This is the book that discovered Franz Ja?gersta?tter and his inspiring story of unyielding resistance to Nazi orders and his commitment to the dictates of conscience even at the cost of life itself. When German troops moved into Austria in 1938, Ja?gersta?tter was the only man in his village to vote against the Anschluss (Annexation of Austria). Although he was not involved in any political organization and did, in fact, undergo one brief period of military training, he remained openly anti-Nazi and declared he would not fight in Hitler's war. This twentieth-century martyr, a husband and father of three, was beheaded for his refusal to serve a ruler his conscience could not accept.