The Berlin Mission
The American Who Resisted Nazi Germany from Within
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
An unknown story of an unlikely hero--the US consul who best analyzed the threat posed by Nazi Germany and predicted the horrors to come
In 1929, Raymond Geist went to Berlin as a consul and handled visas for emigrants to the US. Just before Hitler came to power, Geist expedited the exit of Albert Einstein. Once the Nazis began to oppress Jews and others, Geist's role became vitally important. It was Geist who extricated Sigmund Freud from Vienna and Geist who understood the scale and urgency of the humanitarian crisis.
Even while hiding his own homosexual relationship with a German, Geist fearlessly challenged the Nazi police state whenever it abused Americans in Germany or threatened US interests. He made greater use of a restrictive US immigration quota and secured exit visas for hundreds of unaccompanied children. All the while, he maintained a working relationship with high Nazi officials such as Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, and Hermann Göring.
While US ambassadors and consuls general cycled in and out, the indispensable Geist remained in Berlin for a decade. An invaluable analyst and problem solver, he was the first American official to warn explicitly that what lay ahead for Germany's Jews was what would become known as the Holocaust.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As historian Breitman recounts in this inspiring history, U.S. consul Raymond Geist's tireless work in extracting victims of Nazism from Germany before WWII called for extreme finesse and a rare balancing act. As the U.S. consul in Berlin, Geist's job entailed handling visas for emigrants to the U.S. Breitman explains that, as Hitler's regime slowly began its systematic oppression and extermination of Europe's Jews, Geist (1885 1955) tangled with the American government. Negotiating immigration quotas and constantly changing standards (such as a provision barring anyone "likely to become a public charge"), Geist worked to gently but firmly cajole, persuade, and manipulate his superiors. At the same time, he was meeting with and personally pressuring Nazi officials such as Hermann G ring and Heinrich Himmler to allow Jews to leave the country and hiding his romantic relationship with a German man. In securing visas for hundreds of unaccompanied children and expediting the emigration of such people as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, Breitman writes, "Geist fought against Nazi Germany indirectly." Breitman heralds Geist's heroism, noting that he was among the first to sound the alarm about Hitler's plans for world domination and genocide. This stirring history, which unearths a little-known role model of resistance, will move readers.
