Crossing Hitler

The man who put the Nazis on the witness stand

Author: Benjamin Hett

The first full-length biography of the Jewish-German trial lawyer Hans Litten, his dramatic grilling of Hitler on the witness stand, and the tragic consequences of his courage

Hans Litten, a courageous German-Jewish lawyer who defended civil rights in the Weimar Republic, was one of the only people to ever cross-examine Hitler on the witness stand, and the only one to reduce him to helpless rage. This book is a dramatic account of that trial, and the gripping and definitive story of a fascinating figure-forgotten today-of anti-Nazi resistance.

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Summary

The first full-length biography of the Jewish-German trial lawyer Hans Litten, his dramatic grilling of Hitler on the witness stand, and the tragic consequences of his courage

Description

Crossing Hitler is a biography of the German trial lawyer Hans Litten (1903-1938), who dedicated his brief career to an uncompromising struggle against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, and suffered accordingly in Hitler's concentration camps. Through the prism of this one remarkable advocate, the book explores the rise of the Nazis, the vibrant criminal courts of the Weimar Republic, and the terror of Nazi rule in Germany after 1933. During the trial of four Nazi paratroopers in 1931, Litten grilled Hitler in a merciless three-hour examination, forcing Hitler into multiple contradictions and evasions and finally reducing him to helpless and humiliating rage. Two years later Hitler was in power, and Litten was sent to the concentration camps of the Third Reich, where he worked on translations of medieval German poetry and operated as a one-man university. After five years of torture and hard labor, Litten gave up hope of survival, and took his own life 1938.

Critic Reviews

“"Hett's well-researched history is an excellent introduction, and a creepy reminder of the insidious power of evil."--Dick Cady, ForeWord Magazine "Hett adroitly explains the workings of the Weimar legal system and challenges the conventional wisdom that the German legal profession was, prior to 1933, so right wing that its transition to Nazism was an easy and logical step.... Recommended for all libraries."--Library Journal”

"Hett has written a riveting account of Litten's life."--Jewish Book World

"Hett's well-researched history is an excellent introduction, and a creepy reminder of the insidious power of evil."--Dick Cady, ForeWord Magazine

"Hett adroitly explains the workings of the Weimar legal system and challenges the conventional wisdom that the German legal profession was, prior to 1933, so right wing that its transition to Nazism was an easy and logical step....Recommended for all libraries."--Library Journal

About the Author

A former trial lawyer, Benjamin Carter Hett is now Associate Professor of History at Hunter College and the author of Death in the Tiergarten. He lives in New York City.

More on this Book

Crossing Hitler is a biography of the German trial lawyer Hans Litten (1903-1938), who dedicated his brief career to an uncompromising struggle against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, and suffered accordingly in Hitler's concentration camps. Through the prism of this one remarkable advocate, the book explores the rise of the Nazis, the vibrant criminal courts of the Weimar Republic, and the terror of Nazi rule in Germany after 1933. During the trial of four Naziparatroopers in 1931, Litten grilled Hitler in a merciless three-hour examination, forcing Hitler into multiple contradictions and evasions and finally reducing him to helpless and humiliating rage. Two years later Hitler was in power, and Litten was sent to the concentration camps of the Third Reich,where he worked on translations of medieval German poetry and operated as a one-man university. After five years of torture and hard labor, Litten gave up hope of survival, and took his own life 1938.