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At the end of the Nuremberg trial in 1946, some of the greatest war criminals in history were sentenced to death, but hundreds of thousands of Nazi murderers and collaborators remained at large. The Allies were ready to overlook their pasts as the Cold War began, and the horrors of the Holocaust were in danger of being forgotten.
In The Prosecutor, Jack Fairweather brings to life the remarkable story of Fritz Bauer, a gay, Jewish judge from Stuttgart who survived the Nazis and made it his mission to force his countrymen to confront their complicity in the genocide. In this deeply researched book, Fairweather draws on unpublished family papers, newly declassified German records, and exclusive interviews to immerse readers in the shadowy, unfamiliar world of postwar West Germany where those who implemented genocide run the country, the CIA is funding Hitler’s former spy-ring in the east, and Nazi-era anti-gay laws are strictly enforced. But once Bauer landed on the trail of Adolf Eichmann, he wouldn’t be intimidated. His journey took him deep into the dark heart of West Germany, where his fight for justice would set him against his own government and a network of former Nazis and spies bent on silencing him.
In a time when the history of the Holocaust is taken for granted, The Prosecutor reveals the courtroom battles that were fought to establish its legacy and the personal cost of speaking out. The result is a searing portrait of a nation emerging from the ruins of fascism and one man’s courage in forcing his people—and the world—to face the truth.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 25, 2025 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593238950
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593238950
- File size: 95352 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from February 1, 2025
Disturbing insights into a bygone era. Fritz Bauer (1903-1968) was a judge in 1933 when Hitler came to power. Dismissed and imprisoned--he was Jewish--he fled the country and survived. Journalist Fairweather, author ofThe Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz, writes that Bauer returned to the new national government in 1948 as the attorney general of the city of Braunschweig. West Germany's first leader, Konrad Adenauer, disliked Nazis but, like many Germans, had no interest in exploring their crimes. His priority was rebuilding his nation, restoring it to respected status as a free-world power. The legal system included many former Nazis. Fairweather reminds readers that full details of the Holocaust did not emerge until the 1950s, but Bauer knew. Unfortunately, with no laws against mass murder, murder in Germany remained a crime against an individual that required witnesses and hard evidence. His department prosecuted many former Nazis for loathsome crimes, with spotty success. Learning of Adolf Eichmann's address in Argentina in 1957 and aware that telling his government would be pointless, he informed the Israelis. Perhaps his major effort was the 1963-64 trial of 24 midlevel Auschwitz workers who had returned to respectable employment after the war. As usual, Bauer's goal of demonstrating that horrific atrocities were the work of ordinary, patriotic German citizens did not turn out as planned. Some defendants were convicted of murder, some of lesser offenses; five were acquitted. None showed remorse. On the plus side, horrific testimony from victims made an impression, and by his death German schools and scholars were paying more attention to Nazi crimes. Bauer's other crusade--opposing laws against homosexuality--succeeded. This century, however, has seen Nazism revive in the form of hypernationalistic, authoritarian, right-wing movements in Germany and across the world. Stirring revelations of an unsung hero of postwar Germany.COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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