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.)

Thank you, Crown Publishing, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book will be published on February 25, 2025.

I just finished The Prosecutor: One Man’s Battle To Bring Nazis To Justice, by Jack Fairweather.

This is a biography of Fritz Bauer, who was a Jewish judge who was arrested by the Nazis in 1933 as an enemy of the state, for his political opposition to them, and sent to a concentration camp (prior to them being used as death camps). He was eventually released after six months, but his legal career appeared to be over. Even after being released from the prison camp, he was still in constant legal peril, not only because of his religion, but due to their harsh laws against homosexuals. Eventually, after close calls, he was able to safely flee from the Nazis.

Bauer eventually returned to Germany after the war and, as a prosecutor, went after Nazis. He was involved in bringing Eichmann to justice.

I give this book an A.

Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and Mr. Book’s Book Reviews

I finished reading this on December 5, 2024.