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The Nazi Hunters
“[A] deep & sweeping account of a relentless search for justice.”—Washington Post
After the Nuremberg trials & the start of the Cold War, most of the victors in WWII lost interest in prosecuting war criminals. Many of the lower-ranking perpetrators quickly blended in with the millions who were seeking to rebuild their lives in a new Europe, while those who felt most at risk fled the continent. The Nazi Hunters focuses on the few who refused to allow their crimes to be forgotten—& who were determined to track them down.
The Nazi Hunters reveals the experiences of the young American prosecutors in the Nuremberg & Dachau trials, Benjamin Ferencz & Wm Denson; the Polish investigating judge Jan Sehn, who handled the case of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss; Germany’s judge & prosecutor Fritz Bauer, who repeatedly forced his countrymen to confront their country’s record of mass murder; the Mossad agent Rafi Eitan, in charge of the Israeli team that nabbed Eichmann; & Eli Rosenbaum, who rose to head the US Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations that belatedly sought to expel war criminals who were living in the USA. But some of the Nazi hunters’ most controversial actions involved ambiguous cases, such as former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim’s attempt to cover up his wartime history. Or the fate of concentration camp guards who have lived into their 90s, long past the time when reliable eyewitnesses could be found to pinpoint their exact roles.
The story of the Nazi hunters is coming to an end. It was unprecedented in many ways, especially the degree to which the initial impulse of revenge was transformed into a struggle for justice. The Nazi hunters have transformed fundamental notions of right & wrong. Nagorski’s book is a richly reconstructed odyssey, a tale of gritty determination, at times reckless behavior & relentless pursuit.
After the Nuremberg trials & the start of the Cold War, most of the victors in WWII lost interest in prosecuting war criminals. Many of the lower-ranking perpetrators quickly blended in with the millions who were seeking to rebuild their lives in a new Europe, while those who felt most at risk fled the continent. The Nazi Hunters focuses on the few who refused to allow their crimes to be forgotten—& who were determined to track them down.
The Nazi Hunters reveals the experiences of the young American prosecutors in the Nuremberg & Dachau trials, Benjamin Ferencz & Wm Denson; the Polish investigating judge Jan Sehn, who handled the case of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss; Germany’s judge & prosecutor Fritz Bauer, who repeatedly forced his countrymen to confront their country’s record of mass murder; the Mossad agent Rafi Eitan, in charge of the Israeli team that nabbed Eichmann; & Eli Rosenbaum, who rose to head the US Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations that belatedly sought to expel war criminals who were living in the USA. But some of the Nazi hunters’ most controversial actions involved ambiguous cases, such as former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim’s attempt to cover up his wartime history. Or the fate of concentration camp guards who have lived into their 90s, long past the time when reliable eyewitnesses could be found to pinpoint their exact roles.
The story of the Nazi hunters is coming to an end. It was unprecedented in many ways, especially the degree to which the initial impulse of revenge was transformed into a struggle for justice. The Nazi hunters have transformed fundamental notions of right & wrong. Nagorski’s book is a richly reconstructed odyssey, a tale of gritty determination, at times reckless behavior & relentless pursuit.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 2016
186 people are currently reading
2477 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Nagorski
22 books69 followersFrom back cover:
Andrew Nagorski, award-winning journalist, is vice president and director of public policy at the EastWest Institute, a New York-based international affairs think tank. During a long career at Newsweek, he served as the magazine's bureau chief in Hong Kong, Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw, and Berlin. He lives in Pelham Manor, New York.
Andrew Nagorski, award-winning journalist, is vice president and director of public policy at the EastWest Institute, a New York-based international affairs think tank. During a long career at Newsweek, he served as the magazine's bureau chief in Hong Kong, Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw, and Berlin. He lives in Pelham Manor, New York.
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February 24, 2022
“[F]rom the first Nuremberg trials to the hunt for war criminals in Europe, Latin America, the United States, and the Middle East…the Nazi hunters have focused most of their efforts on initiating legal proceedings against their prey…Even when justice was so obviously falling short, with the guilty often getting away with the mildest punishments or in many cases not facing any sanctions at all, the other goal that began to emerge was education by example. Why pursue an aging camp guard during his final days? Why not let the perpetrators quietly fade away…? The point of the lessons: to demonstrate that the horrendous crimes of World War II and the Holocaust cannot and should not be forgotten, and that those who instigated or carried out those crimes – or others who may carry out similar crimes in the future – are never beyond the law…”
- Andrew Nagorski, The Nazi Hunters
If you want a sense of justice, do not turn your eyes to the Second World War. Everywhere you look, in every corner, there is another crime. While the victorious Allies famously attempted to prosecute a selection of major war criminals – efforts that have been sneered at as “Victor’s Justice” ever since – the discomforting fact remains: most of the men and women who perpetrated the Holocaust got away clean, returned to society, and lived the long lives they denied to others.
When I picked up Andrew Nagorski’s The Nazi Hunters, I did so hoping to feel a little better about things.
***
If we’re being honest, I was also hoping for a bit of excitement. Pretty much all I know about Nazi hunting comes from media such as The Odessa File, The Boys from Brazil, and Marathon Man. As it turns out, with a few exceptions, the reality is far more mundane. Less chases through steamy South American jungles, and more poking through forgotten historical files. The truth is more prosaic, but no less fascinating than fiction.
There is some cloak-and-dagger stuff (the Mossad capture of Eichmann is an obvious example), but mostly this is a book about dogged researchers, prosecutors, and judges, who worked to bring criminals before the law long after the rest of the world began moving on. Their purpose was not simply punishing the wicked, but safeguarding the historical record.
***
Nagorski begins, grimly enough, at the end of Nuremberg Tribunal, with the execution of the major war criminals of Nazi Germany. One by one, he observes as Master Sergeant John Wood hanged – often poorly – ten leading Nazis. In avoiding any discussion of the International Military Tribunal itself, and focusing only on the neck-breaking climax, Nagorski is making a distinct point. The Third Reich caused more damage than any other regime in history. They killed 20 million Soviets and 6 million Jews and started a war that killed as many as 50 million in total and nearly knocked the world off its orbit. It took far, far more than the 24 men tried at Nuremberg to cause this calamity.
Calling those other perpetrators to account is the heart of The Nazi Hunters. That the men and women devoted to tracking down escaped Nazis managed to secure only a fraction of the culpable is its melancholy conclusion.
***
Some of the characters Nagorski profiles are widely known. Simon Wiesenthal figures largely, which is no surprise. An Austrian Jew, Wiesenthal survived the Nazi camps to devote his life to tracking escaped Nazis. He also did an admirable job promoting his own work, which led to more than a little friction, as well as historical distortion, which Nagorski dutifully sorts through.
Also prominent is the husband-and-wife team of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, Nazi hunters and activists who used bold tactics (Beate once slapped West German Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger) to draw attention to their cause. Their work led to the indictment of Klaus Barbie, the infamous Butcher of Lyon. (They also worked, as Nagorski notes, hand in glove with the East German Stasi, who were quite willing to cooperate with the Klarsfelds if it meant embarrassing their western counterpart).
