My battle against Hitler : faith, truth, and defiance in the shadow of the Third Reich / Dietrich von Hildebrand ; translated and edited by John Henry Crosby with John F. Crosby.

Includes bibliographical references.

A fateful decision -- Who was this man who fought Hitler? -- A note on the text -- Part one. The Memoirs. 1921 -- 1922 -- 1923 -- 1932 -- 1933 -- 1934 -- 1935 -- 1936 -- 1937 -- Escape from Vienna -- Part two. Writings against the Nazi ideology. Austria and nationalism -- German culture and national socialism -- The danger of becoming morally blunted -- Against anti-semitism -- The Jews and the Christian West -- The danger of quietism -- Ceterum Censeo . . . ! -- False fronts -- The parting of ways -- The struggle for the person -- The chaos of our times and the hierarchy of values -- Authority and leadership -- Mass and community -- Individual and community

Prologue -- PART 1. A LIFE OF DIETRICH VON HILDEBRAND -- The Memoirs : 1921 -- 1923 -- 1932 -- 1933 -- 1934 -- 1935 -- 1936 -- 1937 -- Escape from Vienna -- PART 2. VON HILDEBRAND'S ESSAYS AGAINST THE NAZI IDEOLOGY -- Historic documents -- Report to Hitler citing von Hildebrand's magazine as the most outspoken anti-Nazi publication in Austria -- Secret dispatch to Hitler proposing assassination of von Hildebrand -- Letter of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl -- Memorandum by J. Edgar Hoover.

"How does a person become Hitler's enemy number one? Not through espionage or violence, it turns out, but by striking fearlessly at the intellectual and spiritual roots of National Socialism. Dietrich von Hildebrand was a German Catholic thinker and teacher who devoted the full force of his intellect to breaking the deadly spell of Nazism that ensnared so many of his beloved countrymen. His story might well have been lost to us were it not for this memoir he penned in the last decades of his life at the request of his wife, Alice von Hildebrand. In My Battle Against Hitler, covering the years from 1921 to 1938, von Hildebrand tells of the scorn and ridicule he endured for sounding the alarm when many still viewed Hitler as a positive and inevitable force. He expresses the sorrow of having to leave behind his home, friends, and family in Germany to conduct his fight against the Nazis from Austria. He recounts how he defiantly challenged Nazism in the public square, prompting the German ambassador in Vienna to describe him to Hitler as 'the architect of the intellectual resistance in Austria.' And in the midst of all the danger he faced, he conveys his unwavering trust in God, even during his harrowing escape from Vienna and his desperate flight across Europe, with the Nazis always just one step behind. Dietrich von Hildebrand belongs to the very earliest anti-Nazi resistance. His public statements led the Nazis to blacklist him already in 1921, long before the horrors of the Third Reich and more than twenty-three years before the famous assassination attempt on Hitler in July 1944. His battle would culminate in the countless articles he published in Vienna, a selection of which are featured in this volume. 'It is an immense privilege,' writes editor John Henry Crosby, founder of the Hildebrand Project, 'to present to the world the shining witness of one man who risked everything to follow his conscience and stand in defiance of tyranny.'"-- Provided by publisher.

"This unpublished memoir from German-Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand demonstrates his opposition to anti-Semitism, his prescient understanding of just how deadly Nazism and Hitler would be, and his courage as he prepared to flee Germany"-- Provided by publisher.

Translated from the German.