Almost 50 years after World War II, the collectors who possess the priceless art once plundered by the Nazis are dying under mysterious circumstances. The CIA calls on renegade counter-terrorist Mike Semko to team up with a beautiful Israeli agent to track down the master terrorist who holds the explosive list of collectors.
A charged biography of a notorious Nazi art plunderer and his career in the postwar art world "[Petropoulos] brings Lohse into sharper focus, as a personality and axis point from which to explore a network of art dealers, collectors and museum curators connected to Nazi looting. . . . What emerges from Petropoulos's research is a portrait of a charismatic and nefarious figure who tainted everyone he touched."--Nina Siegal, New York Times "Readers of art history and WWII biographies will appreciate this engrossing deep dive into one of the world's most prolific art looters."--Publishers Weekly Bruno Lohse (1911-2007) was one of the most notorious art plunderers in history. Appointed by Hermann Göring to Hitler's art looting agency in Paris, he went on to help supervise the systematic theft and distribution of more than thirty thousand artworks, taken largely from French Jews, and to assist Göring in amassing an enormous private art collection. By the 1950s Lohse was officially denazified but was back in the art dealing world, offering masterpieces of dubious origin to American museums. After his death, dozens of paintings by Renoir, Monet, and Pissarro, among others, were found in his Zurich bank vault and adorning the walls of his Munich home. Jonathan Petropoulos spent nearly a decade interviewing Lohse and continues to serve as an expert witness for Holocaust restitution cases. Here he tells the story of Lohse's life, offering a critical examination of the postwar art world.
Amidst the giddy chaos of Berlin, Hitler toys with death in his bunker. The golden boy of Nazism, Hermann Goring, looks set to succeed as Fuhrer. But his bid for power ends with a cyanide capsule in a gaol cell in Nuremberg. And there history signs off on Hermann. Yet buried in the footnotes sits the extraordinary story of Hermann Goring's little brother, Albert. A defiant anti-Nazi, Albert Goring spent the war years busting the persecuted out of concentration camps, smuggling them across borders and funnelling aid to refugees throughout Europe. He did everything to undermine his brother's regime. But by 1944 the Gestapo were hunting him down like a dog. Did Hermann step in and save his brother? Enter William, a twentysomething from Sydney, Australia, who stumbles upon the key to Goring's last secret, the original list of Thirty Four witnesses penned by Albert's own hand in Nuremberg. Shelving plans for a Ph.D., William sets off on a three-year odyssey across eight countries and three continents to piece together the puzzling life of Albert Goring. There to guide him are the tattered pages of Albert's list, along with those within who bear testimony to Albert's heroism. Forget staid biography. Think seat-of-your-pants travelogue mixed with a Spielberg eye for storytelling and you start to get a taste for the energy William brings to the page. Delivering the kind of must-read story that turns history on its head, "Thirty Four" gives us a new hero. Standing alongside Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg is the Goring history forgot. 'William Hastings Burke has done a great service by bringing Albert's deeds to light. Many survivors and their descendants scattered across the globe owe their lives to him. It is time that he was recognised by Yad Vashem.' Gilead Sher, "The Jewish Chronicle" '... an enthralling piece of history that has the makings of a great novel.' "Die Presse" 'A fresh and unorthodox form of writing history, enriched by the first person.' "La Aventura De La Historia" 'Burke splices an interesting form of history with his travel anecdotes in the background.' "Die Woche"
They were the most unlikely siblings - one, Adolf Hitler's most trusted henchman, the other a fervent anti-Nazi. Hermann Goering was a founder member of the Nazi Party, who became commander of the Luftwaffe, ordering the terror bombing of civilians and prompting the use of slave labour in his factories. His brother, Albert, loathed Hitler's regime and saved hundreds - possibly thousands - across Europe from Nazi persecution. He deferred to Hermann as head of the family but spent nearly a decade working against his brother's regime. If he had been anyone else, he would have been imprisoned or executed. Despite their extreme and differing beliefs, Hermann sheltered his brother from prosecution and they remained close throughout the war. Here, for the first time, James Wyllie brings Albert out of the shadows and explores the extraordinary relationship of the Goering brothers.
This volume reveals Hermann Goering's full role in forcing the Allies of World War I to back down repeatedly as he and Hitler bloodlessly occupied Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Memel during 1938-39. In addition, the Luftwaffe's vaunted Legion Kondor helped win the Spanish Civil War, with air experience gained.
"After the twists and turns in Goering's many missions, Frater finishes with a stunning revelation . . . the author delivers an exciting read full of little-known facts about the war. A WWII thrill ride." - Kirkus Reviews The U.S. air battle over Nazi Germany in WWII was hell above earth. For bomber crews, every day they flew was like D-Day, exacting a terrible physical and emotional toll. Twenty-year-old U.S. Captain Werner Goering, accepted this, even thrived on and welcomed the adrenaline rush. He was an exceptional pilot—and the nephew of Hermann Göring, leading member of the Nazi party and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe. The FBI and the American military would not prevent Werner from serving his American homeland, but neither would they risk the propaganda coup that his desertion or capture would represent for Nazi Germany. J. Edgar Hoover issued a top-secret order that if Captain Goering's plane was downed for any reason over Nazi-occupied Europe, someone would be there in the cockpit to shoot Goering dead. FBI agents found a man capable of accomplishing the task in Jack Rencher, a tough, insular B-17 instructor who also happened to be one of the Army's best pistol shots. That Jack and Werner became unlikely friends is just one more twist in one of the most incredible untold tales of WWII.
"I clamor for the next installment of Richard O’Rawe’s rollicking series of heist novels featuring James 'Ructions' O’Hare." — Sarah Weinman, The New York Times Book Review "Mr. O’Rawe ... has written the most riotous caper novel since his own 'Northern Heist,' and with luck, there will be more adventures ahead. "—Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal Ructions O'Hare returns in a thriller — based on one of history's greatest unsolved heists — pitting him against the IRA, Interpol, and neo-Nazis . . . When WWII ended, the allies discovered that a huge amount of gold bullion plundered by Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering had gone missing. Some believed the gold had been hidden in a train box car in Poland. Others that it was secreted in Lake Toplitz in the Austrian Alps. And a few thought it was buried in the Republic of Ireland, which was neutral during the war. When ex-IRA soldier Ructions O'Hare stumbles on a piece of Nazi memorabilia once owned by Goering, he begins to think that those who suspect the gold was in Ireland just might be on to something. But for Ructions to return to Ireland is easier said than done. For a start, the IRA is after him for not paying them a cut from a huge bank robbery he carried out in Belfast. And then there's the Neo-Nazis, who believe that Goering's gold rightfully belongs to them, and who are happy to kill anyone who gets in their way. And as Ructions gathers clues to the gold's location and, as his many adversaries realize he's getting closer, it's as if a noose is tightening around his neck...