Nagorski also devotes substantial time to the lesser-known hunters, whose concrete deeds often exceeded those of their more-famous fellow travelers. Early in the book, Nagorski spends a lot of time with the trials that followed the echo of Nuremberg. In doing so, he introduces us to the young American prosecutors Benjamin Ferencz and William Denson. Ferencz prosecuted 22 members of the Einsatzgruppen, the SS’s mobile death squads, while Denson served as prosecuting attorney for the Dachau trials. His most famous target was Ilse Koch, the notorious “Bitch of Buchenwald” who allegedly – but probably didn't – have a lampshade made of human skin.
One of the major figures in The Nazi Hunters is German judge and prosecutor Fritz Bauer who kept the Holocaust alive in Germany by holding the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials in 1963. He also relayed important intelligence regarding Eichmann to Mossad.
***
The Nazi Hunters has no central narrative. Rather, it is arranged thematically and by subject. Some themes and subjects are more gripping than others. My attention sort of wandered when Nagorski covered Eli Rosenbaum and the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations, which very belatedly got around to expelling Nazi war criminals enjoying the fruits of American postwar prosperity. The expulsion of nonagenarian ex-camp guards is not as immediate and vivid as calling Eichmann or Barbie to account for their deeds. On the other hand, I found his chapter on Polish Judge Jan Sehn, who handled the case of onetime Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, to be absolutely essential reading. In getting Höss to write out his “memoirs,” Sehn fired an invaluable early shot across the bow of Holocaust deniers.
***
The Nazi Hunters is not a top shelf World War II book. I wasn’t blown away by the writing or narrative verve (though Nagorski certainly seems to have done his research). For whatever reason, though, this struck a chord, mainly because historical memory is so fickle and fluid.
The end of the Holocaust is going to be eighty soon. All the top brass, the officers and decision-makers of that era, are dead. Some, like Eichmann, reaped the whirlwind they had sown. Others, like Speer, glib-talked his way out of the noose, served just twenty years in prison, wrote some bestselling books, and spent the rest of his life trying to convince the world he was a “good Nazi.” Now, even the youngest surviving participants – say, a seventeen year-old camp guard – are very old men. There is little work left for the Nazi hunters. Time, as always, has the final say.
So what happens to the Holocaust as it passes out of human memory? I think quasi-historians like David Irving represent the shuddery new world of Holocaust studies. As the last survivors pass, you will see a concerted effort to revise the Third Reich and normalize Hitler. Right now, in the United States, people are Sieg Heil-ing loudly and proudly, and putting pictures of themselves doing it up on Twitter. It’s pretty remarkable for people to openly tie themselves to one of the greatest criminals in the long sad history of the world. Of course, that is the state of things right now, when we can’t even agree that Hitler was the worst.
The Nazi hunters did their bit. They chased down the rats they could; they made life uncomfortable for the ones they could not; and they kept up the steady drumbeat of remembrance. It will be up to time to tell us whether their work will live on as legacy.
- Andrew Nagorski, The Nazi Hunters
If you want a sense of justice, do not turn your eyes to the Second World War. Everywhere you look, in every corner, there is another crime. While the victorious Allies famously attempted to prosecute a selection of major war criminals – efforts that have been sneered at as “Victor’s Justice” ever since – the discomforting fact remains: most of the men and women who perpetrated the Holocaust got away clean, returned to society, and lived the long lives they denied to others.
When I picked up Andrew Nagorski’s The Nazi Hunters, I did so hoping to feel a little better about things.
***
If we’re being honest, I was also hoping for a bit of excitement. Pretty much all I know about Nazi hunting comes from media such as The Odessa File, The Boys from Brazil, and Marathon Man. As it turns out, with a few exceptions, the reality is far more mundane. Less chases through steamy South American jungles, and more poking through forgotten historical files. The truth is more prosaic, but no less fascinating than fiction.
There is some cloak-and-dagger stuff (the Mossad capture of Eichmann is an obvious example), but mostly this is a book about dogged researchers, prosecutors, and judges, who worked to bring criminals before the law long after the rest of the world began moving on. Their purpose was not simply punishing the wicked, but safeguarding the historical record.
***
Nagorski begins, grimly enough, at the end of Nuremberg Tribunal, with the execution of the major war criminals of Nazi Germany. One by one, he observes as Master Sergeant John Wood hanged – often poorly – ten leading Nazis. In avoiding any discussion of the International Military Tribunal itself, and focusing only on the neck-breaking climax, Nagorski is making a distinct point. The Third Reich caused more damage than any other regime in history. They killed 20 million Soviets and 6 million Jews and started a war that killed as many as 50 million in total and nearly knocked the world off its orbit. It took far, far more than the 24 men tried at Nuremberg to cause this calamity.
Calling those other perpetrators to account is the heart of The Nazi Hunters. That the men and women devoted to tracking down escaped Nazis managed to secure only a fraction of the culpable is its melancholy conclusion.
***
Some of the characters Nagorski profiles are widely known. Simon Wiesenthal figures largely, which is no surprise. An Austrian Jew, Wiesenthal survived the Nazi camps to devote his life to tracking escaped Nazis. He also did an admirable job promoting his own work, which led to more than a little friction, as well as historical distortion, which Nagorski dutifully sorts through.
Also prominent is the husband-and-wife team of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, Nazi hunters and activists who used bold tactics (Beate once slapped West German Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger) to draw attention to their cause. Their work led to the indictment of Klaus Barbie, the infamous Butcher of Lyon. (They also worked, as Nagorski notes, hand in glove with the East German Stasi, who were quite willing to cooperate with the Klarsfelds if it meant embarrassing their western counterpart).
Nagorski also devotes substantial time to the lesser-known hunters, whose concrete deeds often exceeded those of their more-famous fellow travelers. Early in the book, Nagorski spends a lot of time with the trials that followed the echo of Nuremberg. In doing so, he introduces us to the young American prosecutors Benjamin Ferencz and William Denson. Ferencz prosecuted 22 members of the Einsatzgruppen, the SS’s mobile death squads, while Denson served as prosecuting attorney for the Dachau trials. His most famous target was Ilse Koch, the notorious “Bitch of Buchenwald” who allegedly – but probably didn't – have a lampshade made of human skin.
One of the major figures in The Nazi Hunters is German judge and prosecutor Fritz Bauer who kept the Holocaust alive in Germany by holding the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials in 1963. He also relayed important intelligence regarding Eichmann to Mossad.
***
The Nazi Hunters has no central narrative. Rather, it is arranged thematically and by subject. Some themes and subjects are more gripping than others. My attention sort of wandered when Nagorski covered Eli Rosenbaum and the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations, which very belatedly got around to expelling Nazi war criminals enjoying the fruits of American postwar prosperity. The expulsion of nonagenarian ex-camp guards is not as immediate and vivid as calling Eichmann or Barbie to account for their deeds. On the other hand, I found his chapter on Polish Judge Jan Sehn, who handled the case of onetime Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, to be absolutely essential reading. In getting Höss to write out his “memoirs,” Sehn fired an invaluable early shot across the bow of Holocaust deniers.
***
The Nazi Hunters is not a top shelf World War II book. I wasn’t blown away by the writing or narrative verve (though Nagorski certainly seems to have done his research). For whatever reason, though, this struck a chord, mainly because historical memory is so fickle and fluid.
