Breaking The Silence, Vol. 18
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Overview
Through unparalleled historical detective work, noted scholars Walter Laqueur and Richard Breitman reveal the inspiring tale of Eduard Schulte, the Breslau business leader who risked his life to gather information about such Nazi activities as the revised date of the German attack on Poland and the Nazi plan for mass extermination of European Jews. First published in 1986, Breaking the Silence is reissued with both a new foreword and afterword by the authors.Synopsis
A remarkable story of the German industrialist who first warned the West of Nazi plans for the mass murder of Jews.
Publishers Weekly
Historians Laqueur (A History of Zionism, etc.) and Breitman here tell the story of the German industrialist, who, at great risk, was the first to inform the world that Hitler had begun a systematic extermination of the Jews. Eduard Schulte, a fierce but secret Nazi-hater, was a non-Jewish, middle-aged, one-legged head of a mining company, whose Polish branch bordered the death camp Auschwitz. Access to top Nazi officials led to his discovery of the ``Final Solution'' in 1942, but his warnings to the U.S. State Department and American Jewry were delayed for many months through State Department bumbling. By 1943, Schulte was forced to find asylum in Switzerland. Almost as disturbing, and equally absorbing, is the authors' revelation that Schulte was rated disloyal to the Vaterland by postwar German officials, hence his virtual anonymity. Photos. Jewish Book Club alternate; author tour. (May)
Editorials
From the Publisher
"A biography of a hero, Eduard Schulte, whose heroism was hidden...This biography may be regarded both as an act of posthumous justice and as a realistic spy thriller."--The New Yorker"None of this would have come to light if it had not been for the pertinacity of Lacqueur and Breitman...Their efforts should arouse the admiration of every historical researcher."--Alan Bullock, The New Republic