The Countess and the Nazis: An American Family's Private War
“She was hounded by the Gestapo, which during the war visited her very often in the palace. Officers of the secret police demanded that she bring her children back to the Third Reich. The Countess claimed that she was being followed and that there were strangers in the garden— that’s why she spent most of her time in the palace chambers. Her biggest fear was being deported to a concentration camp.”
The Countess and the Nazis is a fascinating, well-crafted exposé of an unsung hero of World War II, the Countess Muriel Sherr-Thoss. Born Muriel White (1880–1943), her father was the well-known and widely respected US Ambassador, Henry White. He signed the Versailles Treaty for the United States, ending World War I.
Woven into the fabric of this famous family is a powerful need to serve America. Muriel’s brother, John, becomes a respected ambassador in his own right. During World War II, other family members secretly work for the Office of Special Services (OSS), the precursor of the CIA. Into this cauldron of intrigue, we learn about the family’s life in diplomatic circles and among powerful allies, all the way to the White House, including the crown heads of Europe. Author Hutto also explores life among the wealthiest people in the world, with intrigue and sensation.
Muriel attends the “right” schools, becomes a debutante, and enters aristocratic society in the world’s upper crust. Her domineering mother decides which eligible bachelors among the royal houses Muriel may meet or marry. The manipulations of her mother leads Muriel to marry a German count, named Hermann (“Manni”) Sherr-Thoss. Muriel discovers later that his family wealth is not that which had been anticipated. Muriel is forced to use her own money to refurbish her husband’s castles, palaces, and vacation estates.
Manni is a poor husband and father. He is unfaithful to Muriel, and he has an insignificant relationship with their three children. His only interest in life, hunting, has little to do with his marriage or their progeny. Muriel compensates for the lack of fatherly love by doing everything possible to keep her children safe from a mindless, horrific war that offers no respite.
Muriel falls into a despondent abyss, within which she feels utterly trapped. The more she is exposed to the leaders of Nazi Germany, the more she grows to hate their condescending, misogynistic, and bigoted beliefs. Despite constant anger issues directed at her by Manni, Muriel saves him from death by arranging for his escape from Europe. Though she saves the lives of her children and her husband, Muriel is ensnared within an encircling and ever-dangerous Gestapo presence in and near her palace. Frequently at her doorway, the Gestapo demands she return her children from America. Muriel’s greatest fear is her sons recruited as Nazi soldiers or her being deported to a Nazi concentration camp.
As Muriel is forced to witness the terror and genocide of Nazi Germany at close range, her resentment toward them becomes increasingly well known, and often in just the wrong circumstances. Such as when Muriel deliberately disparages Nazism to Hitler, in person. She asks Himmler how she can become a Jew. Her hatred against the Nazi cause becomes visible to many, with assertions by the Gestapo that Muriel has rescued and hidden American pilots after they were shot down near her palace. Other rumors suggest that she hid Jews from nearby villages. The author explains why he believes that some of the meetings at the main Sherr-Thoss estate included members of the network that attempted to murder Hitler with a bomb.
Muriel uses her royal and diplomatic connections to help rescue victims of Nazi oppression. She enables at least one Jewish family to escape from near-certain death. While mentoring Queen Geraldine of Albania (Muriel’s cousin), she witnesses horrific Nazi atrocities. As each day passes, Muriel becomes more aggressive in saving the most vulnerable individuals from Nazi troops and the Gestapo.
After Muriel saves her children and her husband from the reaches of Nazi Germany, she should have found a way to save herself. We learn that she tried. After living in Europe for so long, Muriel must reapply for American citizenship. Because she lives in Germany (Silesia), an enemy of the United States, the State Department must scrutinize her credentials. This takes a long time, while the Gestapo noose around Muriel’s neck grows ever-tighter. Through the author’s extensive research, we learn that Muriel’s new American passport, which is on the way through diplomatic channels and will save her life, has been confiscated by the Gestapo. Without that passport, Muriel becomes trapped in her own home. Germany refuses an exit visa. She is unable to travel. One day, the Gestapo comes for her, with a threat to send her to Auschwitz.
Muriel Sherr-Thoss saved at least one Jewish family while they were escaping from certain death at the hands of Nazi Germany. Because of Muriel’s intervention, that family now thrives in Australia, one of the few nations willing to take in Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Generations of that family will survive because of Muriel. She is kind to her palace staff and she is an unusually devoted mother and wife. She saves the lives of her husband and children, although she cannot save herself from the Gestapo.
Richard Jay Hutto, author of six critically acclaimed books, brings to life a rich and vivid description of this gilded, glamorous American family, living among royalty and the wealthiest families in the world. His writing style is eloquent, vivid, and concise. Yet Hutto is careful to let the research tell the story, allowing the multitude of family letters to narrate effectively. This book is well-researched with dozens of pages of references. Readers will be grateful for the myriad pictures and the detailed family diagram. The author carefully resurrects an unknown hero of World War II, whose heart is filled with a powerful purpose to save innocent lives. Muriel has the courage to fight for the innocent, saving her husband, her children, and others— at the cost of her own life.