The end of the Holocaust is going to be eighty soon. All the top brass, the officers and decision-makers of that era, are dead. Some, like Eichmann, reaped the whirlwind they had sown. Others, like Speer, glib-talked his way out of the noose, served just twenty years in prison, wrote some bestselling books, and spent the rest of his life trying to convince the world he was a “good Nazi.” Now, even the youngest surviving participants – say, a seventeen year-old camp guard – are very old men. There is little work left for the Nazi hunters. Time, as always, has the final say.
So what happens to the Holocaust as it passes out of human memory? I think quasi-historians like David Irving represent the shuddery new world of Holocaust studies. As the last survivors pass, you will see a concerted effort to revise the Third Reich and normalize Hitler. Right now, in the United States, people are Sieg Heil-ing loudly and proudly, and putting pictures of themselves doing it up on Twitter. It’s pretty remarkable for people to openly tie themselves to one of the greatest criminals in the long sad history of the world. Of course, that is the state of things right now, when we can’t even agree that Hitler was the worst.
The Nazi hunters did their bit. They chased down the rats they could; they made life uncomfortable for the ones they could not; and they kept up the steady drumbeat of remembrance. It will be up to time to tell us whether their work will live on as legacy.
August 2, 2018
Time has finally run out in the search for Nazi war criminals but this book covers those years up until 2009 when the last Nazi camp guard was captured and sent back to Germany for trial. He died in prison in 2012.
After the Nuremburg trials where the major Nazis faced justice, most governments lost interest in finding the "second level" criminals. The Cold War which began at the end of WWII was their major concern and the Nazis were becoming a thing of the past. Not so for a group of dedicated people, mostly Jewish, who were determined to find and bring to justice men (and women) who were instrumental in the operation of the horrors of the death camps. In many cases these perpetrators had been allowed to go on with their lives although some had fled to South America where extradition was not a problem.
Most people are familiar with Simon Wiesenthal and the Klarsfelds but there was also a small group of dedicated people who did not crave the limelight and worked behind the scenes in their quest for justice......Polish Judge, Jan Sehn who first investigated the death camps; German prosecutor, Fritz Bauer who instigated both the capture of Adolph Eichmann and the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial; and William Denson who prosecuted hundreds of notorious death camp guards.
The Nazi hunters made it clear that they were seeking justice and not revenge but often faced resistance in their searches to find that justice. The author has done extensive research and interviewed both survivors of the Holocaust and the perpetrators. Running throughout the interviews with the Nazis was a phrase that has since become a cliche....."I was just following orders". It is a disturbing book but one that should be read. Recommended.
After the Nuremburg trials where the major Nazis faced justice, most governments lost interest in finding the "second level" criminals. The Cold War which began at the end of WWII was their major concern and the Nazis were becoming a thing of the past. Not so for a group of dedicated people, mostly Jewish, who were determined to find and bring to justice men (and women) who were instrumental in the operation of the horrors of the death camps. In many cases these perpetrators had been allowed to go on with their lives although some had fled to South America where extradition was not a problem.
Most people are familiar with Simon Wiesenthal and the Klarsfelds but there was also a small group of dedicated people who did not crave the limelight and worked behind the scenes in their quest for justice......Polish Judge, Jan Sehn who first investigated the death camps; German prosecutor, Fritz Bauer who instigated both the capture of Adolph Eichmann and the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial; and William Denson who prosecuted hundreds of notorious death camp guards.
The Nazi hunters made it clear that they were seeking justice and not revenge but often faced resistance in their searches to find that justice. The author has done extensive research and interviewed both survivors of the Holocaust and the perpetrators. Running throughout the interviews with the Nazis was a phrase that has since become a cliche....."I was just following orders". It is a disturbing book but one that should be read. Recommended.
September 28, 2016
If you read only one book this year, it should be The Nazi Hunters by Andrew Nagorski. It is extremely well researched and eloquently written. The book lays out facts objectively and lets the reader reach his or her own judgements. The focus of the book is not the Holocaust itself but of the importance of prosecuting war criminals and documenting our own recent history no matter how ugly and painful.
Why should you read this book? To answer that, I am going to plagiarize lines from the book, "To this day, there are no easy answers to the question why so many millions of Germans and Austrians, along with collaborators in most lands they conquered, could have willingly enlisted in a movement dedicated to mass murder." Quoting Kelley, "if there was no indication of outright madness among the Nazis, the argument that "it can happen here" - or anywhere for that matter --was right."
We must never forget.
One caveat - The Nazi Hunters reads a bit more like an excellent history book than a novel which might disappoint some readers.
Why should you read this book? To answer that, I am going to plagiarize lines from the book, "To this day, there are no easy answers to the question why so many millions of Germans and Austrians, along with collaborators in most lands they conquered, could have willingly enlisted in a movement dedicated to mass murder." Quoting Kelley, "if there was no indication of outright madness among the Nazis, the argument that "it can happen here" - or anywhere for that matter --was right."
We must never forget.
One caveat - The Nazi Hunters reads a bit more like an excellent history book than a novel which might disappoint some readers.
April 10, 2019
This is a truly fascinating account of a segment of history that gets less attention each year. I think a wonderful movie could be made of this book.
Nagorski starts with the end of WWII and begins with the rounding up of Nazi War criminals. He describes the lawyers, tribunes, and the victims. Last but not least, he describes the defendants and their atrocious acts of cruelty (not for the faint of heart) and their fate. He even gives a brief history of the hangman who served out justice to the defendants who were sentenced to death. Not all of them were.
Still, many Nazis got away. Some of this was because they tribunal judge decided that being a guard, or in some way serving in a concentration camp was not evidence of guilt. This was changed, years later, after most Nazis were dead, to guilt by association. If you were a part of the machine, you were still guilty.
It's interesting the excuses almost all of the criminals caught gave: They were merely following orders and in times of war, one cannot think or question. But that does not explain why some got such sadistic pleasure out of their job, not to mention that there are some things that transcend government orders. There is a higher moral order we must all answer to.
After the initial trials, interest waned in bringing war criminals to justice, mostly because the nations, especially Germany, but also the United States, wanted to put the past behind them. In the United States case, they had become embroiled in the Cold War and their focus had shifted.
But there were individuals that refused to give up the past until all perpetrators had been brought to justice. We learn about Simon Wiesenthal, a holocaust survivor and others who at first fought singlehandedly to bring former Nazis to justice. Nagorski does a nice job giving background information of the Nazi criminals and their hunters.
Much of the book runs like a high action movie. The hunt by the Israeli group, the Mossad, after Adolph Eichmann and the "Angel of Death", Josef Mengele keeps the reader in primed suspense. There are others too. Former Nazis running for offices in German Parliment, France, and also the United Nations.
Nagorski also recounts the efforts of Germany to create a gap in their history for their citizens who were born after the war. Thanks to some piercing documentaries made by a couple of German film makers in the seventies, German youth received a shock and awareness of, not only what happened in their country, but also that beloved relatives, grandparents, aunts, uncles, were a part of this notorious regime.
Hannah Arendt, while covering the Eichmann trial in Israel coined the term, "the banality of evil." She meant that "people who commit acts of evil are not always monsters, sometimes they are bureaucrats."
She asserted "that only good can be radical. Evil can never be radical; it can only be extreme."
"Evil can be extraordinary acts committed by otherwise unremarkable people."
