As Governor of Galicia, SS Brigadesführer Otto Freiherr von Wächter presided over an authority on whose territory hundreds of thousands of Jews and Poles were killed, including the family of Philippe Sands’ grandfather.
By the time the war ended, he was indicted for ‘mass murder’. Hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the Poles and the British, as well as groups of Jews, Wächter went on the run. While preparing to travel to Argentina on the ‘ratline’ he died unexpectedly a few days after having lunch with an ‘old comrade’ whom he suspected of having been recruited by the Americans. Philippe Sands offers a unique account of the daily life of a senior Nazi and fugitive.
‘A triumph of research and brilliant storytelling’ Antony Beevor