Martin Monath: A Jewish Resistance Fighter Amongst Nazi Soldiers

Product Description



A dramatisation of Martin Monath's short life (1913-1944) would need little artistic embellishment; his identity shrouded in mystery, and executed by the Gestapo - twice - the historical record reads like a detective novel. Pieced together for the first time by Wladek Flakin, this biography tells the story of the Jewish socialist and editor of Arbeiter und Soldat ('Worker and Soldier'), and his efforts to turn German rank-and-file soldiers against their Nazi officers in occupied France. Born in Berlin in 1913, Martin Monath was a child of war and revolution. In the 1930s he became a leader of the socialist Zionist youth organisation Hashomer Hatzair in Germany. Fleeing from Berlin to Brussels in 1939, he joined the underground Trotskyist party led by Abraham Leon, and soon became a leading member of the Fourth International in Europe. His relocation to Paris in 1943 saw the birth of Arbeiter und Soldat and his work organising illegal cells of German soldiers for a revolutionary struggle against the Nazis. Drawing on extensive archival research, Flakin uses letters, testimonies and unpublished documents to bring Monath's story to life - weaving a tale rich with conviction and betrayal, ideology and espionage.



Review


""'Highly readable and admirably informed, this is a beautiful portrait of Martin Monath, the Marxist revolutionary who remains little known, even among the left'"" - Enzo Traverso, author of 'The End of Jewish Modernity' (Pluto, 2016) ""'Meticulously researched and written with an evident love and admiration'"" - Marcus Barnett, Tribune ""'Highly absorbing ... an indispensable life is restored to the landscape of anti-fascist history'"" - Alan Wald, author of 'Exiles from a Future Time: The Forging of the Mid-Twentieth-Century Literary Left' ""'This incredibly brave, remarkably vibrant young militant has much to teach through his resistance to racism and fascist violence, and his struggle for a socialist future worthy of human beings'"" - Paul Le Blanc, author of 'Revolutionary Studies: Theory, History, People' ""'A lively, readable and often moving narrative. Monath was a genuine internationalist and his life has many lessons for activists in our own day'"" - Ian Birchall


About the Author



Nathaniel Flakin is a freelance journalist and historian in Berlin. He is Editor of the Trotskyist news sites 'Klasse Gegen Klasse' and 'Left Voice'.