Her articles for the New Yorker, which were later compiled into a book (that I just bought and will read soon), caused a lot of controversy among the Jews, who felt she was diminishing the evil work of Hitler and his regime. Arendt was herself a German-Jewish exile.
I think the thought that evil could become normal by average everyday citizens, makes people uncomfortable. But look at what is accepted in our own society. First it was abortion. Now in New York and Virginia, it's infanticide. And people stood up and clapped.
There are heartbreaking stories, one in particular of a Jewish man riding on a train in Germany, chatting amiably with his fellow passengers, everyone friendly. And then the train stops and soldiers take this man away and no one says a word.
My question is would that be any of us? Like watching the child in our school being bullied and we just stand and watch? I remember as I was entering a grocery store I saw a man screaming at his elderly mother. Two elderly woman passed me by. One said, "That's not right." And the other immediately said, "Yeah, but you can't do anything about it," and both walked into the store.
Isn't that most of us? Don't get involved? I did nothing to help the woman that day.
The book brings us almost up to date as to the accomplished work of these hunters and their untiring work to remind people of the past and that there is no statute of limitations on atrocities.
Nagorski starts with the end of WWII and begins with the rounding up of Nazi War criminals. He describes the lawyers, tribunes, and the victims. Last but not least, he describes the defendants and their atrocious acts of cruelty (not for the faint of heart) and their fate. He even gives a brief history of the hangman who served out justice to the defendants who were sentenced to death. Not all of them were.
Still, many Nazis got away. Some of this was because they tribunal judge decided that being a guard, or in some way serving in a concentration camp was not evidence of guilt. This was changed, years later, after most Nazis were dead, to guilt by association. If you were a part of the machine, you were still guilty.
It's interesting the excuses almost all of the criminals caught gave: They were merely following orders and in times of war, one cannot think or question. But that does not explain why some got such sadistic pleasure out of their job, not to mention that there are some things that transcend government orders. There is a higher moral order we must all answer to.
After the initial trials, interest waned in bringing war criminals to justice, mostly because the nations, especially Germany, but also the United States, wanted to put the past behind them. In the United States case, they had become embroiled in the Cold War and their focus had shifted.
But there were individuals that refused to give up the past until all perpetrators had been brought to justice. We learn about Simon Wiesenthal, a holocaust survivor and others who at first fought singlehandedly to bring former Nazis to justice. Nagorski does a nice job giving background information of the Nazi criminals and their hunters.
Much of the book runs like a high action movie. The hunt by the Israeli group, the Mossad, after Adolph Eichmann and the "Angel of Death", Josef Mengele keeps the reader in primed suspense. There are others too. Former Nazis running for offices in German Parliment, France, and also the United Nations.
Nagorski also recounts the efforts of Germany to create a gap in their history for their citizens who were born after the war. Thanks to some piercing documentaries made by a couple of German film makers in the seventies, German youth received a shock and awareness of, not only what happened in their country, but also that beloved relatives, grandparents, aunts, uncles, were a part of this notorious regime.
Hannah Arendt, while covering the Eichmann trial in Israel coined the term, "the banality of evil." She meant that "people who commit acts of evil are not always monsters, sometimes they are bureaucrats."
She asserted "that only good can be radical. Evil can never be radical; it can only be extreme."
"Evil can be extraordinary acts committed by otherwise unremarkable people."
Her articles for the New Yorker, which were later compiled into a book (that I just bought and will read soon), caused a lot of controversy among the Jews, who felt she was diminishing the evil work of Hitler and his regime. Arendt was herself a German-Jewish exile.
I think the thought that evil could become normal by average everyday citizens, makes people uncomfortable. But look at what is accepted in our own society. First it was abortion. Now in New York and Virginia, it's infanticide. And people stood up and clapped.
There are heartbreaking stories, one in particular of a Jewish man riding on a train in Germany, chatting amiably with his fellow passengers, everyone friendly. And then the train stops and soldiers take this man away and no one says a word.
My question is would that be any of us? Like watching the child in our school being bullied and we just stand and watch? I remember as I was entering a grocery store I saw a man screaming at his elderly mother. Two elderly woman passed me by. One said, "That's not right." And the other immediately said, "Yeah, but you can't do anything about it," and both walked into the store.
Isn't that most of us? Don't get involved? I did nothing to help the woman that day.
The book brings us almost up to date as to the accomplished work of these hunters and their untiring work to remind people of the past and that there is no statute of limitations on atrocities.
July 13, 2016
Nagorski's Nazis Hunter's story picks up after the Nuremberg trials. The official search for Nazis waned, partly because we became obsessed with the communists and partly because we felt that Germany just needed to get on with its healing from its reign of terror.
For some reason I thought that most of the war criminals of WWII were arrested and prosecuted during the Nuremberg trials, this appears not to have been the case. Nagorski book covers some of the men and women that continued to search for war criminals well into the twenty-first century.
The book serves to remind us that we can never forget what happened and that we should bring to justice those that abuse their powers.This review was originally posted on The Pfaeffle Journal
For some reason I thought that most of the war criminals of WWII were arrested and prosecuted during the Nuremberg trials, this appears not to have been the case. Nagorski book covers some of the men and women that continued to search for war criminals well into the twenty-first century.
The book serves to remind us that we can never forget what happened and that we should bring to justice those that abuse their powers.This review was originally posted on The Pfaeffle Journal
December 12, 2016
I had promised myself not to read any more Holocaust memoirs. What is to be gained? But when I saw this title available as a review copy on Net Galley, I thought that there is actually something to cheer the spirit in recounting how some of these monsters were tracked down and brought to justice. To date this is the most comprehensive telling of that achievement that I have read. Thanks go to Simon and Schuster and also to Net Galley for the DRC. This book is available for purchase May 17.
Were it not for the efforts of Jewish survivors and the state of Israel, very few of the top-ranking Nazi officers would ever have gone to trial. Following World War II, Allied forces divided small, relatively helpless nations of Europe like a pack of robbers piecing out the spoils after a bank job. Once that was done, there was little energy or funding put into hunting down Nazis. To be sure, there was no logistical way to try and punish everyone in Germany or its neighboring states that had belonged to the Nazi party or its offshoots. There were millions. Some of them joined because it was easier to join than to not join; some did it for job security; and a surprising number did it because they loved Hitler and the Third Reich. No matter how terribly they have behaved, you can’t jail millions of people that did the wrong thing, even when their participation and complicity have resulted in the deaths of innocent millions. And so an agreement was reached that just the top guys would be hunted down and tried in an international court.
By the time the war ended, however, the USA had begun the Cold War with Russia and its satellite states, incorporated at the time as the USSR. Congress was much more interested in funding ways to combat Stalin’s version of Communism than it was in locating war criminals. And this is where Israel became such an important player.
There are passages within this meaty tome that necessarily detail the kinds of horrors visited by one or another Nazi officer in order to illustrate the level of evil the individual in question represented. It is not good bedtime material. But there is far more of the courage, cleverness, and above all teamwork involved in finding these people, documenting their crimes, and bringing them to justice, and that’s what I wanted to see.
