As a Bonhoeffer scholar, the Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand has always intrigued me. "That damned Hildebrand is the greatest obstacle for National Socialism in Austria. No one causes more harm", fumed Franz von Papen, the Nazi ambassador to Austria, who proposed to Hitler a plan to assassinate Hitler's public enemy number one. So I was excited to see this translation of Hildebrand's memoirs and essays that highlight the evils of Nazism and another of those German intellectuals who stood against it.
When Hitler rose to power in 1933, von Hildebrand fled Germany to Austria, where he founded and edited in Vienna the most widely read German language anti-Nazi paper. For this reason, von Papen called him "the architect of the intellectual resistance in Austria".
My Battle against Hitler makes an invaluable contribution to the study of the period of Nazi resistance. Among the papers of von Hildebrand's memoirs, one outline was found titled Mein Kampf Gegen Hitler, "My Battle Against Hitler". It was decided that this would make the best possible title for the posthumously published memoirs. This book finally chronicles in print the heroic struggle of one of the Catholic Church's greatest philosophers and his fight against Hitler's evil ideas.
"It is precisely our struggle against evil that God wills, even when we suffer external defeat", said von Hildebrand in a memorable phrase, alluding to the title of Hitler's evil book. And as long as history continues, the struggle of all good men will continue.
Because this story is the story of all thoughtful Christians who resist the principalities and powers of the fallen world.
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I received this book free, from the Blogging for Books program, in exchange for my honest review.