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Kill Strasser: A True Story of Nazi Tyranny By One Who Escaped its Grip
As a historian it is not often one chances upon a story which for intents and purposes has been lost to history. This is such a story, about an individual who dared to challenge Hitler on his own turf, and nearly succeeded in bringing him down through his Nazi banned and secret organisation known as The Black Front. The emblem of official members of the organisation was a tie pin embodying a hammer and a sword in defiance of the Nazi swastika.
The name of the person of whom I speak was Otto Strasser, and he remained a thorn in Hitler's side right through to the end of the Second World War. He was regarded by the Nazi regime as their "Public Enemy Number One" and Joseph Goebbels placed a bounty on his head of $500,000.
Coming from the pen of Otto Strasser himself we gain access to a first-hand account of the times in which he lived and witness through his eyes how Hitler conspired and ruthlessly exploited the people around him in order for him to gain the ultimate prize - total power. To this end Hitler betrayed and murdered many of his early associates and loyal supporters, including Otto's brother Gregor, who, like so many others, was brutally executed during the Nazi purges known as the Night of the Long Knives.
There's a lot of going on in Strassers's story, including everything from heart-pounding, white-knuckle suspense, intense atmospheric menace and sudden violence. In places tensions are tested to their limits when we read the fate of real people at the hands of the Gestapo and the SS, the Black Police which Otto calls them. Strasser finds himself often on the run from the Gestapo and involved in dangerous or potentially deadly situations, Even his wife, Gertrude, does not escape from the brutal interrogation of a Gestapo interrogator, as she is threatened with her daughter's life, unless she divulges where Otto was hiding. But her spirit remained steadfast as she refuses to give her husband away.
As Otto Strasser speaks about those times you cannot but marvel at the intrigues, thrills and dangers that he and his brother Gregor faced, when the rest of the world looked on with indifference to what was happening in Germany.
As a historian I felt that it was important to ensure that Otto's story is saved for posterity for future generations to read so that they can to understand the times in which he lived. If only the Strasser brothers had prevailed against Hitler, how different the world might have been. Unfortunately, they failed and in the end one of them paid the ultimate price. But the other, Otto, through ten long years fought Hitler tooth and nail wherever he was exiled. Each wanted to kill the other but neither succeeded in that task, although many of the men and women around them sadly lost their lives as a result, often in brutal circumstances at the hands of SS and Gestapo.
The name of the person of whom I speak was Otto Strasser, and he remained a thorn in Hitler's side right through to the end of the Second World War. He was regarded by the Nazi regime as their "Public Enemy Number One" and Joseph Goebbels placed a bounty on his head of $500,000.
Coming from the pen of Otto Strasser himself we gain access to a first-hand account of the times in which he lived and witness through his eyes how Hitler conspired and ruthlessly exploited the people around him in order for him to gain the ultimate prize - total power. To this end Hitler betrayed and murdered many of his early associates and loyal supporters, including Otto's brother Gregor, who, like so many others, was brutally executed during the Nazi purges known as the Night of the Long Knives.
There's a lot of going on in Strassers's story, including everything from heart-pounding, white-knuckle suspense, intense atmospheric menace and sudden violence. In places tensions are tested to their limits when we read the fate of real people at the hands of the Gestapo and the SS, the Black Police which Otto calls them. Strasser finds himself often on the run from the Gestapo and involved in dangerous or potentially deadly situations, Even his wife, Gertrude, does not escape from the brutal interrogation of a Gestapo interrogator, as she is threatened with her daughter's life, unless she divulges where Otto was hiding. But her spirit remained steadfast as she refuses to give her husband away.
As Otto Strasser speaks about those times you cannot but marvel at the intrigues, thrills and dangers that he and his brother Gregor faced, when the rest of the world looked on with indifference to what was happening in Germany.
As a historian I felt that it was important to ensure that Otto's story is saved for posterity for future generations to read so that they can to understand the times in which he lived. If only the Strasser brothers had prevailed against Hitler, how different the world might have been. Unfortunately, they failed and in the end one of them paid the ultimate price. But the other, Otto, through ten long years fought Hitler tooth and nail wherever he was exiled. Each wanted to kill the other but neither succeeded in that task, although many of the men and women around them sadly lost their lives as a result, often in brutal circumstances at the hands of SS and Gestapo.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 6, 2019
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