E-grāmata: Countess and the Nazis: An American Family's Private War

An American heiress turned Prussian countess defies the Nazis and risks everything to protect her children and save others during World War II

Muriel White was a descendant of several of America’s Gilded Age “first families.” Her father, who signed the Versailles Peace Treaty on behalf of the United States, was among the most brilliant and respected diplomats of his day, and Muriel grew up in the courts of Europe, learning to speak six languages fluently and socializing among the era’s social elite.

Ultimately, Muriel married a Prussian count whose family held extensive estates and a hereditary seat in the Prussian House of Lords. The new Countess Seherr-Thoss gave birth to three children, but the gathering clouds of World War II strained her relationship with her husband. He seemed to care only about protecting his family’s extensive estates, while Muriel plainly saw what Germany’s future was becoming. As she found solace in mentoring her husband’s cousin, the future Queen Geraldine of Albania, through courtship, marriage, and the birth of the crown prince, Muriel ended up witnessing firsthand the Italian Fascist invasion of Albania in 1939 and the royal family’s narrow escape from capture.

As war descended on Europe and her marriage failed, Muriel sent her children to safety abroad. Cut off from her funds in the United States, she and her husband divorced—but it was too late. The Germans had already confiscated her U.S. passport, leaving Muriel virtually a prisoner. Nevertheless, she resisted the Nazis (in several verified incidents) and secured funding to save a Jewish family before she was forced to make the ultimate sacrifice rather than reveal the location of her sons to the Nazis.

Prominent American heiress Muriel White exchanged her wealth and identity to become a Prussian countess. But amid the gathering clouds of WWII, the Countess Seherr-Thoss found herself cut off from her funds in the US, divorced, and resisting the Nazis, who eventually forced her to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save her two sons.