The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb, Paperback

From the Publisher

Praise for The Nazi Hunters:

Winner of the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award

Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award for Teen Readers

"The Nazi Hunters is a fabulously exciting piece of history that teens should know about -- and now they will! Bascomb's detailed scenes allow readers to live through this true tale of courage and daring as if they were there." -- Deborah Heiligman, Printz Honor-winning author of Charles and Emma and Intentions

"I found The Nazi Hunters riveting, from its suspenseful search for Eichmann to the capture of the war criminal responsible for orchestrating the murder of eleven million people, including six million Jews. Neal Bascomb's book is incredibly well-researched and paced like an espionage thriller. The hunters' commitment to bringing Eichmann to justice is sure to captivate readers." -- Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor-winning author of Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow and The Boy Who Dared

"From cafés in Buenos Aires to the halls of the fledgling Israeli government, from false identities to secret drops, this story has all the hallmarks of a spy novel. Bascomb has a knack for turning complex detail into a suspenseful, heart-pounding narrative." -- School Library Journal

"Photographs are included throughout the text, adding not just to the evidence of Eichmann's guilt but to the reader's sense of being along on the mission." -- The Horn Book Magazine

"Tension rises from the pages, thanks to Bascomb's command of pacing, judicious use of quoted material, inclusion of archival photographs and strong descriptions." -- Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Sabotage: The Mission to Destroy Hitler's Atomic Bomb:

"This is an exciting and impeccably researched story of science, spies, and commando raids -- page-turning nonfiction at its best." -- Steve Sheinkin, Newbery Honor-winning author of Bomb: The Race to Build -- and Steal -- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

* "Bascomb is a master of taking complicated histories and turning them into exciting works of nonfiction... This excellent treatise on a little-known episode of World War II is a first choice." -- School Library Journal, starred review

"Bascomb’s detailed narrative builds tension through each attempt, narrow escape, and comeback…vivid descriptions of the principal participants and their motivations, rigors of Norway’s climate and terrain, and the risks calculated (and those unforeseen), producing a gripping account of individual and collective heroic effort." -- Publishers Weekly

"The book is enhanced by impressive supplemental material, including a helpful list of participants, photographs, maps, and an intriguing author's note. A rich, well-paced narrative." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Bascomb admirably balances dramatic tension and context throughout... Sabotage will find its place in a growing body of narrative nonfiction centering on military and political history." -- Horn Book

"Bascomb's clear-eyed account, helped along by photos, maps, and diagrams, of the thrilling mission and its many challenges... will handily engage teens." -- Booklist

Children's Literature - Barbara L. Talcroft

Adapting his 2009 book, Hunting Eichmann, Bascomb makes accessible to teens the story of tracking and bringing to justice Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal. The cast—Germans, secret Israeli operatives, Jewish volunteers, El Al airline employees, and Eichmann's family—is huge, though made easier to track with a list at the beginning. Bascomb tells the story as the spy thriller it is, with constant switches from Eichmann's life to his pursuers, as he flees the approaching Allies and then Germany. Ending up in a poor district of Buenos Aires, Eichmann had sent for his wife and four sons. Each day he plodded to his job at a Mercedes factory, a far cry from his former life as a Nazi officer in charge of transporting Jews from their homes to death camps. His cover is blown when his oldest son's girlfriend invites the son to dinner and her Jewish father becomes suspicious. From then on, suspense builds as Eichmann is tracked, captured, flown to Israel, and finally tried for his crimes and executed in 1962. Bascomb stresses the agents' surprise that Eichmann lived such a desultory life and appeared so resigned to obeying their orders. The author believes that the major effect of the trial, testimony of witnesses, and Eichmann's denial of guilt was not Hannah Arendt's concept of the "banality of evil," but the opening it gave for Holocaust survivors to tell their painful stories to the world. Many formerly reluctant countries were then moved to pursue war criminals and bring them to justice. Well-researched and provided with notes, Bascomb's account, with its black-and-white period photos, will help teens understand World War II and the Holocaust, and may inspire further research about the war's atrocities, intelligence agencies, and the emergence of the state of Israel. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft

