A Castle in Wartime; One Family, Their Missing Sons, and the Fight to Defeat the Nazis

Ian Moores (Maps), and Sarah Tibbetts (author phot New York: Viking, 2019. First American Edition, First printing [stated]. Hardcover. [14], 461, [5] pages. Illustrations. Maps. This work was first published in Great Britain as The Lost Boys: A Family Ripped Apart by War. Catherine Bailey is a television producer and a bestselling writer of non-fiction. Before embarking on her publishing career, she produced a series of critically acclaimed films in drama, documentary and current affairs. Lie of the Land, a film about the plight of the countryside, won the Bafta for best documentary (2008). From a Kirkus review: An uplifting, exciting story of the extraordinary actions of one family during World War II. Bailey tells the story of Fey von Hassell (1918-2010), who, at age 12, moved to a villa in Italy, where her father, Ulrich, was Germany’s ambassador. Though appointed by the Weimar government, Ulrich worked with German resistance leaders. The Nazis distrusted him, as well, posting spies throughout the household. After marriage to Detalmo Pirzio-Biroli, an aristocrat from one of Italy’s oldest families, Fey lived at Brazzà, the family estate in northern Italy. In July 1944, the attempt on Hitler’s life caused the Führer to release his vengeance on anyone even slightly connected to the plot. This included Ulrich, who was tried and executed. Then the SS rounded up their family members. The SS seized the boys and sent them to one of the Nazis’ orphanages. She was told nothing of her children, worrying that she would never see them again. They were under imminent threat of execution. Throughout their time as prisoners, they wrote—heavily censored—letters, and many kept journals. Bailey’s access to those journals and SS records attests to the historical accuracy of this tale, and she relates the entire suspenseful story like a novel. Right to the nail-biting end, this book captures your attention in alternating dread, fear, and hope. An enthralling story of one family's extraordinary courage and resistance amidst the horrors of war from the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Rooms. As war swept across Europe in 1940, the idyllic life of Fey von Hassell seemed a world away from the conflict. The daughter of Ulrich von Hassell, Hitler's Ambassador to Italy, her marriage to Italian aristocrat Detalmo Pirzio-Biroli brought with it a castle and an estate in the north of Italy. Beautiful and privileged, Fey and her two young sons lead a tranquil life undisturbed by the trauma and privations of war. But with Fascism approaching its zenith, Fey's peaceful existence is threatened when Ulrich and Detalmo take the brave and difficult decision to resist the Nazis. When German soldiers pour over the Italian border, Fey is suddenly marooned in the Nazi-occupied north and unable to communicate with her husband, who has joined the underground anti-Fascist movement in Rome. Before long, SS soldiers have taken up occupancy in the castle. As Fey struggles to maintain an air of warm welcome to her unwanted guests, the clandestine activities of both her father and husband become increasingly brazen and openly rebellious. Darkness descends when Ulrich's foiled plot to kill the Fuhrer brings the Gestapo to Fey's doorstep. It would be months before Detalmo learns that his wife had been arrested and his two young boys seized by the SS. Suffused with Catherine Bailey's signature atmospheric prose, A Castle in Wartime tells the unforgettable story of the extraordinary bravery and fortitude of one family who collectively and individually sacrificed everything to resist the Nazis from within. Bailey's unprecedented access to stunning first-hand family accounts, along with records from concentration camps and surviving SS files, make this a dazzling and compulsively readable book, opening a view on the cost and consequences of resistance. Condition: Very good / Very good.

Keywords: von Hassell, Brazza, Ludwig Beck, POW, Campo Imperatore Hotel, Hans Kretschmann, von Stauffenberg, Buchenwald, Pragser Wildsee, Ernst Bader, Sigismund Best, Friuli, Dachau, Hofacker, Pirzio-Biroli, Sturrhof Concentration Camp, Vermehren

ISBN: 9780525559290

[Book #85131]

Price: $37.50

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