All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler

by Rebecca Donner

Mildred and Emil are so deep in conversation, Emil writes later, that they don’t notice the commotion ahead. People are thronging the entrance of a movie theater. SS officers shove them aside, shouting at them to move. The grand doors open and a man emerges. The crowd erupts, cheering as if the man were a matinee idol. It’s Hitler. The sinister smudge of his mustache. His eyes startlingly blue. A middle-aged woman swoons, crying out, “What an historic moment!” Mildred and Emil walk on in silence. They reach the S-Bahn station. They nod goodbye. We still have so much work to do. This is what Emil thinks. He knows Mildred is thinking it too. Words are unnecessary.