Bielenberg, Christabel (1909–2003)

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Bielenberg, Christabel (1909–2003)

English writer. Born Christabel Burton, June 18, 1909, in Totteridge, England; died at home, Nov 2, 2003, in rural Ireland; dau. of P.C. Burton (lieutenant colonel) and Christabel Rose (Harmsworth) Burton (both of Irish stock); m. Peter Bielenberg (German lawyer), Sept 29, 1934 (died 2001); children: John (b. 1935), Nicky (b. 1936), Christopher (b. 1942).

While studying to become an opera singer in Hamburg (1934), met and married a German law student and traded in her British passport; enjoyed the friendship of liberals and intellectuals, including Adam and Clarita von Trott zu Solz, and Helmut Moltke; moved to Berlin (1939); over next 12 years, witnessed the cruelties of the Reich and desperately tried to enlist Allied support to start a revolution from within; became tangentially involved in the failed plot to assassinate Hitler (July 20, 1944); chronicled her story in The Past Is Myself (1968), reprinted as Christabel (1984), which was adapted for "Masterpiece Theatre" (1989); wrote the sequel The Road Ahead (1992).