Sun, Mar 16
|Holocaust Museum LA
The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany
Author Pamela D. Toler presents her new book, a captivating look at Sigrid Schultz—one of the earliest reporters to warn Americans of the rising threat of the Nazi regime
Time & Location
Mar 16, 2025, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Holocaust Museum LA, 100 The Grove Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA
About
Today we face an alarming upsurge in the spread of misinformation and attempts by powerful figures to discredit facts so they can seize control of our political and cultural narratives. These are threats American journalist Sigrid Schultz knew all too well. The Chicago Tribune's Berlin bureau chief and primary foreign correspondent for Central Europe from 1925 to January 1941, Schultz witnessed Hitler’s rise to power and was one of the first reporters—male or female—to warn American readers of the growing dangers of Nazism. She was one of the last to leave Berlin before it was too late.
In The Dragon From Chicago, historian Pamela Toler tells the story of Schultz’s years spent courageously reporting the news from Berlin, from the revolts of 1919 through the Nazi rise to power and Allied air raids over Berlin in 1941. At a time when women reporters rarely wrote front-page stories, Schultz regularly reported the truth about Nazi Germany in the face of censorship and the threat of expulsion, internment, or death. The Nazis called Schultz “that dragon from Chicago.” One of her fellow correspondents called her “Adolph Hitler’s greatest enemy.” Schultz herself claimed to be “just a reporter.” Her story is a powerful account of one woman standing up for truth in an era marked by the spread of disinformation and propaganda spawned by hate.
Armed with a PhD in history, a well-thumbed deck of library cards, and a large bump of curiosity, author, speaker, and historian Pamela D. Toler translates history for a popular audience. She goes beyond the familiar boundaries of American history to tell stories from other parts of the world as well as history from the other side of the battlefield, the gender line, or the color bar. Toler is the author of ten books of popular history for children and adults, including Heroines of Mercy Street: Real Nurses of the Civil War, Women Warriors: An Unexpected History, and The Dragon From Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany, due out in August, 2024. Her work has appeared in American Scholar, Aramco World, Calliope, History Channel Magazine, MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Ms., Time.com and The Washington Post and has been featured in National Geographic.
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