What will I learn about: how Mildred Harnack, an American literature teacher, used her everyday life to secretly coordinate couriers and build an anti-Nazi resistance network in the heart of Berlin?

Discover how Mildred Harnack, an American literature teacher, used her everyday life to secretly coordinate couriers and build an anti-Nazi resistance network in the heart of Berlin.

What will I learn about: Explore how Arvid Harnack's early commitment to studying the Soviet economy unexpectedly entangled the German resistance movement with Russian intelligence?

Explore how Arvid Harnack's early commitment to studying the Soviet economy unexpectedly entangled the German resistance movement with Russian intelligence.

What will I learn about: why a desperate, impoverished German public was seduced by the Nazi party's promises of 'Work! Freedom! Bread!' and willingly turned toward fascism?

Understand why a desperate, impoverished German public was seduced by the Nazi party's promises of 'Work! Freedom! Bread!' and willingly turned toward fascism.

What will I learn about: Learn how the press and politicians fatally underestimated Adolf Hitler, believing democratic institutions would keep his radical anti-Semitic and antidemocratic agenda in check?

Learn how the press and politicians fatally underestimated Adolf Hitler, believing democratic institutions would keep his radical anti-Semitic and antidemocratic agenda in check.

What will I learn about: how the 1933 Reichstag fire was swiftly weaponized by the Nazi party to pass emergency laws that destroyed the Weimar Constitution and erased civil liberties?

Find out how the 1933 Reichstag fire was swiftly weaponized by the Nazi party to pass emergency laws that destroyed the Weimar Constitution and erased civil liberties.

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler

Rebecca Donner

★ 4.5 / 5(159 ratings)

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History Biography & Memoir

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

💡Did you know that an American literature student became the leader of one of the most dangerous underground resistance cells in the heart of Nazi Germany?
💡Have you ever wondered how a group of ordinary citizens managed to smuggle top-secret intelligence to the Allies while living under constant surveillance by the Gestapo?
💡What hidden secrets found in declassified documents and personal letters finally reveal the true story of the heroes who fought the Third Reich from within?

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Key Takeaways from All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

✓Discover how Mildred Harnack, an American literature teacher, used her everyday life to secretly coordinate couriers and build an anti-Nazi resistance network in the heart of Berlin.
✓Explore how Arvid Harnack's early commitment to studying the Soviet economy unexpectedly entangled the German resistance movement with Russian intelligence.
✓Understand why a desperate, impoverished German public was seduced by the Nazi party's promises of 'Work! Freedom! Bread!' and willingly turned toward fascism.
✓Learn how the press and politicians fatally underestimated Adolf Hitler, believing democratic institutions would keep his radical anti-Semitic and antidemocratic agenda in check.
✓Find out how the 1933 Reichstag fire was swiftly weaponized by the Nazi party to pass emergency laws that destroyed the Weimar Constitution and erased civil liberties.

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

Mind Map

All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

The Protagonists+

Rise of the Nazi Regime+

Building the Resistance+

The Psychological Toll+

Espionage & Downfall+

Execution & Legacy+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8

What initial role did the eleven-year-old American boy, Young Don, play in the Berlin anti-Nazi resistance?

A. He acted as a courier, carrying secret messages slipped into his books by Mildred Harnack.
B. He translated intercepted German communications for his father, a US intelligence agent.
C. He distracted Gestapo agents while the resistance printed anti-Nazi leaflets.
D. He smuggled Jewish refugees across the border into Switzerland under the guise of school trips.

Question 2 of 8

Why was Mildred Harnack likely dismissed from her teaching position at the University of Berlin in 1932?

A. She was discovered hiding Jewish refugees in the university's basement.
B. She openly connected the plight of the working class in American literature to the troubling rise of the Nazi party.
C. She was caught distributing anti-Nazi leaflets printed by a communist resistance group.
D. She refused to take an official oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler after he became Chancellor.

Question 3 of 8

How did Arvid Harnack gain access to high-ranking Nazi officials to gather intelligence?

A. He became a high-ranking officer in the Ministry of Aviation alongside Harro Schulze-Boysen.
B. He posed as an American diplomat working for the US Consulate in Berlin.
C. He infiltrated the Gestapo by working as a translator for their foreign intelligence division.
D. He used his uncle's legacy to secure a job at the Ministry of Economics and officially registered as a Nazi.

Question 4 of 8

What was the primary early activity of 'the Circle,' the resistance group formed by Mildred and Arvid Harnack?

A. Assassinating low-level Nazi officials in Berlin.
B. Creating and distributing leaflets to counter Nazi propaganda.
C. Smuggling weapons to the Soviet Union.
D. Sabotaging the German railway system.

Question 5 of 8

How did Mildred Harnack use her position as an English teacher at the Berlin Night School for Adults (BAG) to aid the resistance?

A. She used the school's printing presses at night to mass-produce counterfeit visas for Jewish refugees.
B. She taught her students how to build rudimentary explosive devices using everyday household chemicals.
C. She led an extracurricular English club where she facilitated political discussions and recruited potential resistance members.
D. She used the school as a safe house, hiding political dissidents in the classrooms during Gestapo raids.

Question 6 of 8

Why did Soviet leader Joseph Stalin refuse to believe the intelligence provided by the German resistance about an impending Nazi invasion of Russia?

A. He trusted the nonaggression pact he had signed with Hitler and had recently purged his own experienced intelligence staff.
B. He believed the intelligence was a British fabrication designed to draw the Soviet Union into the war.
C. The resistance demanded a large sum of money for the information, making Stalin suspect it was a scam.
D. He thought the German army was too severely weakened by its campaigns in France and Poland to mount an invasion.

Question 7 of 8

What egregious error by Soviet intelligence led to the capture of several key German resistance leaders?

A. A Soviet spy defected to the Gestapo and handed over a list of all known resistance members in Berlin.
B. Soviet planes accidentally dropped supply crates meant for the resistance directly onto Gestapo headquarters.
C. Moscow Center published an article praising the specific actions of the Berlin resistance, inadvertently revealing their identities.
D. The new director of Soviet intelligence sent an encrypted radio message that included the actual names and addresses of resistance leaders.

Question 8 of 8

What was unusual about the final sentencing of Mildred Harnack after her trial in December 1942?

A. She was initially sentenced to six months in prison, but Adolf Hitler personally intervened and demanded she be sentenced to death.
B. She was pardoned by Hermann Göring because of her connections to the American embassy.
C. She was sentenced to exile in the Soviet Union instead of execution because she was an American citizen.
D. She was given a life sentence in a concentration camp, but managed to escape during the Red Army's liberation of Berlin.