No Surrender

by Martha Albrand

Hitler's armies will soon overrun Holland, and each person in Holland must decide whether to surrender or fight.

Genres: Fiction

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Pseudonym for Heidi Huberta Freybe.

AKA Katrin Holland, Christine Lambert, Heidi Huberta Freybe Loewengard Lamon, Mrs. Sydney J. Lamon, Heidi Huberta Freybe Loewengard, and Loewengard-Griffith

Reviews

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in an omnibus spy edition edited by Howard Haycraft. Evidently it is rather hard to find, which is too bad as it is a very fine tale of a prominent Dutch jurist who works for the Germans during WWII while secretly cooperating with the underground. The author was born in Germany but emigrated to America in 1937. This was her first novel published in the United States. Serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, it started her successful American career.

[KC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good story about one Dutchman's choices after the Nazis take over his town in Holland, and the consequences of those choices in his personal life. Well done narrative and characterizations. This book was included in a Howard Haycroft anthology, titled "Five Spy Novels."

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martha Albrand's protagonist, Ruis, is a Dutch army officer wounded and captured by the Germans when they overrun the Netherlands early in WWII. After an extended recuperation, he is offered Hobson's choice--work for the Germans governing Holland, or face execution. Ruis, a patriot, feels he can work for the Germans but, with knowledge gained, feed German military secrets to the Dutch resistance. His mistake, which drives the plot, is not informing his American wife or his Dutch friend in the resistance that he intends to be a double agent, out of misguided concern for his safety and their well-being. Not surprisingly, both come to despise him for his collaborating. If you can accept that one would make this decision and stick to it, No Surrender is an engaging story which highlights the the futility of cooperating with ruthless conquering armies. Albrand, a German expatriate in the 30s, published this in 1942; it must have been a useful stimulus to anti-Nazi feeling at the time.

[Janet Mahlum · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most interesting thing about this book is that it was written in 1942, well before the war was over. Yet it reads with an unstated but nevertheless strong undercurrent that the Axis will be defeated and the Allies will win. It brings to mind: "They also serve who only stand and wait."

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jenny, an American, is married to Ruis, a double agent in the Dutch underground during World War II.