VOYA - Judith Hayn

This spy story displays all of the characteristics of the genre: an evil genius who committed atrocious crimes against humanity, zealous advocates for vengeance, antagonists determined to thwart the capture, and page-turning suspense. Adolf Eichmann was responsible for rounding up Jews in Germany and in the conquered countries as an integral part of Hitler's "final solution." After the defeat of fascism, Eichmann flees to avoid trial and punishment, and settles in obscurity in Argentina. A group of dedicated Israelis conspire to kidnap him and return him to their homeland for justice. The discovery of Eichmann, who is living in poverty with his wife and three sons, begins the saga. The suspense is undeniable, but the desire to see Eichmann in captivity and admit his crimes is equally enthralling. He emerges as a frail, nondescript, former SS officer who seems pathetic in his lack of power, were it not for his unspeakable past. The conspirators include contemporary Jews who are Israeli defense force members, dedicated Nazi hunters outside of Israel, El Al personnel and flight crew, and prominent government leaders. The plot is timed to the second to kidnap Eichmann—hold him until an Israeli diplomatic mission can leave Argentina for Tel Aviv, sedate him for the long flight, and avoid discovery while refueling. It fosters the kind of tension only a well-written thriller can create. Impeccably researched, with photos and artifacts included, the book includes a bibliography with extensive notes. Reviewer: Judith Hayn

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—The author of the adult book Hunting Eichmann (Houghton, 2009) tells the harrowing story of the Israeli agents responsible for tracking down Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader who orchestrated the extermination of six million Jews. In the years following World War II, many Jews were involved in attempts to find Nazi war criminals who had gone into hiding all over the globe and bring them to trial. Eichmann was a prime target, but no one had heard anything about him for years until an offhand comment in a letter led to a seven-year saga that involved a diverse cast including Mossad agents, regular citizens, and politicians, all with the single purpose of capturing this man. From cafés in Buenos Aires to the halls of the fledgling Israeli government, from false identities to secret drops, this story has all the hallmarks of a spy novel. Bascomb has a knack for turning complex detail into a suspenseful, heart-pounding narrative. Every face is catalogued, every procedure thoroughly outlined, every moment accounted for in this tale that requires patience and perseverance; at times it unfolds at a breakneck pace and at others, it is tantalizingly slow. The author depicts Eichmann as more than just a soulless Nazi monster and target; he is also seen as a father and husband, giving this account some balance. The depth of research in this fine work is evident in the level of information provided and in the extensive bibliography and source notes. An excellent choice for libraries looking to extend their World War II and Jewish history collections.—Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

Kirkus Reviews

Adolf Eichmann was among the Gestapo war criminals who managed to escape from Europe and establish new lives in Argentina. The search for him involved an international group of Nazi hunters who left no stone unturned to determine where and how he had fled, find him and bring him to justice. The trail of the man, an exacting scheduler who oversaw the transportation of Jews to the concentration camps, went cold until one small clue led to another. He was finally traced to Argentina, captured and secretly removed to Israel for a public trial. Meticulously detailed plans with timing down to the minute involving several Israeli secret services, intelligence networks, other civilian and governmental agencies, and dedicated individuals brought him to justice. Drawing on a wealth of sources that include original interviews, Bascomb swiftly establishes background, introduces readers to the key players and takes them through the search. At any moment in the hunt something might have gone wrong, with those involved being captured as spies and allowing Eichmann to escape. Tension rises from the pages, thanks to Bascomb's command of pacing, judicious use of quoted material, inclusion of archival photographs and strong descriptions. It's nonfiction as thriller in its recounting of the actions of a midlevel, monstrous clerk and the work of a few dedicated people in delivering him to justice. (author's note, bibliography, notes, index [not seen]) (Nonfiction. 12 & up)

The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi

Paperback

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The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi

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