Hitler's Bounty Hunters: The Betrayal of the Jews

ISBN-13: 9781845202033 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 288 str.

Ad Van Liempt; S. J. Lienbach

Opis

Why were the Nazis so successful in deporting Jews? Why did families such as Anne Frank's get turned in? Investigative journalist Ad van Liempt pulls back the curtain on the shocking practice of Dutch bounty hunters of the Jews, and reveals that ordinary citizens were prepared to turn over their Jewish countrymen in exchange for cash. Van Liempt examines in great detail the careers of bounty hunters and describes some particularly horrifying cases. The most gripping are those involving young children. In one case, two bounty hunters traveled hundreds of miles to get their hands on a two-year-old girl living in a safe house; a month later she was gassed at Sobibor. In court, the bounty hunters consistently maintained that they received no premiums for their work, but the author shows the opposite to be true and traces the money involved. This haunting book uncovers a facet of the Holocaust that has previously been largely neglected and brings to light the day-to-day workings of the persecution of the Jews.

Recenzje

'The appalling subject matter of 'Hitler's Bounty Hunters' -- the active pursuit of hidden Jews by Dutch policemen and male and female volunteers who worked for money -- makes it a harrowing read. But it is a compelling book, scrupulously researched and seamlessly well-written, and deserves to be widely read.' Carol Ann Lee, author of The Hidden Life of Otto Frank and Roses from the Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank'Van Liempt tells a sober story in dramatic style, drawing on an astonishing collection of files that have not received the attention they deserve. From the archives of the 'bounty hunters' and post-war trials he reconstructs heart-rending episodes and, no less important, tries to understand the varied motives that led Dutch citizens to work for the Nazis.' David Cesarani, editor of The Final Solution and Genocide and Rescue'This is a book that should be read, especially by comparing it with Christopher Browning's work 'Ordinary Men'. Students of World War II

O autorze

Ad van Liempt is a journalist and the author of several books.Translated from the German by S.J. Leinbach