New book gives an executed World War II hero her due

The story of Rebecca Donner’s great-great-aunt is remarkable in and of itself.

Mildred Harnack was an American woman living in Germany who spent more than a decade organizing resistance to Adolf Hitler.

Tragically, she was caught and executed on his orders.

Donner, her niece, has ensured now that her name and accomplishments won’t be lost to history, with her new book, All The Frequent Troubles Of Our Days.

And as it turns out, the long process of creating this book was noteworthy (though not quite as much as Harnack’s life) on its own.

It begins with the author learning, at age nine, of the existence of someone named Mildred — but nothing more.

Then at age sixteen, Donner’s grandmother gave her Harnack’s letters and told her that she needed to write the story.

And finally, in more recent times, Donner had the chance to interview a nearly ninety-year-old man who worked for her ancestress when he was a child.

Learn more about these moments and the woman at the center of them in the NY Times and NPR. 

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