Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Prosecutor:
Never let them forget.
Quick synopsis:
The story of Fritz Bauer who kept going after Nazis even after the Nuremberg trial.
Fact for Non-History People:
Instead of a trial at the end of World War II, Stalin just wanted to just execute the entire German General Staff of fifty thousand officers. So Stalin.
Fact for History Nerds:
In 1933, Germany had a half a million Jews and a third would be killed by the end of World War II.
My Take on The Prosecutor:
It is a quirk of any book on the Holocaust that the quality of the writing is proportional to how badly you feel while reading it. Sure, you may feel bad because the book is not good, but the truly transcendent narratives ensure the reader truly feels the horror. In the case of Jack Fairweather’s The Prosecutor, I felt depressed, angry, and quite annoyed. Yes, all of those feelings are to Fairweather’s credit.
The Prosecutor is about Fritz Bauer, a gay, Jewish, German judge who has to flee from Germany during World War II because…well, pick any of the previous descriptors of Bauer. I should make it clear that if you are looking for an in-depth biography of Bauer, then you will be disappointed. Fairweather does give background and explains Bauer’s motivations, but the author is much more interested in the why and how of what Bauer does after World War II.
The main thrust of the story is Germany wiped its hands after the Nuremberg trials and effectively said, “Well, thank goodness THAT is over with.” Bauer believed deeply that Germans had not looked in the mirror and reckoned with how so many people could take part in mass murder. Even more galling, Bauer felt the Nuremberg trials should have been the start, not the finish. Fairweather meticulously explains the motivations of various people and the numerous hurdles Bauer faces. (Side note: When I say “meticulously”, I am not kidding. Fairweather’s list of sources is insanely long in a good way!) If you are a huge fan of Fairweather’s previous work, The Volunteer, then you will definitely want to grab this one.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Crown Publishing.)
Verdict:
Excellent look at the world of Germany post-World War II. Buy it here!
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