The Von Hassell Diaries (1947)
"Conspirator Do Not Often Keep Diaries"
Von Hassell, Ulrich. The Von Hassell Diaries 1938-1944. The Story of the Forces Against Hitler Inside Germany. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1947.
Octavo. Hardcover. 1st Edition.
First edition in English of the diaries of Ulrich von Hassell, Ambassador to Rome during World War II, who was removed from his post and later executed for conspiring against Hitler. "Appointed German Ambassador to Italy under the Weimar Republic, Ulrich von Hassell retained this post until dropped by Ribbentrop in 1937... [B]y 1938 [he] had decided to work secretly against Hitler. He and his fellow conspirators wanted a return to the Bismarckian Reich, though von Hassell seems to have sensed the impossibility of this. He was executed in September 1944 in the Nazi clean-up after the nearly successful attempt on the Fuehrer's life of July 20" (Foreign Affairs). The first edition was published in German in Switzerland earlier the same year. This first American edition was translated by and features an introduction by Allen Dulles. Book fine, dust jacket very good with a bit of wear and toning to extremities and a few tape repairs to verso.