The Dragon From Chicago: Friends Visits with Author Pamela Toler
Who among us can stare ─ unflinchingly ─ into a yawning abyss of hatred, aggression, and genocidal lies? What kind of person faithfully bears witness to these horrors, risking their safety, perhaps their life, and maybe the lives of loved ones?
Pamela D. Toler, Ph.D.
Friends of the Edgewater Library was thrilled to welcome historian and author Pamela D. Toler, Ph.D., to talk about such an extraordinary person. Her name was Sigrid Schultz. She was born in Chicago in the late 19th century in an area called Summerdale that later became the Edgewater community. Toler’s expert telling of Schultz’s remarkable story came alive for the audience at the Edgewater Branch of the Chicago Public Library on March 31.
Sigrid Schultz
Toler shared scintillating and harrowing details from her latest book, The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany. The book is a well-written, meticulously researched chronicle of Schultz ─ arguably the first woman to become a foreign correspondent for a major American newspaper, the Chicago Tribune.
Schultz’s story is important because she was at the forefront of establishing certain standards in journalism and news reporting that we take for granted. The book also offers a deeper understanding of the political and economic conditions present in Weimar Germany prior to the Nazis' rise to power.
Bureau chief of Berlin from 1925 to 1941, the multilingual Schultz was one of the first people to warn Americans and the world about the danger of Hitler and the Nazis. She indefatigably worked to inform readers about anti-Jewish laws, the camps, and Nazi ambitions for world domination ─ all while under constant surveillance and intimidation from the Gestapo AND refusing to sacrifice journalistic integrity for a juicy "scoop."
A dragon is fierce, fearless, and worthy of the most profound respect ─ Sigrid Schultz was all of these things and so much more! Toler has done justice to this proud, complex daughter of Chicago, and her masterful portrait is a must-read.
While the program was held on the last day of Women's History Month ─ women's history, in fact, will never have its last day.
By Ethan Powe
Member, Friends of the Edgewater Library
Resources
Books by Pamela D. Toler, Ph.D. | Available through Chicago Public Library
Books on the Weimar Republic (1918-1933, pre-Hitler era)
Books on Nazi Germany (1933-1945)
