Defying The Nazis: The Sharps' War

In 1939 Waitstill Sharp, a young Unitarian minister, and his wife Martha, a social worker, accepted a mission to leave their home and children in Massachusetts and travel to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to help address the mounting refugee crisis. Quickly learning the art of spy craft, Waitstill and Martha undertook dangerous rescue and relief missions across war-torn Europe, saving refugees, political dissidents, and Jews on the eve of World War II, all while staying narrowly ahead of the Gestapo. The Sharps' grandson Artemis Joukowsky teamed with Ken Burns to tell their story in a 2016 PBS documentary, and in this companion book he provides further details about these selfless rescuers.