Philosophical questions that were examined when I was a kid in school are raised once more. At what point can a person no longer defend himself by saying he was just following orders? At what point does trying to follow the law of the land—even Fascist law—no longer let a person off the hook? Many of those that stood trial were people that had initiated one or another terrible innovation in the torture or murder of other human beings. Others went to trial for their monstrous brutality. Concentration camp survivors bore witness against them. I loved reading about those that had been stripped of everything, horribly tortured and humiliated right down to the nubs of their souls in a position of some power against their oppressors. It felt right.
Addressed here also is the tremendously controversial kidnapping of the butcher Adolph Eichmann. Eichmann lived in a Latin American nation that did not extradite war criminals; Israeli forces ferreted him out, forced him onto an airplane and took him to stand trial in Israel. Those that objected to this illegal behavior ultimately had little recourse. I felt like it was one of those times when a rule is rightfully broken. (See Six Million Accusers: Catching Adolph Eichmann, also reviewed on my blog.)
Were it not for the efforts of Jewish survivors and the state of Israel, very few of the top-ranking Nazi officers would ever have gone to trial. Following World War II, Allied forces divided small, relatively helpless nations of Europe like a pack of robbers piecing out the spoils after a bank job. Once that was done, there was little energy or funding put into hunting down Nazis. To be sure, there was no logistical way to try and punish everyone in Germany or its neighboring states that had belonged to the Nazi party or its offshoots. There were millions. Some of them joined because it was easier to join than to not join; some did it for job security; and a surprising number did it because they loved Hitler and the Third Reich. No matter how terribly they have behaved, you can’t jail millions of people that did the wrong thing, even when their participation and complicity have resulted in the deaths of innocent millions. And so an agreement was reached that just the top guys would be hunted down and tried in an international court.
By the time the war ended, however, the USA had begun the Cold War with Russia and its satellite states, incorporated at the time as the USSR. Congress was much more interested in funding ways to combat Stalin’s version of Communism than it was in locating war criminals. And this is where Israel became such an important player.
There are passages within this meaty tome that necessarily detail the kinds of horrors visited by one or another Nazi officer in order to illustrate the level of evil the individual in question represented. It is not good bedtime material. But there is far more of the courage, cleverness, and above all teamwork involved in finding these people, documenting their crimes, and bringing them to justice, and that’s what I wanted to see.
Philosophical questions that were examined when I was a kid in school are raised once more. At what point can a person no longer defend himself by saying he was just following orders? At what point does trying to follow the law of the land—even Fascist law—no longer let a person off the hook? Many of those that stood trial were people that had initiated one or another terrible innovation in the torture or murder of other human beings. Others went to trial for their monstrous brutality. Concentration camp survivors bore witness against them. I loved reading about those that had been stripped of everything, horribly tortured and humiliated right down to the nubs of their souls in a position of some power against their oppressors. It felt right.
Addressed here also is the tremendously controversial kidnapping of the butcher Adolph Eichmann. Eichmann lived in a Latin American nation that did not extradite war criminals; Israeli forces ferreted him out, forced him onto an airplane and took him to stand trial in Israel. Those that objected to this illegal behavior ultimately had little recourse. I felt like it was one of those times when a rule is rightfully broken. (See Six Million Accusers: Catching Adolph Eichmann, also reviewed on my blog.)
February 13, 2016
*I received an ebook copy of The Nazi Hunters from the publishers in exchange for an honest review*
Most of the tales of WWII focus on the soldiers and the leaders of the countries at war. For myself, I’ve always been more fascinated by the stories of those who operated without direct backing from government and military, like the French Resistance fighters or the Nazi Hunters. And certainly many tales about these individuals have been exaggerated, both by storytellers wanting to create the most exciting yarn possible and by the heroes themselves. But there was a truth that inspired the fiction.
I must admit that much of my knowledge about the Nazi hunters was based primarily on novels, films, and dramatized versions of history. Andrew Nagorski’s The Nazi Hunters was my first real, ‘non-fiction’ look at the true story behind the mythmaking, and the men who refused to let war criminals slip into obscurity.
One of the most interesting things learned from Nagorski’s book is how unpopular the idea of Nazi hunters were. I’m young, I was not around during the Eichmann trial or when the topic of escaping Nazi war criminals was still a hot topic. I’d always assumed that most the world wanted to see the Nazis brought to justice. This apparently wasn’t the case. Many wanted to leave the past where it was, fearful that drudging up ugly events would prevent the world’s healing. To me, this sounds more sympathetic to the villains than the victims.
The men and women who hunted Nazis across the globe were not willing to allow the past to be forgotten. Many of the hunters had lost family to the Nazis and felt their dearly departed deserved justice. What’s interesting is that, despite many operating as individuals, they often handed the Nazis over to official parties. Very rarely, it seems, were the Nazi war criminals executed without a trial.
The trials make up a good portion of Nogorksi’s book. And again, the world had conflicting reactions to the idea of putting Nazis (some of them bosses, some underlings) on trial for murder and war crimes. Most of the Nazis refused to be apologetic, instead trying to make it seem like they were not the monsters the Jews were looking for. The Nazis, now out of uniform and without a mad army behind them, appeared quite weak and powerless. “The banality of evil,” is a phrase brought up again and again to describe these men. To me, this makes them more frightening. You can spot a wild mad man in a crowd. But a boring guy who’s willing to commit atrocities based on his beliefs (or on his superior’s beliefs) is a monster that can hide among us.
One of the captured Nazis said something along the lines of, “I am over it. If they’re not, that’s their problem.” To me, that’s what I’ll take away from this book most of all: the fact that the murderers thought it was their right to go on living their lives in peace after the war — that WWII was an event which belonged in the past and was no longer a part of them. Victims have longer memories. The Nazi Hunters is an endlessly compelling book, one which strips away the fiction of heroes and monsters and presents them as human beings. It’s a book about dedicated professionals, some of whom continued their hunts for many decades, sometimes competing against rival hunters and sometimes facing grief for their troubles. Now, in 2016, most of the hunters and the hunted are dying away with the passage of time. Their stories do, finally, belong in the past. But it must not be forgotten. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, so they say.
Most of the tales of WWII focus on the soldiers and the leaders of the countries at war. For myself, I’ve always been more fascinated by the stories of those who operated without direct backing from government and military, like the French Resistance fighters or the Nazi Hunters. And certainly many tales about these individuals have been exaggerated, both by storytellers wanting to create the most exciting yarn possible and by the heroes themselves. But there was a truth that inspired the fiction.
I must admit that much of my knowledge about the Nazi hunters was based primarily on novels, films, and dramatized versions of history. Andrew Nagorski’s The Nazi Hunters was my first real, ‘non-fiction’ look at the true story behind the mythmaking, and the men who refused to let war criminals slip into obscurity.
One of the most interesting things learned from Nagorski’s book is how unpopular the idea of Nazi hunters were. I’m young, I was not around during the Eichmann trial or when the topic of escaping Nazi war criminals was still a hot topic. I’d always assumed that most the world wanted to see the Nazis brought to justice. This apparently wasn’t the case. Many wanted to leave the past where it was, fearful that drudging up ugly events would prevent the world’s healing. To me, this sounds more sympathetic to the villains than the victims.
The men and women who hunted Nazis across the globe were not willing to allow the past to be forgotten. Many of the hunters had lost family to the Nazis and felt their dearly departed deserved justice. What’s interesting is that, despite many operating as individuals, they often handed the Nazis over to official parties. Very rarely, it seems, were the Nazi war criminals executed without a trial.
