The Prosecutor
One Man's Battle to Bring Nazis to Justice
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Narrated by:
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David Rintoul
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Written by:
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Jack Fairweather
About this listen
From the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Volunteer, the powerful true story of a Jewish lawyer who returned to Germany after World War II to prosecute war crimes, only to find himself pitted against a nation determined to bury the past.
At the end of 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, Jewish judge from Stuttgart who survived the Nazis and made it his mission to force his countrymen 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 In this deeply researched book, Fairweather draws on unpublished family papers, newly declassified German records, and exclusive interviews to immerse listeners in the shadowy, unfamiliar world of postwar West Germany where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 landed on the trail of Adolf Eichmann, he wouldn’t be intimidated. His journey took him deep into the dark heart of West Germany, where his fight for justice would set him against his own government and a network of former Nazis and spies bent on silencing 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 his people–and the world–to face the truth.
©2025 Jack Fairweather (P)2025 Random House AudioWhat the critics say
“Jack Fairweather brilliantly captures the poignant and insightful story of one lonely, determined man’s quest to bring Nazis to justice for the Holocaust. Fritz Bauer sought to bend the arc of history, a noble pursuit of great inspiration and agony. This is history not to be missed.”—David E. Hoffman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Dead Hand and Give Me Liberty
“The Prosecutor is a tour de force of both historical research and absolutely terrific writing. Fairweather’s topic—the criminal prosecution of war criminals—is of the utmost importance, and the book itself reads like the best sort of cloak-and-dagger novel. As a writer and journalist, I gauge books by how much I learn about my own craft, and this book was a kind of masterclass.”—Sebastian Junger, #1 New York Times bestselling author of War, The Perfect Storm, Fire, and A Death in Belmont
“Jack Fairweather, a brilliant researcher and compelling writer, tells the remarkable and inspiring story of German jurist Fritz Bauer. Both Jewish and gay, Bauer survived Hitler’s concentration camps and exile and returned to help remake his country, braving public opprobrium and personal danger to pursue the complicit and compel a national reckoning with his country’s crimes. . . . A triumphant story.”—Mark Bowden, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Black Hawk Down