BOOK REVIEW
Valkyrie
An Insider’s Account of
THE PLOT TO KILL HITLER

One might ask, “Why would a Pro-Life organization like Caring Hands Pregnancy Center tout a book about a failed assassination attempt? Read on….
Valkyrie is a book about the fight men of conscience waged against an evil despotism. It is a story that we can ignore only to our own detriment. Our times are evil; and the dangers of our falling into the trap that Germany fell into in the twelve years of the Third Reich (1933-1944) are very real, indeed!
At the end of the Weimer Republic the German people were under the administration of Kaiser Wilhelm, who had only a counterfeit conservative political position. Inflation was rampant, and the people had great unrest in their hearts—they were dissatisfied, and they blamed conservatism. They were looking for something new. Liberal views had suffused the populace. Liberalism with its overemphasis on individualism, contributed greatly to the dissolution of religious and ethical principles. Liberalism’s mechanistic idea of centralization helped to obstruct any step toward a healthy kind of federalism. This political milieu was a perfect situation for a take-over by a convincing political speaker like Adolf Hitler. The result was horrific! “The speed with which centralism can deteriorate into extreme nationalism is something that we, Europeans, who have felt the worst blows of nationalism, have experienced not only in Germany but in the rest of Europe.”
Many Germans kept aloof of the problems that were escalating in their country during those momentous twelve years. And, finally, when the truth was out and all Germany knew consciously what heinous deeds were afoot, they still remained “neutral.” When the cattle cars of the railroads rattled by their churches on Sunday mornings filled with screaming Jews destined for the extermination camps, their response was, “Sing louder!”
There were, in Germany, however, a class of moral and honorable men of the highest quality who drew together, determined to not let the prevailing madness of the Nazi regime blur their sense of responsibility to their Fatherland and their understanding of right and wrong. These men saw success of the Nazi regime as the end of Christian civilization in Europe. They worked to undo the bad deeds of Hitler and his henchmen. But, unfortunately…they were too few. Their efforts eventually proved their undoing—almost all of them died—with one notable exception, Hans Gisevius, the author of this book.
Now comes the question we must all face: Is the civilization of our nation impregnably fortified against similar outbreaks of imminent evil? Or, are we facing a holocaust of deaths of the innocent while we stand by and shout, “Sing louder!” Are we taking a neutral stand (which is really a strike for centralization, autocracy, and intolerance of Christian principles) or are we willing to stand up and be counted, regardless of the cost?
We will either take the responsibility for our actions or be guilty before God of the German error of 1933-1944.