The trials make up a good portion of Nogorksi’s book. And again, the world had conflicting reactions to the idea of putting Nazis (some of them bosses, some underlings) on trial for murder and war crimes. Most of the Nazis refused to be apologetic, instead trying to make it seem like they were not the monsters the Jews were looking for. The Nazis, now out of uniform and without a mad army behind them, appeared quite weak and powerless. “The banality of evil,” is a phrase brought up again and again to describe these men. To me, this makes them more frightening. You can spot a wild mad man in a crowd. But a boring guy who’s willing to commit atrocities based on his beliefs (or on his superior’s beliefs) is a monster that can hide among us.
One of the captured Nazis said something along the lines of, “I am over it. If they’re not, that’s their problem.” To me, that’s what I’ll take away from this book most of all: the fact that the murderers thought it was their right to go on living their lives in peace after the war — that WWII was an event which belonged in the past and was no longer a part of them. Victims have longer memories. The Nazi Hunters is an endlessly compelling book, one which strips away the fiction of heroes and monsters and presents them as human beings. It’s a book about dedicated professionals, some of whom continued their hunts for many decades, sometimes competing against rival hunters and sometimes facing grief for their troubles. Now, in 2016, most of the hunters and the hunted are dying away with the passage of time. Their stories do, finally, belong in the past. But it must not be forgotten. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, so they say.
January 21, 2016
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the ARC. While I was very interested in the content, I found myself constantly battling the book's structure. With nothing to provide an overarching narrative, each chapter feels like loosely organized snippets with little or no transition provided. It was like the book's structure worked actively against holding my attention. Also, at one point the author refers to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's sister-in-law as his wife, which eroded my faith in the book (Bonhoeffer was famously executed before his wedding could take place).
November 2, 2024
Unlike Hiding in Plain Sight, Andrew Nagorski’s exploration of the pursuit and prosecution of war criminals spends as much time discussing the biographies of the pursuers as he does their quarry. The Nazi Hunters covers the last 60+ years of tracking down Nazi war criminals, from the chaotic days at the end of the Second World War to the Iwan Demjanuk case just a few years ago. Not only do the hunters have to deal with red tape, deliberate obfuscation, and time, they also spend time fight each other’s egos and arguing with each other in the press. If Hiding in Plain Sight didn’t make it clear that the path to justice is far from smooth, The Nazi Hunters certainly will...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
October 23, 2023
5 stars
this book was super addictive, i couldn't put it down. everything i learned within this book was incredible and so critical to know/understand.
as santayana once said, "those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
this book was super addictive, i couldn't put it down. everything i learned within this book was incredible and so critical to know/understand.
as santayana once said, "those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
October 20, 2015
The Nazi Hunters by Andrew Nagorski is a book about the capture, trials and sentencing of the men and women responsible for the deaths during The Holocaust.
We have all heard the names Klaus Barbie, Martin Bormann, Aribert Heim, and Hermann Göring just to name a few. What a lot of people don't understand about the terrible people was that after their crimes, many hid among us for years leading peaceful lives. They did this until a group of people known as "The Nazi Hunters" began to find them.
Although there were trials and sentencing, some never made it that far because they took their own lives. Some his among us until they were very old and were only caught in the last days of their lives. This is the story of "The Nazi Hunters" and how they tracked down and ensured punishment for these war criminals.
This book is perfect for you if you love history and especially if you have an interest the in The Holocaust and its survivors.
We have all heard the names Klaus Barbie, Martin Bormann, Aribert Heim, and Hermann Göring just to name a few. What a lot of people don't understand about the terrible people was that after their crimes, many hid among us for years leading peaceful lives. They did this until a group of people known as "The Nazi Hunters" began to find them.
Although there were trials and sentencing, some never made it that far because they took their own lives. Some his among us until they were very old and were only caught in the last days of their lives. This is the story of "The Nazi Hunters" and how they tracked down and ensured punishment for these war criminals.
This book is perfect for you if you love history and especially if you have an interest the in The Holocaust and its survivors.
March 8, 2016
Very interesting and extensively researched. I think anyone with an interest in Nazi hunters will enjoy this, but I do think that a past knowledge of the subject helps. The lack of narrative structure and the vast amount of characters makes this book hard to follow occasionally. But the stories and anecdotes definitely make this an interesting read.
**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
September 18, 2017
This tome was able to provide a well-presented, comprehensive review of post-war global attitudes that consummated in the capture, trial, and sentencing of multiple Nazi criminals. It also provided extensive rationale discussing the failure of the time period’s leaders, due to political justifications, to support and levy adequate justice on even more Nazis or Nazi supporters, many of whom would continue their normal lives in normal Western society, and others of whom would escape the watchful eyes of Europe for solace and seclusion in South America or elsewhere. Nagorski described biography and background of the major Nazi “hunters,” who worked diligently to further their cause toward their ideal of justice. Revenge, justice, . . . we see that they are nascent, tightly intertwined. Another constant theme in this book which reflects the bloated boil of 20th century culpability is the consideration of choices: going along with the status quo and performing designated tasks (during wartime[...?]), or standing up for what is righteous.
BOTTOM LINE: Highly recommended! Nagorski’s fascinating facts are well documented and delivered in a conversational though immensely knowledgeable voice.
BOTTOM LINE: Highly recommended! Nagorski’s fascinating facts are well documented and delivered in a conversational though immensely knowledgeable voice.
May 30, 2018
Compelling account of the Nazi Hunters, a dedicated and determined group of men and women who were insistent that no Nazi war criminal should go unpunished, especially after the Nuremburg trials seemed to draw a line under what had happened. With the emphasis turning toward the Cold war, fewer resources were available to hunt down Nazis, but thanks to the sometimes controversial efforts of a few hunters, many more malefactors were pursued and brought to justice. It's a comprehensive and meticulously researched book, although the structure jumps about a bit in time and place which makes for a rather disjointed narrative. But overall it’s an accessibly and engagingly written account that makes for some exciting, if shocking, reading. Although some names are familiar still today, such as Simon Wiesenthal, many were new to me and I found myself absorbed in their sometimes dangerous exploits to hunt down and call to account those who so often claimed that they were not, in fact, guilty of any crime but had been merely carrying out orders, that all too chilling excuse for their inhumanity. A thought-provoking and important work.
September 17, 2017
This book was published in 2016, 72 years after the end of WWII. The hunted war criminals are all dead and gone, or soon will be, as are most of the hunters. Quite a few books have been written about the hunt for Nazi criminals and the hunters had to be very determined to keep going, because even in the 1950s and 60s already, the public and the governments weren't interested anymore. The Cold War brought new enemies and allies and a strong wish to forget about the past. Was it right to forget? Of course not. As many as possible should be brought to justice. The Nazi hunt went on into the 21st century and now it is time to look back on the full story and questions can be asked and often answered. How come so many escaped justice until they were old men? Why did Nazi hunters fight among themselves? Who were the lesser known hunters and what was their role? Although there is some first-hand testimony in this book, most of it is the result of Andrew Nagorski digging through archives. A remarkable achievement and a well-written, engaging book.
