A Must-Read Book: The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany (2024)

My fifth-grade teacher gave us an assignment on Friday afternoons:  listen to TV news or read newspaper articles over the weekend and share a current event on Monday morning.  It was 1965, with plenty of civil rights news, which helped us understand the importance of a free press in a democracy.   By the time I was thirteen and toured communist East Berlin in 1968, I realized, with a deep sense of injustice, that countries behind the Iron Curtain—including East Germany and the Soviet Union—controlled the news and considered a free press as the enemy of the state. 

These days (2025), I support the press by buying subscriptions to newspapers and recommending books that highlight freedom of the press, such as The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany (2024) by historian Pamela D. Toler.

Within a week of my request, my local library purchased Toler’s nonfiction book about a female European correspondent in Berlin during Hitler’s rise to power.  The author explains on her website that her writing and research travel “beyond the familiar boundaries of American History” by introducing historical figures who have faded from attention but have powerful stories. 

The Dragon from Chicago surpassed my expectations in content, style, and pertinence to our time.  

Toler resurrects the story of Sigrid Schultz, a young American-born female reporter living in Berlin spanning two world wars. Toler’s scholarly book is well-documented but not overly pedantic or lengthy.  At 288 pages, it reads like a novel, featuring a beguiling female protagonist, infamous villains, entertaining plot twists, and cited facts that Toler deftly weaves into the story’s fabric.  An occasional author’s comment distracts from the narrative but does not occur often enough to dismiss Toler as a trustworthy historian.

Similar to many World War II histories and novels, The Dragon From Chicago mentions Nazi atrocities, however, it does not overwhelm the reader with numerous detailed examples. The focus is on  Schultz and her reactions to events leading up to Hitler’s rise to power in Berlin, the escalating war, and her undaunted determination to report the truth in a male-dominated profession while embedded among some of the most ruthless leaders in history.

Fluent in Five Languages, Schultz becomes Chief Correspondent

Schultz is portrayed as an articulate, engaging, and ingenious journalist.  Fluent in five languages (German, French, Italian, English, and Norwegian), she became an asset to the Chicago Tribune’s Foreign Press (Berlin Bureau) in the 1930s and eventually convinced her male editors in the U.S. to name her Chief Correspondent.  She broke through a male-dominated profession and culture by socializing and drinking hard liquor with male informants and journalists at bars and state-sponsored events.  Although her health suffered, she continued to work nonstop, always seeking a scoop.  Nazis took notice of this petite woman who “dropped the working girl meekness” and asked brazen questions at press conferences. Hermann Göring, a powerful Nazi leader, enjoyed verbally sparring with Schultz and dubbed her “the Dragon from Chicago.”

Toler’s research reveals more than Sigrid Schultz, the foreign correspondent; we also learn about Schultz the woman: her fascinating parents, social and love life, personal hardships of war, and the determination to host modest, cheerful dinner parties.  

The appearance of a “normal” life was essential to Schultz as she honed her journalistic prowess and honored a self-imposed censorship. The Dragon often feared for her life, understanding that the Nazis could charge her with treason and sentence her to be hanged for reporting anything offensive to Hitler. She complained to her editors about being stalked, interrogated, and “muzzled.”  Nazis questioned her several times about Judaism in her maternal line, which she denied.  Through hardships of war, such as near starvation during severe rationing and bombs exploding near her office, she never wavered in her task to get the news out.  She understood the value of her job—the value of a "foreign" free press.

Covering Hitler's Abuse of Power

Early in her career,  Sigrid Schultz broke story after story about Hitler’s abuse of power, hoping the United States would help curb the spread of fascism. Based on trusted informants,  she revealed the “Euthanasia story”—Hitler’s plan to save the state money by killing 80,000 insane and crippled people.  She also wrote an article titled “Hitler Gazes at Stars to Guide His Decisions.”   She often found herself in a stressful balancing act as she zeroed in on German interest stories directed at her escalating American readership.  On one hand, her editor was an isolationist and feared her stories might be war-mongering; on the other hand, she was compelled to tell as much truth as she could about Nazi terrorism. 

One of the First Women Reporters on the Front Line

 Near the war’s end, the Tribune and  McCall’s women’s magazine hired her to report from the frontline of the war and gather personal interest stories with a German angle.  She was with the American soldiers when they discovered the horrors of a death camp and interviewed the captured Nazi war criminal Göring, who remembered the petite dragon’s fierceness and honesty.  After the war, Sigrid Schultz lost her job and fame, but always feared a resurgence of fascism.  She wrote a book, published in 1944: Germany Will Try It Again. Will the U.S. heed her warning about fascism eighty years later?

