Hitler and the Habsburgs

The Fuhrer's Vendetta Against the Austrian Royals

By: James Longo

Narrated by: David Colacci

Five youthful years in Vienna. It was then and there that Adolf Hitler's obsession with the Habsburg Imperial family became the catalyst for his vendetta against a vanished empire, a dead archduke, and his royal orphans. That hatred drove Hitler's rise to power and led directly to the tragedy of the Second World War and the Holocaust.

The royal orphans of Archduke Franz Ferdinand - offspring of an upstairs-downstairs marriage that scandalized the tradition-bound Habsburg Empire - came to personify to Adolf Hitler, and others, all that was wrong about modernity, the 20th century, and the Habsburg's multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were outsiders in the greatest family of royal insiders in Europe, which put them on a collision course with Adolf Hitler.

As he rose to power, Hitler's hatred toward the Habsburgs and their diverse empire fixated on Franz Ferdinand's sons, who became outspoken critics and opponents of the Nazi party and its racist ideology. When Germany seized Austria in 1938, they were the first two Austrians arrested by the Gestapo, deported to Germany, and sent to Dachau. Within hours they went from palace to prison. The women in the family, including the Archduke's only daughter Princess Sophie Hohenberg, declared their own war on Hitler.

©2018 James M. Longo (P)2018 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Hitler and the Habsburgs offers a new perspective on Hitler that contrasts him with one family's bravery, Christian faith, and utter heroism... We need books like this one to remind us of the black hole of terror into which we can so easily plunge." (Sue Woolmans, co-author of The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914)

Excellent Insight Into the Hapsburgs/Hohenburgs

This story is an amazing one. The family of the Archduke were at the center of the storm that was the 20th Century. We still feel the reverberations of what this family suffered today. I don’t believe one can understand WWI or WWII without a firm understanding of the Hapsburgs and what their empire meant.

another layer in the onion of European politics re

vealed. well worth reading. Sophia, the daughter of ditches Sophie, was the ultimate hero of the saga.

The Hapsbergs

The humility, endurance, faith and love of this family. New appreciation of all that they endured.

Very good history of Eastern Europe

This book does a great job of creating a certain perspective of the first half of the 20th century. Had the Habsburgs stayed in power, this is the view that we would have been taught in school. Wonderful angle.

More of the Story

A very well-done account of Franz Ferdinand’s orphaned children in their adult years, as they attempted to maintain their integrity and keep their families intact during the rise of Hitler and World War II. The Hohenberg princes were among the first political prisoners sent to Dachau. An important part of the Hapsburg story.

Interesting facts unknown to many.

I liked the book overall. It revealed facts unknown to the vast majority including me.
I did detect some possible prejudice to Emperor Franz Joseph. I will have to do some research to see if the criticisms were correct or not.

Very Good in every way

This book was excellent. The story was remarkably good. It was informative, yet concise. The production was of high quality. I will look for more works by this author and narrator.

Fascinating

This was a fascinating listen as it expanded on the life of a historical monster while juxtaposing it against the Habsburg family. It was fascinating to learn how these two worlds collided one re-snapping the other with sad and long lasting consequence. It helped me understand how the imperial age was finally sacrificed on the doorstep of German nationalism.

Not what I expected it to be ...

It's interesting to contrast the down-and-out young Hitler in Vienna with the opulence of the Hapsburgs of the same era but the favourable comparison between the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire and the United States just doesn't work for anyone who knows much about the history of either of them.