All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner 

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All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner: 5. The Letter

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner

5. The Letter

BBC Radio 4 - All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days by Rebecca Donner, 5. The Letter

The Gestapo close in on Mildred Harnack who is at the heart of German resistance to Hitler

The true story of Mildred Harnack, the woman at the heart of the German resistance to Hitler continues as the Gestapo close in on Mildred and her husband, Arvid. Kelly Burke reads.

The  true story of Mildred Harnack, the American woman at the heart of the German resistance to Hitler continues as the Gestapo close in on her, and husband Arvid. A letter reveals the power of their love for one another in the face of adversity.

Mildred Harnack's remarkable story is told by her great-great-niece, Rebecca Donner, who draws on diaries, letters, notes smuggled out of German prisons and de-classified intelligence reports to reconstruct the story of a woman of extraordinary bravery and compassion. In the early 1930s, living in Berlin, Mildred and her husband, Arvid, are horrified by Hitler's rapid and meteoric rise to power.  Both find themselves compelled to act and take extraordinary and audacious risks to pass secrets to the Allies as World War II looms.  But soon the Gestapo start to close in, and a high price is exacted.

Rebecca Donner is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, Sunset Terrace, and Burnout, a graphic novel about ecoterrorism. Her essays, reportage, and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times and Guernica.

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard

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