January 22, 2018
The Nazi Hunters by Andrew Nagorski is about the impulse of revenge and the struggle for justice against the Nazis. It takes place after the Nuremberg trials while the official search for the Nazis was on. A man named William Denson was a polish investigating officer who seeks justice and triumph over the enemy. He was also in charge of the team that captured Eichmann, and he sought to expel war and criminals who once lived in the United States. The Nazi Hunters has other important roles too such as uncovering US General Kurt Waldheim and his attempt to cover up his wartime history. From a personal standpoint I thought the book itself was very entertaining. It managed to grab my attention much quicker than most books which is a hard thing to do. At first I was hesitant on reading this book since it was long and grueling at first, but I actually really enjoyed this read in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2024
It’s a masterpiece for those that are interested in knowing what happened to the Nazi criminals after the war and how they got hunted. If you are looking for adventures, this is NOT your book. It’s sensitive but also depicts what is like to search for truth, justice and keep memory alive of all of those who suffered the holocaust.
September 15, 2018
I liked this book because it explained about how life was during the time of when the nazis killed the Jews. And bout some of the most important places they have had when they met or where they caught a jew and much more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2017
This story talks about the inhuman things that the nazis did during ww2. This also explains what happened before ww two. The thing I liked about this book was that it was real, the author didn't use fake facts. This book used very descriptive vocabulary which persuaded me to read more and more. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about what happened during ww2.
December 9, 2016
One imagines former Nazis quivering from authorities after the war fearing retribution from those seeking justice. We might imagine them going by disguises or hidden names and wanting to erase themselves from the past. In reality, they were in plain site hiding from no one. It was only the leaders of the Nazi regime that saw justice handed to them in Nuremburg. Eichman would come much later (A now famous story of hidden identities and dogged pursuit by the Mossad and Simon Wisenthal which would later be a movie). Most of these stories, however, happened in courtrooms demonstrating legal documents of their work for the Nazis in World War II. The vast majority of those involved went unpunished. Author Andrew Nagorski provides a closing chapter for these Nazi Hunters. Their struggles, their rivalry, and how it may seem that justice was served, but too many just didn't want to dwell on the past. It was these few hunters that doggedly pursued their prey.
These of the stories of the struggles and the successes of the Nazi Hunters. Many of the former Nazis are dead as are them men and women who hunted them. More important, is the legacy that they leave behind. The remind those in the future of these atrocities. Those in the future should never forget these crimes with the hopes that they will never happen again.
I think coming off of this last election, one would wonder where our Nazi hunters are today. We need more of Beate Klarsfeld who would slap the West German Chancellor and yell out,"Nazi" to name and shame those who participated in atrocities. http://www.dw.com/en/nazi-hunter-beat...
The Nazi Hunters
Chapter Sixteen
The legal process was often a tortuous one, if it was started at all. For those who worked for years to win their cases against alleged Nazi war criminals like Breyer, this was an important victory, but his death was also frustrating. It felt like another opportunity lost, not so much to punish the culprit, but to offer a new lesson in a German court about accountability and history—a lesson that individuals are responsible for their actions in such a situation, no matter what orders they may have received.
Zuroff described the work of a Nazi hunter as “one-third detective, one-third historian, one-third lobbyist.” He added that Nazi hunters don’t prosecute anyone, but help make prosecutions possible.
These of the stories of the struggles and the successes of the Nazi Hunters. Many of the former Nazis are dead as are them men and women who hunted them. More important, is the legacy that they leave behind. The remind those in the future of these atrocities. Those in the future should never forget these crimes with the hopes that they will never happen again.
I think coming off of this last election, one would wonder where our Nazi hunters are today. We need more of Beate Klarsfeld who would slap the West German Chancellor and yell out,"Nazi" to name and shame those who participated in atrocities. http://www.dw.com/en/nazi-hunter-beat...
The Nazi Hunters
Chapter Sixteen
The legal process was often a tortuous one, if it was started at all. For those who worked for years to win their cases against alleged Nazi war criminals like Breyer, this was an important victory, but his death was also frustrating. It felt like another opportunity lost, not so much to punish the culprit, but to offer a new lesson in a German court about accountability and history—a lesson that individuals are responsible for their actions in such a situation, no matter what orders they may have received.
Zuroff described the work of a Nazi hunter as “one-third detective, one-third historian, one-third lobbyist.” He added that Nazi hunters don’t prosecute anyone, but help make prosecutions possible.
October 30, 2016
I've read several books about the fate of Nazi war criminals and the acts of those who pursued them. This is the best so far, both as regards readability and as regards perspective. Nagorski, a career journalist, covered some of the stories he relates and interviewed some of the principals. But this isn't about him. His own accounts fit in seamlessly with a broader narrative of the last days of the war, the subsequent trials and the growing disinterest of the Allied governments as they split into Eastern and Western blocks during the Cold War--a disinterest challenged by 'the Nazi hunters', East and West, referred to in the title.
My interest in this subject has many bases. Most of my family, the European side, lived under Nazi occupation. The sole male representative of the American side, my dad, served in Africa, Sicily and the Pacific. I myself grew up in the postwar world of clashing empires, seeing much to be decried in the foreign policies of both the USSR and the USA. Early on, I watched the Eichmann trial on television with my family. I was eight and I don't remember much from television that far back, but I do remember, vividly, some of the testimony of the survivors at that venue. So, while many of my elementary school buddies were disposed to prefer the Confederacy over the Union, the Nazis over the Allies, I knew I never wanted to be a Nazi--or anything like one.
My interest in this subject has many bases. Most of my family, the European side, lived under Nazi occupation. The sole male representative of the American side, my dad, served in Africa, Sicily and the Pacific. I myself grew up in the postwar world of clashing empires, seeing much to be decried in the foreign policies of both the USSR and the USA. Early on, I watched the Eichmann trial on television with my family. I was eight and I don't remember much from television that far back, but I do remember, vividly, some of the testimony of the survivors at that venue. So, while many of my elementary school buddies were disposed to prefer the Confederacy over the Union, the Nazis over the Allies, I knew I never wanted to be a Nazi--or anything like one.
February 18, 2016
I rated this book as a 5 star read. It is a well researched book about The Final Solution in Nazi Germany's death camps. It introduces us to the concept of Nazi hunters who searched the world over looking for those who perpetrated horrendous crimes against the Jewish race mainly but also the Gypsies and the feeble minded and handicapped, that being the phrase of the time. Their excuse was always that they were following orders and that bad things happen in war.
The story of the enforced transportation of Jews and others to concentration camps is well known but not all that happened once there is familiar to all. When the story moves to the Nuremberg trials, I found the details and the way these people were sentenced to death and the story of the hangings to be full of fascinating details.Gruesome but full of justice. The emphasis gradually shifted from revenge to justice as people and law keepers gradually tired of so many hangings and deaths and began to question if retribution was superseding justice.
Later on the search for items and property stolen from the Jewish people came to the fore as seen in Hollywood films such as The Monument Men and The Woman in Gold that helped to keep these events in people's minds. As survivors grow older and their numbers decrease, their is always the danger that this period of history could be forgotten.
