The last Nazi

Will there ever be a last Nazi? How will we remember, and understand, the Holocaust, after its remaining survivors and perpetrators have died? As neo-Nazi violence breaks out once again in Western Europe, and in the aftermath of John Demjanjuk's trial as "Ivan the Terrible," this poignant, provocative book powerfully explores the collective and individual legacies of the Holocaust. In 1992 a German court tried a frail old man named Josef Schwammberger for crimes committed in Poland in World War II. Arrayed against him were the Jewish victims of those crimes, themselves elderly but determined in their last years to bear irrefutable witness against the atrocities of the Holocaust. Brilliantly interweaving a chilling account of Schwammberger's life before, during, and after World War II with the experiences of those who suffered, this book probes revealingly for answers to such questions as.

How did Schwammberger, an SS sergeant, come to hold absolute sway over three Polish towns with thousands of inhabitants? How accurate are his accusers' recollections? How did Schwammberger use the Red Cross to escape Allied authorities after World War II, and why did Argentina give him safe haven for forty years? Why did the German government make no serious effort to pursue Schwammberger, until Simon Wiesenthal established his whereabouts beyond question? Reminiscent of Schindler's List in its passion and insight, this book movingly addresses both the persistence of the Nazi horror, now reemerging in "skinhead" violence and neo-Nazi splinter groups, and the inspiring capacity of the Jewish people to withstand and transcend the assault upon them. It will resonate with every reader concerned with our shared responsibility to remember.