THE AGITATOR
William Bailey and the First America Uprising Against Nazism
This story of an anti-fascist’s dramatic and remarkable victory against Nazism in 1935 is an inspiration to anyone compelled to resist when signs of oppression are on the horizon
By 1935, Hitler had suppressed all internal opposition and established himself as Germany’s unchallenged dictator. Yet many Americans remained largely indifferent as he turned his dangerous ambitions abroad. Not William Bailey.
Just days after violent anti-Semitic riots had broken out in Berlin, the SS Bremen, the flagship of Hitler’s commercial armada, was welcomed into New York Harbor. Bailey led a small group that slipped past security and cut down the Nazi flag from the boat in the middle of a lavish party.
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THE BIELSKI BROTHERS
The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews.
In 1941, three brothers witnessed their parents and two other siblingsbeing led away to their eventual murders. It was a grim scene that would,of course, be repeated endlessly throughout the war. Instead of running orgiving in to despair, these brothers — Tuvia, Zus, and Asael Bielski — foughtback, waging a guerrilla war of wits against the Nazis.
By using their intimate knowledge of the dense forests surrounding theBelarusan towns of Novogrudek and Lida, the Bielskis evaded the Nazis andestablished a hidden base camp, then set about convincing other Jews to jointheir ranks. As more and more Jews arrived each day, a robust communitybegan to emerge, a “Jerusalem in the woods.”
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DOUBLE AGENT
He was the first hero of World War II and yet the American public has never seen his face.
In 1940, with Nazi Germany on the march, William G. Sebold, a naturalized American of German birth, risked his life to become the first double agent in the history of the FBI. Intensely patriotic and cool under pressure, he spent sixteen months in the Nazi underground of New York City, consorting with a colorful cast of spies that included rowdy sailors on shore leave, a Jewish femme fatale, high-level engineers privy to America’s most valuable military secrets, and a South African soldier of fortune with an exotic accent and a monocle.
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THE KILLING OF MAJOR DENIS MAHON
A Mystery of Old Ireland
At the height of the Irish Famine, now considered the greatest social disaster to strike nineteenth-century Europe, Anglo-Irish landlord Major Denis Mahon was assassinated as he drove his carriage through his property in County Roscommon. Mahon had already removed 3,000 of his 12,000 starving tenants by offering some passage to America aboard disease-ridden “coffin ships,” giving others a pound or two to leave peaceably, and sending the sheriff to evict the rest.
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