Status Updates From Ulrich von Hassell Diaries,...

Looking to find this book

May 1943; losing hope that regime change and a "good" peace are possible. Feeling the heat from the Gestapo. In the midst of bombings and privations, scholarly life goes on: meetings of the Dante Society, readings of learned papers, etc. Von H gives a speech in front of 1500 people.

Now January 1942. Von Hassell feeling that opportunities are being missed because of lack of resolve by military leaders, but he's still in there plugging.

Everyone knows about coming attack on USSR (except Stalin, apparently) and on June 15 Von Hassell writes that is is expected on June 22.

Unusual note: quite often the diarist cites jokes as reflecting the mood of the times. Generally pretty funny! Very interesting to see another take on the events recounted by the diaries of Ciano, Goebbels, etc.

Tremendous effort on part of many in von Hassell's circle to avert war with Poland. Diaries make it look like many people were opposed to Nazis, but perhaps it's because of the folks von Hassell hung with.

After reading all introductory and epilog material, started reading diary. This is truly a primary source and is not something for casual reading, as it assumes quite a bit of familiarity with with times and personalities. Don't know if the recent edition has more annotation, but the original 1947 edition I'm reading is a thin in that area. Fortunately I know quite a bit of the context. A different viewpoint!

Read introduction by Allen Dulles and also all the post-diary material written by von Hassell's wife and son and by the editor. Gives background on him, on the anti-Nazi movement, and what happened after his arrest on July 28, 1944.