A German Jew’s Triumph
Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany
When Prussian soldier Fritz Oppenheimer left the WWI battlefield with two Iron Crosses, he could never have imagined that the pinnacle of his military career would come 27 years later – as U.S. General Eisenhower’s legal aide at the Nazi surrender in Berlin, taking top Nazi leaders into captivity and interrogating Wilhelm Keitel, head of the Wehrmacht.
At a time when authoritarian movements worldwide once again threaten to gain traction, A German Jew’s Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany is an untold David-and-Goliath story that reminds us how even in the darkest times, one individual’s efforts can help change the course of history and forge a more hopeful future.
Fritz Oppenheimer was an improbable hero. The scion of a privileged banking family, he fled the Nazis months before Kristallnacht, joined U.S. Army basic training at 45 and quickly rose in the ranks of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force to help plan the post-invasion of Europe. His international legal skills and fluency in multiple languages made him supremely suited to play a key role in de-Nazification, and to set up a fair justice system for all Germans.
Oppenheimer’s remarkable story remained untold until his grandson, Harry Handler, discovered letters and documents stuffed into a closet. These include contemporaneous WWI diaries, a heretofore unknown escape plan for top Nazis, and up-close character portraits of evildoers.
Harry enlisted his wife, Cindy, a journalist for Gannett whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and other national outlets, to write A German Jew’s Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany.
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“A GERMAN JEW’S TRIUMPH is not just an astonishing 20th Century adventure story—wonderfully told—but unearths the fresh history of Oppenheimer’s critical role in the skillful de-Nazification of Germany, which has done as much as anything to prevent World War II. And this highly readable book, which fills many gaps in our understanding of the whole period, resonates powerfully in our own time of trouble.”
— Jonathan Alter, political analyst for NBC News and author of The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
“Part biography, part legal saga, all real-life thriller, A GERMAN JEW’S TRIUMPH accomplishes the rare feat of balancing historical nuance and taut compelling narrative in the vein of Unbroken or The Boys on the Boat. This book should be a movie.”
— John M. Kinder, Professor of History & Director of the American Studies Program at Oklahoma State University
“Meticulously researched and deeply moving, Fritz Oppenheimer’s biography is essential reading not only for those interested in WWII but for anyone seeking to create a better world against seemingly insurmountable odds.”
— Dawn Raffel, author of The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies
“A GERMAN JEW’S TRIUMPH is a fascinating biography of Fritz Oppenheimer, the scion of a wealthy Jewish family who seems to be everywhere when history is being made in the twentieth century. The Handlers have recovered Fritz’s story through meticulous research on both sides of the Atlantic, and it is written with great skill and verve. Fritz will draw a large general audience and also brings exciting new information to the table for historians of the two world wars.”
— Marylouise Roberts, Professor Emerita UW-Madison and Author of What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in World War II France
“Fritz Oppenheimer’s story begged to be told. Thank you, Cindy Handler, for writing about his remarkable life in such riveting detail.”
—Dr. Mitchell Yockelson, historian and author of The Paratrooper Generals: Matthew Ridgway, Maxwell Taylor, and the American Airborne from D-Day through Normandy"