The Berlin Mission: The American Who Resisted Nazi Germany From Within by Richard Breitman
The Berlin Mission: The American Who Resisted Nazi Germany From Within by Richard Breitman
In 1929, Raymond Geist went to Berlin as a consul and handled visas for emigrants to the United States. 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 U.S. interests. He made greater use of a restrictive U.S. 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 Goring.
While U.S. 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.
Public Affairs, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing, 2019
THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.