Eric Lichtblau

I just finished reading Return to the Reich: A Holocaust Refugee's Secret Mission to Defeat the Nazis by Eric Lichtblau. A more fascinating page-turner is hard to find. There were many disturbing nuggets on information; without shouting, the author points ferrets out much information about U.S. complicity in the Nazi enterprise. This was not limited to the well-known refusal to admit Jewish immigrants; the subject of the book, Freddy Mayer, had his own efforts to fight in a more vigorous manner "slow-walked" almost to death. The Army kept him in pointless "training" exercises rather than putting his proposed infiltration unit to work.

I will save, for readers, the many stories of heroism, courage and accomplishment once he and two other fighters were allowed to parachute beyond enemy lines to disrupt Nazi activities in Austria. This being said, without coming out and saying it it seems there was almost a "gentleman's agreement" with the Nazis to dawdle and eventually reach a "Versailles" solution. As it is, when unconditional surrender arrived, as the book lays out, many Nazi monsters were permitted a graceful exit, while not al the soldiers and espionage combatants were well-treated.… (mehr)

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Return to the Reich: A Holocaust Refugee’s Secret Mission to Defeat the Nazis by Eric Lichtblau tells the true story of Fred Mayer, a Jew born in Germany and returns as an American agent behind enemy lines. Mr. Lichtblau is a Pulitzer Prize winning author.

This book is a compilation of excellent research and first hand interviews, which met the author a few month before his death. The outcome is the fascinating Return to the Reich: A Holocaust Refugee’s Secret Mission to Defeat the Nazis by Eric Lichtblau tells the true story of Fred Mayer, a book which brings history to life.

This was a very exciting book, following Mr. Mayer from his childhood in Germany, to his training in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), an onto his missions behind enemy lines. The writing is simple, but exciting, it’s a difficult book to put down.

The first part of the book talks about the lives before World War II. Jewish refugees fleeing to America. The next part tells of the difficult training and how Mr. Mayer and his friend found their way to the OSS and how they handled difficulties. These two parts made the personalities real, which made me feel as if I had a stake in their success and survival.

Mr. Mayer must have had balls of steel, he seem to have never inherited the protective gene of fear. Whether it is to fly a B24 without training, or jump out of it over the Austrian Alps – for the first time. It is difficult to believe that all these adventures actually happened, and to one person at that.

This is a story worth telling, a fascinating tale which is difficult to believe. Even though this is a short book, it is a good story and a real page turner.… (mehr)