The story of the enforced transportation of Jews and others to concentration camps is well known but not all that happened once there is familiar to all. When the story moves to the Nuremberg trials, I found the details and the way these people were sentenced to death and the story of the hangings to be full of fascinating details.Gruesome but full of justice. The emphasis gradually shifted from revenge to justice as people and law keepers gradually tired of so many hangings and deaths and began to question if retribution was superseding justice.
Later on the search for items and property stolen from the Jewish people came to the fore as seen in Hollywood films such as The Monument Men and The Woman in Gold that helped to keep these events in people's minds. As survivors grow older and their numbers decrease, their is always the danger that this period of history could be forgotten.
May 1, 2016
After reading the description, I knew I had to read this book. Unlike other books on the topic, this is a comprehensive book at 416 pages long. It has been more than 70 years since the end of WWII and the great hunt for Nazi criminals is nearing its culmination now, "as they (the hunters) and the hunted die off. Their saga can now be told in its entirety." Author, Andrew Nagorski feels that now is the time to tell their stories, before they get lost in the annals of time.
I feel that it's about time we read the true, nonfiction book about who the Nazi hunters really were. I cannot believe that most people, governments and parties involved, did not care to catch these monstrous criminals. To want to let them walk among the general public is unthinkable to me. And I have no ties to Europe during those times. I can't even begin to imagine the impact that had with survivors of the war, and most importantly of the concentration camps. "Oh, let's leave the past in the past." And some of the criminals were actually living in the United States during the search, and no one seemed to care! I did like how some of the Nazis were found and captured such as Adolf Eichmann.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for giving me a free ARC of this book to read and give my honest review.
I feel that it's about time we read the true, nonfiction book about who the Nazi hunters really were. I cannot believe that most people, governments and parties involved, did not care to catch these monstrous criminals. To want to let them walk among the general public is unthinkable to me. And I have no ties to Europe during those times. I can't even begin to imagine the impact that had with survivors of the war, and most importantly of the concentration camps. "Oh, let's leave the past in the past." And some of the criminals were actually living in the United States during the search, and no one seemed to care! I did like how some of the Nazis were found and captured such as Adolf Eichmann.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for giving me a free ARC of this book to read and give my honest review.
May 16, 2017
I knew a little about some of the Nazi hunters such as the Klarsfelds and Simon Wiesenthal, but this book adds recognition for those who are lesser known such as William Denson and Elizabeth Holtzman, but who performed invaluable service in the fight for justice.
What a terrible time this was for the world. The Third Reich had been defeated, but so many of the Nazis were still at large. Even after the trials at Nuremberg, the knowledge about the extent of their evil was barely scratched until many official and private investigators made it their mission to inform the world. Unfortunately as the years went by, this became more difficult since some countries just wanted to "forget".
One of the most interesting chapters dealt with the capture of Eichmann by the Israelis. I remember the trial and his execution. The book explores the controversies about that action, and discusses 'the banality of evil' theory that originated with Hannah Arendt. That is one of the most frightening aspects of this discussion. So many of the perpetrators seemed so 'ordinary' not monsters at all, especially as they grew older.
Thankfully, there were people like the Nazis Hunters who pursued justice for those who perished and those who survived.
What a terrible time this was for the world. The Third Reich had been defeated, but so many of the Nazis were still at large. Even after the trials at Nuremberg, the knowledge about the extent of their evil was barely scratched until many official and private investigators made it their mission to inform the world. Unfortunately as the years went by, this became more difficult since some countries just wanted to "forget".
One of the most interesting chapters dealt with the capture of Eichmann by the Israelis. I remember the trial and his execution. The book explores the controversies about that action, and discusses 'the banality of evil' theory that originated with Hannah Arendt. That is one of the most frightening aspects of this discussion. So many of the perpetrators seemed so 'ordinary' not monsters at all, especially as they grew older.
Thankfully, there were people like the Nazis Hunters who pursued justice for those who perished and those who survived.
February 17, 2020
Una lectura muy interesante, con una narrativa fascinante en algunos puntos del libro, donde el autor nos lleva a los arrabales de Buenos Aires en búsqueda de Eichmann, y con un magnífico trabajo historiográfico, donde las "aventuras" van rodeadas de realismo histórico: los tribunales, la prensa, el duro trabajo de oficina, las pistas, las dudas... presenta la caza de Nazis como lo que fue: un rompecabezas diplomático y legal, pero también a veces detectivesco.
Aunque disfruté la lectura, podría haberse reducido mucho la información sobre las disputas internas entre cazadores de Nazis, en las que se pierde demasiada tinta, y hablar más en su lugar de los diferentes juicios, su relevancia histórica y el cambio en los paradigmas jurídicos con los que se juzgó a los Nazis a lo largo de las décadas. Me parece que al libro le falta profundidad y detalle a la hora de acercarse a los pormenores legales del asunto.
Aunque disfruté la lectura, podría haberse reducido mucho la información sobre las disputas internas entre cazadores de Nazis, en las que se pierde demasiada tinta, y hablar más en su lugar de los diferentes juicios, su relevancia histórica y el cambio en los paradigmas jurídicos con los que se juzgó a los Nazis a lo largo de las décadas. Me parece que al libro le falta profundidad y detalle a la hora de acercarse a los pormenores legales del asunto.
October 11, 2019
Great information but not well written. Relatively boring. Had the author at an event and drew some parallels to the US migrant camps and our poor treatment of migrants. He said it was a disservice to the holocaust to compare them. I’m not saying we are murdering people on a mass scale, but we are having people die due to horrible living conditions. We are also discrediting the press and threatening to lock up People who disagree or who don’t print what we want them to. It’s like the beginning of what seems like a tyrannical regime. I found him pompous and an ass. His poor writing didn’t make it much better. I made myself finish this book, but I struggled through it even as an avid reader.
Read
December 25, 2018With everything I've read and learned about the holocaust, I never knew about the band of individuals who sought justice for those who died in the chambers. I was especially interested to learn about the competition among them and the United States involvement harboring these criminals. Got a little repetitive but any student of the Holocaust should read this.
June 6, 2017
Gosh, this was a tough read. I really took my time reading this, as it was quite difficult to read about how terrible humans can be to each other, so I just read a few pages every now and then.
It certainly was interesting to hear about some of the more hidden aspects of the Nazi trials in Europe immediately after the war, and some of the big investigations.
It certainly was interesting to hear about some of the more hidden aspects of the Nazi trials in Europe immediately after the war, and some of the big investigations.
April 14, 2020
(3'5)
Es un tipo de lectura más lenta pero en general me ha gustado bastante. A veces me liaba un poco con tantos nombres pero me alegro de haber aprendido datos interesantes que no sabía sobre la posguerra y la desnazificación. Algunas partes me dejaron mal cuerpo y otras me hicieron reír. Beate Klarsfeld fue la mejor cazadora de nazis and that's on a period.
Es un tipo de lectura más lenta pero en general me ha gustado bastante. A veces me liaba un poco con tantos nombres pero me alegro de haber aprendido datos interesantes que no sabía sobre la posguerra y la desnazificación. Algunas partes me dejaron mal cuerpo y otras me hicieron reír. Beate Klarsfeld fue la mejor cazadora de nazis and that's on a period.
May 25, 2017
I knew some of the information but there was stuff I didn't know. My main issue with the book was there was information that was just not relevant to the narrative. This led to the last chapter being very short and not as flushed out as the others.
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