Eva and Otto: Resistance, Refugees, and Love in the Time of Hitler

Eva and Otto is a truestory about German opposition and resistance to Hitler as revealed through theearly lives of Eva Lewinski Pfister (1910–1991) and Otto Pfister (1900–1985).It is an intimate and epic account of two Germans—Eva born Jewish, Otto bornCatholic—who worked with a little-known German political group that resistedand fought against Hitler in Germany before 1933 and then in exile in Parisbefore the German invasion of France in May 1940. After their improbableescapes from separate internment and imprisonment in Europe, Eva obtainedrefuge in America in October 1940 where she worked to rescue other endangeredpolitical refugees, including Otto, with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt. Asrevealed in recently declassified records, Eva and Otto later engaged indifferent secret assignments with the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) insupport of the Allied war effort. Despite their vastly different backgrounds, Eva and Otto gave each other hope and strength as they acted upon what theyunderstood to be an ethical duty to help others threatened by fascism. The bookprovides a sobering insight into the personal risks and costs of a commitmentto that duty. Their unusually beautiful writing—directed to each other indiaries and correspondence during two long periods of wartime separation—alsoreveals an unlikely and inspiring love story.