Defiant Diplomat
eBook - ePub

Defiant Diplomat

George Platt Waller: American Consul in Nazi-Occupied Luxembourg, 1939–1941

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  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Defiant Diplomat

George Platt Waller: American Consul in Nazi-Occupied Luxembourg, 1939–1941

About this book

Drafted while events were fresh in his mind in 1942–1943, Alabama-born American diplomat George Platt Waller's memoir chronicles his war-time experience in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In vivid prose, he recalls the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the "Phony War," the German invasion of May 10, 1940, and the Wehrmacht occupation. Intimately involved with the political and public life of this small democratic nation, Waller did not follow Grand Duchess Charlotte and her government into exile. Instead, he remained as long as he could to witness and champion the Luxembourg people, doing his best to rescue the flood of refugees seeking visas and asylum in the United States. Waller bitterly condemns the Nazi civilian administration, its oppressive racial laws, and its attempts to annex the country to Germany under the banner of Heim ins Reich.

From his pivotal position as dean of the diplomatic community, representative of the powerful United States; and trusted confidant of leaders, executives, and citizens alike, Waller was privy to information from a wide range of sources: government, military, the church, the professions, the resistance, ordinary people, and refugees. He narrates gripping accounts of individual initiative and courage and exposes the many official hindrances to the timely rescue of refugees. His observations shed new light on life in Luxembourg from 1939 to 1941, when he was finally expelled from the country.

The editors' introduction places this brief but highly significant memoir in the context of Waller's family background, education, and career, including his dramatic return to Luxembourg at its liberation by American troops in 1944 and his participation in the Grand Duchy's postwar renaissance. Extensive annotations and photographs complement the text.

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Yes, you can access Defiant Diplomat by Willard Allen Fletcher,Jean Tucker Fletcher in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Political Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Acknowledgments
  2. Foreword
  3. Editors’ Introduction
  4. Preface
  5. Chapter 1: Ante-Chamber to Paradise
  6. Chapter 2: Thunder on the Moselle
  7. Chapter 3: The Sitz-Krieg
  8. Chapter 4: The Evening of the Ninth of May
  9. Chapter 5: So Fair and Foul a Day I Have Not Seen*
  10. Chapter 6: General Gullmann Calls
  11. Chapter 7: The Diplomats Depart
  12. Chapter 8: Belgium after the Surrender
  13. Chapter 9: German Generals Toast the President
  14. Chapter 10: I Become Consul
  15. Chapter 11: A Visit from the R.A.F.
  16. Chapter 12: Pack und Gesindel
  17. Chapter 13: The Volksdeutsche Bewegung
  18. Chapter 14: Cologne
  19. Chapter 15: Persecution of Luxembourg Jews
  20. Chapter 16: The Curé of Moersdorf
  21. Chapter 17: The Gauleiter Embarks on Education Reform
  22. Chapter 18: Into the Dustbin with d’GĂ«lle Fra, the Army, and the Law
  23. Chapter 19: It’s Not So Simple—Exchanging French for German
  24. Chapter 20: Underground Organizations
  25. Chapter 21: The Nine O’Clock Mass
  26. Chapter 22: Cologne Revisited
  27. Chapter 23: The Comforter of the Afflicted
  28. Chapter 24: In Sure and Certain Hope*
  29. Epilogue
  30. Editors’ Afterword
  31. Abbreviations
  32. Bibliography
  33. About the Editors