltzfus is Dorothy and Jonathan Rintels Professor of Holocaust Studies at Florida State University. He has been a Fulbright and IREX scholar in West and East Germany and an H. F. Guggenheim Foundation scholar. His work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly and Die Zeit. He lives in Tallahassee and Washington, DC.

“Though it deals with some of the darkest events of the twentieth century, Hitler’s Compromises is ultimately a hopeful book, highlighting how there is political space for dissent, however limited, in even the harshest of dictatorships”— Ian Sinclair, Peace News  “A valuable, original interpretation of Nazi rule. Stoltzfus argues that Hitler and his inner circle demonstrated considerable political skill in maintaining a strong base of support. His is a vision of a Hitler constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure that he had the Volk behind him. This is a very compelling new interpretation, beautifully executed.”—Dolores Augustine, St. John’s University“Nathan Stoltzfus has produced an insightful examination of the occurrence and impact of public dissent in Nazi Germany. He succeeds in answering some significant questions that have occupied generations of scholars.”— Doris L. Bergen, author of War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust“This book is based on a wealth of sources. It rehearses various episodes that give us an insight into the relationship between the Nazi regime and some sectors of society, including the Christian churches, women evacuees in wartime and the gentile wives of Jewish German men. This is done in greater detail than in many accounts, and the detail is very illuminating. Its message is that, again and again, Hitler chose to compromise with a group that stood up to him and his regime, rather than risk outright confrontation, especially in wartime.”—Jill Stephenson, University of Edinburgh“Nathan Stoltzfus is renowned for his groundbreaking work documenting the historic protests by the women of Rosenstrasse in Berlin in 1943. In this fascinating book, Stoltzfus again overturns conventional wisdoms about the Nazi dictatorship, with vivid examples of the impact of resistance and protest even in the harshest of times.”—Steve Crawshaw, author of Easier Fatherland: Germany and the Twenty-First Century and Street Spirit: The Power of Protest and Mischief