Love letters from a Nazi prison

A profoundly personal record of a couple’s love, faith, and courage in the face of fascism [LAST LETTERS THE PRISON CORRESPONDENCE, 1944–1945]( by Freya and Helmuth James von Moltke AFTERWORD BY RACHEL SEIFFERT EDITED BY HELMUTH CASPAR VON MOLTKE, DOROTHEA VON MOLTKE, AND JOHANNES VON MOLTKE TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY SHELLEY FRISCH In the fall of 1944, Helmuth James von Moltke awaits trial in Tegel Prison, Berlin, for his leading role in the Kreisau Circle, a German resistance group against Nazism. Miraculously, the prison chaplain, Harald Poelchau, is a friend and co-conspirator. From the first day of imprisonment, Poelchau transports letters between Helmuth James and his wife Freya, putting his own life in grave danger. After Helmuth James is executed on January 23, 1945, Freya would safeguard these intimate letters for the rest of her long life, considering them too precious to release to the public until after her death. Written during the final months of World War II, the correspondence is at once a collection of love letters written in extremis and a historical document of the first order. Published to great acclaim in Germany in 2011, this deeply moving correspondence is now available for the first time in English. About the editors: Helmuth Caspar von Moltke is a son of Freya and Helmuth James von Moltke. Dorothea and Johannes von Moltke are their grandchildren. [READ MORE]( For three days only,Last Letters]( be available at 30% off along with these three nonfiction titles about World War II: [NO ORDINARY MEN]( by Elizabeth Sifton and Fritz Stern [A MEMOIR OF THE WARSAW UPRISING]( by Miron Białoszewski [INHUMAN LAND]( by Józef Czapski Upcoming Events for Last Letters Thursday, October 10, 7pm [Goethe-Institut New York]( New York, NY with Helmuth Caspar, Dorothea, and Johannes von Moltke, moderated by Meike Werner Friday, October 11, 6pm [Labyrinth Books]( Princeton, NJ with Helmuth Caspar, Dorothea, and Johannes von Moltke, and Shelley Frisch Wednesday, October 23, 7pm [Norwich Bookstore]( Norwich, VT with Helmuth Caspar von Moltke Thursday, November 14, 6:30pm [Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide]( London, United Kingdom with Helmuth Caspar, Dorothea, and Johannes von Moltke and Rachel Seiffert. Tuesday, December 3, 6pm [Goethe-Institut Chicago]( Chicago, IL with Dorothea and Johannes von Moltke You are receiving this message because you signed up for email newsletters from NYRB. You can [choose the types of mailings you wish to receive](: [Update preferences]( New York Review Books 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 Not a subscriber? Sign up for our newsletter [here](. [Unsubscribe](