The Prosecutor

Author Jack Fairweather
Narrator David Rintoul
Publisher Ebury Publishing
Run Time 10 hours and 6 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Biography: historical, political and military, Far-right political ideologies and movements, Human rights, civil rights, Legal history, The Holocaust.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE NEW BOOK FROM THE BESTSELLING, COSTA PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE VOLUNTEER

The true story of a Jewish lawyer who returned to Germany after WWII 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 German Jew 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 In this deeply researched book, Fairweather draws on unpublished family papers, newly declassified German records, and exclusive interviews to immerse readers in the dark, unfamiliar world of postwar West Germany where those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 lands on the trail of Adolf Eichmann, he won’t be intimidated. His journey takes him deep into the rotten heart of West Germany, where his fight for justice will set him against his own government and a network of former Nazis and spies determined to silence 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.

'FIVE STARS --Not all superheroes wear capes. Some, as Jack Fairweaher's superb biography of the German prosecutor and judge Frtiz Bauer shows, wear lawyer's robes instead...This is a magnificent book.' The Daily Telegraph

'Gripping and well-researced...Fairweather's book would be haunting to read at any time; it is especially bitter today.' New York Times

'Beautifully written and hugely evocative...a powerful literary memorial to Fritz Bauer, the German-Jewish lawyer whose tenacity forced a nation to confront it's crimes.' Katja Hoyer, bestselling author of BEYOND THE WALL

©2025 Jack Fairweather (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

FIVE STARS –Not all superheroes wear capes. Some, as Jack Fairweather’s superb biography of the German prosecutor and judge Fritz Bauer shows, wear lawyer’s robes instead … This is a magnificent book

The Daily Telegraph

Fairweather tells this story with impressive clarity and pace… compulsively readable… with liberal democracies once more imperilled and indifference to the Holocaust stupefyingly widespread, The Prosecutor could hardly be more timely

The Financial Times

Deeply humane, finely wrought and so vital tale in this age of impunity, crackingly told

Philippe Sands, award-winning and bestselling author of THE RATLINE and EAST WEST STREET

Gripping and well-researched … Fairweather’s book would be haunting to read at any time; it is especially bitter today

New York Times

One of the great untold stories of the Holocaust— and Jack Fairweather is the perfect person to tell it

Jonathan Freedland, bestselling author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST

A tour-de-force of both historical research and absolutely terrific writing… the book itself reads like the best sort of cloak-and-dagger novel… this book was a kind of masterclass

Sebastian Junger, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE PERFECT STORM and TRIBE

This is a book of great importance. The Prosecutor is, quite simply, a stunning achievement.

Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara and New Yorker staff writer

Beautifully written and hugely evocative… a powerful literary memorial to Fritz Bauer, the German-Jewish lawyer whose tenacity forced a nation to confront its crimes

Katja Hoyer, bestselling author of BEYOND THE WALL

Jack Fairweather continues his stellar writing career with an important new book… this well-researched, well-written and hard-hitting book could not be more timely

Andrew Roberts, author of CHURCHILL: WALKING WITH DESTINY

A rich, compelling and deeply researched account of a little-known lawyer who fought long and hard to expose the criminals who underpinned Hitler’s monstrous regime. Another page-turner from Jack Fairweather

Giles Milton, bestelling author of THE STALIN AFFAIR

Brilliantly captures the poignant and insightful story of one lonely, determined man’s quest to bring Nazis to justice for the Holocaust…This is history not to be missed

David E. Hoffman, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of THE DEAD HAND and GIVE ME LIBERTY

Jack Fairweather, a brilliant researcher and compelling writer, tells the remarkable and inspiring story of German jurist Fritz Bauer [who] braved public opprobrium and personal danger to pursue the complicit and compel a national reckoning with its crimes. A triumphant story.

Mark Bowden, bestselling author of BLACK HAWK DOWN

Breathtaking scholarship delivered with a compelling flair for storytelling – returns the seminal figure of the courageous Fritz Bauer to his rightful place at the centre of our collective reckoning with the Nazis’ crimes

Robert Jan van Pelt, award-winning writer and leading Holocaust expert

This meticulously researched and well written biography brings to life one of the unsung heroes of the twentieth century…. Fairweather brilliantly evokes the dark, morally ambiguous atmosphere of postwar Germany and a man whose story… contains the moral lessons we need today

Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer-prize winning, bestselling author

Disturbing insights into a bygone era. . . . Stirring revelations of an unsung hero of postwar Germany

Kirkus Reviews, starred review

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