My Battle Against Hitler

Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich

By: John Henry Crosby, Dietrich von Hildebrand

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Dietrich von Hildebrand was a German-Catholic thinker and teacher who, in response to the rise of Nazism, devoted the full force of his intellect to doing public battle with Hitler for the hearts and minds of the German people.

In My Battle Against Hitler, 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 tells 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." And throughout it all, 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.

©2014 Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Dietrich von Hildebrand's memoirs give us an inroad into the soul of another German." (Rocco Buttiglione, Italian statesman)

Hildebrand is a Voice for our time

Dietrich von Hildebrand was and still is a prophetic voice. It is an overused description, but truly fits. He saw even in the early 1930’s the true nature of National Socialism, and his deep understanding of the underlying anti-personal philosophy makes his work still important because that philosophy still exists in many unexpected places.

Thank you.

Thank you for telling his story and his fight for the human person. A relevant story for our day and our age.

Good Book

What made the experience of listening to My Battle Against Hitler the most enjoyable?

Most of the book is a biography emphasizing Von Hildebrand's fight against Nazism.The last two hours or so are actual excerpts of his articles he wrote arguing against Nazism at a dangerous time to do so.

von Hildebrand for our Times

It has been an absolutely amazing path into this my first von Hildebrand writing. Such stalwart convictions founded on their philosophical first principles. I will most certainly be seeking out more of von Hildebrand’s writings as well as the von Hildebrand Project.

amazing book what in site I loved every second.

A great presentation. I listened to it twice back to back. I fear for our nation. There are so many similarities in the direction America going. I feel this book was written as a warning for our time.

Wonderful!!

Would you listen to My Battle Against Hitler again? Why?

Yes. In fact I have listened to several sections twice already. There is so much content that one listen is not enough to truly absorb it all.

Who was your favorite character and why?

..well, Von Hildebrand of course

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found myself really pondering my values and asking if I believe in them enough to hold fast to them no matter the cost.

Prophetic

D. Van hildebrand was a philosopher and a catholic. His warnings about Hitler and his regime began in the 1920s and 30s, he recognized the nature of the threat and vigorously spoke out against the inevitable outcome of Naziism. His well articulated philosophy and his ability to see what was coming is both eerie and enlightening. His chronicle of Hitler's rise to power is unique in that he saw and warned humanity about the inevitable consequences of what he called 'nationalist socialism'. His understanding of the decadence and blindness that allowed Hitler to come to power has a lot to teach us today.

Fascinating and Significant

The memoir in Part One is informative and highly interesting. The essays from the 1930s in Part Two are tremendously valuable — not only as historical documents but perhaps even more so for the present day. The narration is excellent.

Food for thought

Dietrich von Hildebrand doesn't tell a good story. He is too factual, but assumes that the reader knows a good deal about Austrian politics in the 1930's, so there are several holes in the story for a newcomer to his history. However, the journal articles included at the end provide excellent food for thought.