A Flood of Evil: Book 1

THE STORY OPENS WITH BERTHOLD BECKER FACING A DEATH SENTENCE AT THE 1945 NUREMBERG WAR CRIMES TRIAL … … Berthold Becker showed little emotion as his jailer unlocked his cell and escorted him along the dark corridor lined with soldiers. For several weeks he had sat quietly and watched as the trials of the other high-ranking Nazis had proceeded, and for the past two days he had paid somewhat greater attention as the evidence against him was presented, and what he regarded as a pathetic defense followed. It wasn’t his attorney’s fault. He was guilty. He had done horrible things. He couldn’t change what he had done and now he would pay the price. He expected to be hung. THE DEFENSE ATTORNEY ASKS IF HE CAN INTRODUCE ANOTHER, NOT PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULE WITNESS ... ... The Chief Justice looked to Prosecutor Weintraub who made no objection, and all eyes turned to the now open door at the back of the courtroom and the woman standing there. Berthold choked back the sounds that began to erupt in his throat but could not stop the tears that flooded from his eyes. The woman entering the courtroom had been his closest friend and lover for fifteen years. She was forever in his thoughts. He had not expected to ever see her again. ANNA GORSKA TESTIFIES AT BERTHOLD’S TRIAL … … “Berthold Becker was a member of the Nazi Party, and in that capacity, he participated in the commission of at least some of the crimes he has been charged with by this Tribunal. I am sure he expects to be punished.” She paused. “But for reasons I will explain, he should not be put to death. … “This defendant is not now and never was an evil man. He was dragged into a maelstrom not of his choosing and from which he was unable to escape. It is easy to say he should have done more to stop the Nazis and in hindsight perhaps he would agree. … “Berthold Becker had a unique vantage point during the entire Nazi terror. He knows and will tell a truth that others deny.” Looking back to the justices, speaking slowly, she delivered each of her final words as if it were a dagger. “You have the power to allow the terrible story of German evil and guilt to be known. Do not take the life of this defendant. Let Berthold Becker live to tell his story.” FORTY-FIVE YEARS LATER … ... the daughter of Becker's Nuremberg prosecutor, a professor of Holocaust history at Brandeis University, asks her father to collaborate with her in a book about the characters in his Nuremberg trial. “You read Gorska’s testimony,” he says. “There must be more,” his daughter responds. “A German Catholic Nazi is saved from death by a Polish Jewish woman who had been a prisoner at Auschwitz. There must be more.” ... Thus is the story of Berthold and Anna told. Book One covers the years from 1923 to 1933, from Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch to his appointment as Chancellor.