<div>The remarkable story of a German-born Jew who escaped Nazi Germany only to return as an American commando on a secret mission behind enemy lines. Growing up in Germany, Freddy Mayer witnessed the Nazis’ rise to power. When he was sixteen, his family made the decision to flee to the United States—they were among the last German Jews to escape, in 1938.   In America, Freddy tried enlisting the day after Pearl Harbor, only to be rejected as an “enemy alien” because he was German. He was soon recruited to the OSS, the country’s first spy outfit before the CIA. Freddy, joined by Dutch Jewish refugee Hans Wynberg and Nazi defector Franz Weber, parachuted into Austria as the leader of Operation Greenup, meant to deter Hitler’s last stand. He posed as a Nazi officer and a French POW for months, dispatching reports to the OSS via Hans, holed up with a radio in a nearby attic. The reports contained a goldmine of information, provided key intelligence about the Battle of the Bulge, and allowed the Allies to bomb twenty Nazi trains. On the verge of the Allied victory, Freddy was captured by the Gestapo and tortured and waterboarded for days. Remarkably, he persuaded the Nazi commander for the region to surrender, completing one of the most successful OSS missions of the war. Based on years of research and interviews with Mayer himself, whom the author was able to meet only months before his death at the age of ninety-four, Return to the Reich is an eye-opening, unforgettable narrative of World War II heroism.</div>

Return to the Reich

<div>A Newsweek Best Book of the Year: &ldquo;Captivating . . . rooted in first-rate research&rdquo; (The New York Times Book Review). In this New York Times bestseller, once-secret government records and interviews tell the full story of the thousands of Nazis&mdash;from concentration camp guards to high-level officers in the Third Reich&mdash;who came to the United States after World War II and quietly settled into new lives. Many gained entry on their own as self-styled war &ldquo;refugees.&rdquo; But some had help from the US government. The CIA, the FBI, and the military all put Hitler&rsquo;s minions to work as spies, intelligence assets, and leading scientists and engineers, whitewashing their histories. Only years after their arrival did private sleuths and government prosecutors begin trying to identify the hidden Nazis. Now, relying on a trove of newly disclosed documents and scores of interviews, Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning investigative reporter Eric Lichtblau reveals this little-known and &ldquo;disturbing&rdquo; chapter of postwar history (Salon). </div>

Eric Lichtblau
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Books By Eric Lichtblau (2 Books)

Return to the Reich

The Nazis Next Door

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