 

 --CD Burr

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"Books that Shifted My Thinking" by CD Burr

Opening a book for the first time often fills me with a subtle wave of adrenaline, similar to the excitement I feel hours before my team's first game of the season.  Unlike a sporting event, my book and I are alone as I cozy into a chair and focus on the first sentence. I'm eager to establish a new relationship with the author, someone who has dedicated years and sometimes decades to write and publish ideas, descriptions, and storylines.  I learn something from nearly every genre — ranging from the classics and entertaining mysteries to poetry and nonfiction tomes with extensive footnotes. 

Occasionally, a book will cause a major shift or transition within me, and I can no longer hold on to an old way of thinking.  Although dozens of books have created shifts, the five books below (three pictured) have firmly established themselves in my psyche.  I often think of these books while writing or making everyday decisions, even though I read two of them over forty years ago.

LET'S HAVE HEALTHY CHILDREN By Adelle Davis. I read this book in 1979 when I was pregnant with my first child.  Davis, described as a "food expert," provides "the vital nutritional dos and don'ts for expectant mothers, babies, and growing children" (1972). I never adhered to Davis's stringent focus on supplements; however, I was impressed with her evidence that sugar caused many health and psychological problems. To the dismay of my grandparents and other relatives, I shielded my toddlers from candy and sodas, allowing a small cookie after meals. I also avoided buying foods containing dyes and preservatives as much as I could. By my third baby in 1986, I occasionally caved to my three children's love of boxed mac and cheese and fruit roll-ups. Davis's premises continue to instill in me a decades-long mindset to observe my body's reaction to foods and to read labels.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee (1960).  I saw the movie in 1964 and read the book three times since 1980. (Not pictured.) This novel laid the foundation for my interest in social justice issues when I was nine.  I could relate to the little girl Scout's curiosity, but it was her father Atticus's courage in confronting racism that continues to inspire me to advocate for equality and justice.

THE NEW INTERNATIONAL STUDY BIBLE (1985). I  have read, studied, and contemplated scriptures and notes in the NIV since I bought it in 1985. (Pictured.) This study bible introduced me to the power of scholarly notes accompanying Judeo-Christian scriptures.  Notes by an ecumenical group of theologians provided me with a deeper understanding of the original meanings. After nearly four decades, I have discovered diverse lenses through which I might interpret the words of numerous biblical voices and writers.  The lens I choose to uphold is that God is the god of love, social justice, healing, and inclusion--connecting with each of us -- rather than a god of retribution who glorifies hate and the killing of innocents.  The Love-Thy-Neighbor lens becomes not only a litmus test for the soundness of a Biblical verse but also the way I want to live my life.  

QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN'T STOP TALKING by Susan Cain (2012).  I read this book in 2017. (Pictured.) One powerful cultural message I received growing up was that only extroverts can succeed socially and professionally.  This book allowed me — an introspective, rather timid, and sensitive woman who has never been able to tell a joke in a crowd of friends — to embrace my quiet nature.  After reading this book, I've become more accepting of my innate tendencies to embrace solitude and live a simple, peaceful life. Interestingly, acknowledging the power of my introversion has also made me more comfortable conversing with others. 

THE POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle (2004 edition).  I first read this book in 2002 when I was suffering from a debilitating illness.  (Pictured) I found it interesting but too elementary for my needs. However, twenty years later, in 2022, as I listened to the book while walking on a nature trail, the message created a profound shift in my awareness.  It offers a practice that calms me when the world seems on fire and placates my chattering monkey brain.  For the first time in years, I no longer need a sleep aid. Being present has created awe-filled moments during my nature walks. I listen more attentively when others speak.  The beauty of this practice is that it can coexist with my deeply rooted-Christian faith.   

These five books have influenced my spiritual, physical, and intellectual development. However, I learn from every book I read -- nonfiction or novel. Even when the writing is shallow or challenges my stubborn ideas, specific phrases or words might cause a subtle shift or an awakening.  I do not adopt every attitude, platitude, and idea I come across. 

The awakening is like a crack that allows unique perspectives, ideas, criticisms, and lessons that might bolster my own soulful "knowing" or simply educate me. The more I read, the more I realize I have a lot to learn.  

--C. Burr

This essay appeared in an Elders Speaking blog post in June 2024

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