Heroes in the Shadows: Humanitarian Action and Courage in the Second World War

About the Author
Brian Fleming's first book The Vatican Pimpernel: The Wartime Exploits of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty was published in 2008 by the Collins Press in Ireland and by Skyhorse Publishing in the US. It recounts the story of an Irish priest in the Vatican who set up an escape line for those escaping the Nazis and Fascists. At least 6,500 were saved as a result. Fleming is also the author of articles in academic journals and three books on the history of Irish education. Recently he has revisited the subject of war-time escape lines and has carried out in-depth research on a number of them for this book.
This book focuses on World War II and extraordinary examples of heroism at the risk to one’s own life and family. It specifically considers the actions of individuals in five escape lines set up to help those on the run from the Nazis, French, and Italian Fascists. The author's research provides a more complete picture than before of how secret escape routes operated. And he shows the qualities of the people involved, whose courage held out in all kinds of adversity. They include diplomats who assisted those "on-the-run," often in defiance of the authorities at home; a rescue organization in Marseille helping fugitives through Vichy France to the port city and freedom; a group in Belgium transporting downed airmen through occupied France, over the Pyrenees, through Spain and back to Gibraltar; the community in Assisi that housed and hid fleeing Jews; and a Capuchin priest in Marseille and Nice who worked with people from many backgrounds to save Jewish fugitives, then continued his work in Rome. These stories will appeal to anyone who likes to read of heroic acts where good overcomes evil, and will fascinate anyone interested in the Holocaust and World War II generally. This book illustrates the consequences of man-made horrors, but also the best of humanity in dark times.