Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve lived with the example of Claus von Stauffenberg and other members of the German resistance for most of my adult life. Their clarity of purpose – when most around them clamoured in support of the Führer and his regime – is a recurring source of inspiration. This impelled me into ever deeper research into the topic, including accessing archives in several countries and using my legal training to weigh evidence. Today we face different challenges, but we can draw strength from the courage of these men and women. They failed, and many died, but there is life in a struggle for a just cause.


I wrote

Treason: Claus von Stauffenberg and the Plot to Kill Hitler

By Brian Walters,

Book cover of Treason: Claus von Stauffenberg and the Plot to Kill Hitler

What is my book about?

When he placed his briefcase bomb in Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair conference, Claus von Stauffenberg was 36 years old, married, with…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The History of the German Resistance, 1933-1945

Brian Walters Why did I love this book?

Peter Hoffmann’s father was involved in the resistance. For more than fifty years Professor Hoffmann has documented the history of the Germans who struggled against Nazism. He interviewed each eyewitness who was available and has compiled authoritative studies on the subject.

His unprecedented access and diligent pursuit of detail cannot be replicated, as all the key players have since died. Dense with detail, the book will appeal to scholars rather than the general reader, but it is the last word on the subject.

By Peter Hoffmann,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The History of the German Resistance, 1933-1945 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The English version of the book has been extensively revised and expanded since its original publication in German. This edition includes a new preface and an updated bibliography.


Book cover of The Secret War Against Hitler

Brian Walters Why did I love this book?

On 13 March 1943, Schlabrendorff – a German officer in Russia – smuggled a bomb onto Hitler’s aircraft. Inexplicably, the bomb failed to explode. After the July plot, Schlabrendorff was tortured and then brought before the Nazi ‘People’s Court’ – but an Allied air raid killed the judge, and miraculously Schlabrendorff survived the war. He wrote one of the earliest accounts of the German opposition to Hitler. His important role makes this an essential account of the German resistance.

By Fabian von Schlabrendorff, Andrew Chandler,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Secret War Against Hitler as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of the few survivors of the German Resistance, von Schlabrendorff traces his anti-Nazi activity from his student days in the 1920s, through Hitler's rise to power, to the war and his involvement in the July 20, 1944, plot. He vividly recalls the double life of the Resistance leaders during World War II, the futile secret meetings of the conspirators, and their efforts to enlist the aid of weak and vacillating German generals.


Book cover of Soldier in the Downfall: A Wehrmacht Cavalryman in Russia, Normandy, and the Plot to Kill Hitler

Brian Walters Why did I love this book?

On 21 March 1943 Gersdorff, a German colonel, showed Hitler around a display of captured weapons in Berlin. He set off the timer for a bomb secreted in his capacious army pocket, but Hitler suddenly left the building: Gersdorff was unable to follow, and had to race to a toilet cubicle to tear the fuse from his bomb. Gersdorff was a committed opponent of the Nazis, and his account traces the highs and lows of the German opposition.

By Baron Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff, Anthony Pearsall (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Soldier in the Downfall as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

To his close associate, Baron Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff, Henning von Tresckow said, "The world has to be set free from the biggest criminal of all time. He must be struck down dead like a mad dog who threatens all mankind!"

Gersdorff and Tresckow were among the men whose moral courage drove them to resist the National Socialist movement and to attempt the ultimate - the assassination of its leader, Adolf Hitler. Gersdorff recounts the discreet recruitment of resistance members and his own failed attempt on Hitler s life on 21 March 1943.

Over a military career that saw the end…


Book cover of The Von Hassell Diaries

Brian Walters Why did I love this book?

After his dismissal as German ambassador to Italy in 1938, Ulrich von Hassell kept a detailed diary, which he hid by burying it in his garden. He met frequently with resistance figures, including Stauffenberg. Designated foreign minister if the July plot succeeded, the Nazis placed him on trial. Despite the Nazis’ attempt to humiliate him by refusing to let him wear a belt or tie, and allowing him only a rumpled suit, Hassell cut a stylish figure with his pocket-handkerchief and his poised bearing. At one point, he calmly told the foaming judge: ‘Herr President, I have not lived sixty-two years to be told by you that I am a liar.’ He was hanged.

His diary is an essential primary source on the German opposition to Hitler.

By Ulrich von Hassell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Von Hassell Diaries as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this secret diary, Ulrich von Hassell gives us a vivid contemporary account of the various plots against Hitler's wartime Reich in Germany from 1938-1944. It is a first complete edition of his wartime memoir with new material from his grandson, Agostino von Hassell.


Book cover of The Power of Solitude: My Life in the German Resistance

Brian Walters Why did I love this book?

Marion Yorck von Wartenburg, along with her husband Peter (a relative of Claus von Stauffenberg), were leading figures in the group of opponents to Hitler known as ‘the Kreisau circle’. The group usually met in the Yorcks’ home.

After the failure of the July plot, Peter was executed. Marion was held in solitary confinement for 3 months, but survived the war. She later became a judge. Her first-hand account provides an important perspective on the German resistance.

By Marion Yorck von Wartenburg,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Power of Solitude as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Dearly beloved Child of my Heart, we are probably standing at the end of our beautiful and rich life together. Because tomorrow the People's Court intends to sit in judgment on me and others. I hear that we have been expelled from the army. They can take the uniform from us, but not the spirit in which we acted."-Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, in a letter to his wife.

Marion Yorck von Wartenburg was involved in the Nazi resistance group known as the Kreisau Circle, whose cofounder was her husband, Peter. The Kreisau Circle participated in the assassination attempt on Adolf…


Explore my book 😀

Treason: Claus von Stauffenberg and the Plot to Kill Hitler

By Brian Walters,

Book cover of Treason: Claus von Stauffenberg and the Plot to Kill Hitler

What is my book about?

When he placed his briefcase bomb in Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair conference, Claus von Stauffenberg was 36 years old, married, with four children. His wife was pregnant with their fifth. He was a decorated war hero, maimed, and one of the most brilliant staff officers of the German army. He set out to rid his country of Hitler, and bring the Second World War to an end. What led him to this point? 

Treason recounts the page-turning story of Germans prepared to give their all to free their country from the Nazis. Many of these men and women paid with their lives for their principled stand. The text is complemented by hundreds of photos and hundreds of biographical glossaries.

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Book cover of Cytress Vee: A Dog Squad Story

Kalvin Thane Author Of Cytress Vee: A Dog Squad Story

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Why am I passionate about this?

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What is my book about?

Unlike the typical tales of a flawless fighting unit, this story follows Commander Kami Trenn and her ragtag squad of mixed-race space marines.

Dog Squad fights a mysterious adversary whose presence remains shrouded in secrecy. The fate of the universe hangs in the balance, but will they be able to make enough of a difference?

Can they hope to uncover the enemy’s plans for galactic dominance before the Alliance falls? Maybe. If they can stop fighting each other.

Cytress Vee: A Dog Squad Story

By Kalvin Thane,

What is this book about?

Across the void formed by two galactic spiral arms, vast forces face each other.

The tenuous Alliance, sixty civilizations united only by fear of invasion, prepare to resist the encroachment of their as-yet unseen enemy, known only as the Creeps.

The Void has become a battleground. Three thousand light years across, and populated by a scattering of ten thousand ‘dark’ worlds, it is the Alliance’s last chance to protect their way of life. Self-destructive, robotic drones pour across the Void in ever-increasing numbers, testing the Alliance fleets to breaking point.

In the midst of the surging tides of war, a…


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