Defying the Nazis : the Sharp's war Cover Image

Book

Defying the Nazis : the Sharp's war / Artemis Joukowsky ; with a foreword by Ken Burns.

Summary:

In 1939, Rev. Waitstill Sharp, a young Unitarian minister, and his wife, Martha, a social worker, accepted a mission from the American Unitarian Association: they were to leave their home and young children in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and travel to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to help address the mounting refugee crisis. Armed with only $40,000, the Sharps quickly learned the art of spy craft and covertly sheltered political dissidents and Jews, and helped them escape the Nazis. After narrowly avoiding the Gestapo themselves, the Sharps returned to Europe in 1940 as representatives of the newly formed Unitarian Service Committee and continued their relief efforts in Vichy France. This compulsively readable true story offers readers a rare glimpse at high-stakes international relief efforts during WWII. Defying the Nazis is a fascinating portrait of resistance as told through the story of one courageous couple.

Record details

ISBN: 9780807071823
ISBN: 080707182X
Physical Description: xv, 255 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : Beacon Press, [2016]
Copyright: ©2016

Content descriptions

General Note:	Official companion to the Ken Burns film premiering September 20, 2016, on PBS.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 240-244) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	The eighteenth choice -- Learning the ropes -- Witnesses to history -- The dying republic -- Einmarsch : the invasion of Czechoslovakia -- Under the swastika -- Changing the rules -- Helping the Kulturträgers -- Money talks -- Last days in the Protectorate -- The first choice -- In Lisbon -- Helping hands -- Reunion in Cerbère -- Dividing forces -- The Emergency Rescue Committee -- The milk arrives -- Refugees' odyssey -- Escape from Marseille -- The Children's Journey -- The home front -- The family -- Back to Europe -- A run for Congress -- Palestine -- Civil rights and Chicago -- Divergent paths.