The author of the award-winning The Volunteer recounts the compelling and inspiring story of Fritz Bauer, a gay German Jew who made it his mission to prosecute Nazi war criminals in a West Germany where many of them still retained positions of power.
The true story of a Jewish lawyer who returned to Germany after WWII to prosecute war crimes, only to find himself pitted against a nation determined to bury the past.
After 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 German Jew who survived the Nazis and made it his mission to force Germans, and the world, 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 In this deeply researched book, Fairweather draws on unpublished family papers, newly declassified German records, and exclusive interviews to immerse readers in the dark world of postwar West Germany: a place where those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 lands on the trail of Adolf Eichmann, a key architect of the Holocaust, he won’t be intimidated. His journey takes him deep into the rotten heart of West Germany, where his fight for justice will set him against his own government and a network of former Nazis and spies determined to silence 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 the world to face the truth.
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
ISBN: 9780753558102
Number of pages: 496
Dimensions: 241 x 161 x 43 mm
Weight: 727 g
Language: English
FIVE STARS --Not all superheroes wear capes. Some, as Jack Fairweather’s superb biography of the German prosecutor and judge Fritz Bauer shows, wear lawyer’s robes instead ... This is a magnificent book - The Daily Telegraph
Fairweather tells this story with impressive clarity and pace… compulsively readable… with liberal democracies once more imperilled and indifference to the Holocaust stupefyingly widespread, The Prosecutor could hardly be more timely - The Financial Times
Deeply humane, finely wrought and so vital tale in this age of impunity, crackingly told - Philippe Sands, award-winning and bestselling author of THE RATLINE and EAST WEST STREET
Gripping and well-researched ... Fairweather’s book would be haunting to read at any time; it is especially bitter today - New York Times
One of the great untold stories of the Holocaust— and Jack Fairweather is the perfect person to tell it - Jonathan Freedland, bestselling author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST
A tour-de-force of both historical research and absolutely terrific writing... the book itself reads like the best sort of cloak-and-dagger novel... this book was a kind of masterclass - Sebastian Junger, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE PERFECT STORM and TRIBE
This is a book of great importance. The Prosecutor is, quite simply, a stunning achievement. - Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara and New Yorker staff writer
Beautifully written and hugely evocative... a powerful literary memorial to Fritz Bauer, the German-Jewish lawyer whose tenacity forced a nation to confront its crimes - Katja Hoyer, bestselling author of BEYOND THE WALL
Jack Fairweather continues his stellar writing career with an important new book... this well-researched, well-written and hard-hitting book could not be more timely - Andrew Roberts, author of CHURCHILL: WALKING WITH DESTINY
A gripping and timely tale of a modest man who sacrificed his life to expose a collective guilt... In dark times, his sacrifice provides a bright beacon of light - The Times
A rich, compelling and deeply researched account of a little-known lawyer who fought long and hard to expose the criminals who underpinned Hitler’s monstrous regime. Another page-turner from Jack Fairweather - Giles Milton, bestelling author of THE STALIN AFFAIR
Brilliantly captures the poignant and insightful story of one lonely, determined man’s quest to bring Nazis to justice for the Holocaust...This is history not to be missed - David E. Hoffman, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of THE DEAD HAND and GIVE ME LIBERTY
Jack Fairweather, a brilliant researcher and compelling writer, tells the remarkable and inspiring story of German jurist Fritz Bauer [who] braved public opprobrium and personal danger to pursue the complicit and compel a national reckoning with its crimes. A triumphant story. - Mark Bowden, bestselling author of BLACK HAWK DOWN
Breathtaking scholarship delivered with a compelling flair for storytelling – returns the seminal figure of the courageous Fritz Bauer to his rightful place at the centre of our collective reckoning with the Nazis’ crimes - Robert Jan van Pelt, award-winning writer and leading Holocaust expert
This meticulously researched and well written biography brings to life one of the unsung heroes of the twentieth century…. Fairweather brilliantly evokes the dark, morally ambiguous atmosphere of postwar Germany and a man whose story... contains the moral lessons we need today - Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer-prize winning, bestselling author
Disturbing insights into a bygone era. . . . Stirring revelations of an unsung hero of postwar Germany - Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Despite the number of Holocaust-related titles that now appear in the book trade, there is usually one specific book that becomes a beacon, or flagship for the genre. The Prosecutor could very well be seen as that in the years to come… takes the reader on a page-turning adventure… paints a vivid picture of a man in a hurry to bear witness to mass-murder… Jack Fairweather has achieved something quite remarkable - The Critic
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Bloody Dangerous
My Family And Other Spies
The Spy and the Traitor
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The Lives of the Caesars
SAS The Great Train Raid
The Prosecutor
The Wide Wide Sea
The Spy in the Archive
A Rebel and a Traitor
Fritz Bauer was a Jewish lawyer who believed that in the aftermath of WWII, the German legal system did not do enough to hold the Nazis, and the German people, responsible for the atrocities committed under Hitler.... More
An unexpected treasure! Riveting account of the heroic prosecutor at the epicentre of Germany's post war balancing act between 'moving on' and atoning for the past. It's a period of history I had... More
This book was profound and unbelievably moving. The horrors it depicts of the events of the Holocaust and the incredible work of Fritz Bauer in his attempts to hold Nazis, and German society more broadly, accountable... More
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