The Nazi Hunters

Bascomb, N. (2013). The Nazi hunters. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books. 

A nonfiction account of hunting down one of the Nazi regimes most notorious leaders in the genocide of 6 million Jews during World War II, Adolf Eichmann.  Tending to go back in forth between relaying the facts and story telling, the book recounts stories of Adolf Eichmann from Holocaust survivors and the crew of Mossad agents that took part in the hunting down, abduction, and return of Eichmann to stand trial in Israel.  The Nazi Hunters tells the story of Adolf Eichmann's leading role in the extermination of Jews starting with his plan of rounding up the Jews and cramming them into gettos and then sending them off to the concentration camps where they were either immediately executed or worked to death.  When a girl in Argentina discovers that the boy she had been in a previous relationship with was possibly the son of the Nazi, Adolf Eichmann, she tells her dad and the story of confirming Eichmann's identity and subsequent retrieval from Argentina so he can stand trial, unfolds.  The details of the Mossad team's actions to locate Eichmann, positively identify him, capture him and then transport him from Argentina to Israel are emotional and tense, as everyone involved in the mission lost loved ones in the Holocaust.  Once Eichmann is successfully brought to Israel for trial, he is found guilty (even after maintaining innocence and that he was simply following orders) and sentenced to death.  The trial served two purposes- justification as well as a means to share the atrocities of the Holocaust with the world.  Prior to the trial, many survivors did not share their experiences and this trial opened the eyes of the world to the tragedies and suffering of an innocent people.

Select by YASLA as a top nonficiton read for young adults, this book is both educational and emotional.  Although not necessarily an intensely suspenseful page turner, it definitely keeps the reader wanting to learn more in a way not extremely typical of nonfiction books.  Neal Bascomb spent time traveling four continents, interviewing Mossad spies, tracking down former Nazi's in Argentina, and looking through rarely seen German archives.  Bascomb admits in his author's note that he did the best job he could, to accurately tell a spy story that, because of the confidentiality, had some elements missing.  Additionally, Bascomb states that there were some inconsistencies and conflicts between the stories of the events told by those he interviewed.  He shares the discrepancies in his notes section.  From all the research and facts known to the public, this story is as factually accurate as one could ever hope for it to be.  Throughout the book, there are photographs of the people involved, as well as some of the artifacts actually used in the mission.  Here is a book trailer for Neal bascomb's The Nazi Hunters.