My first book Nuremberg was published late 2021.
Title:
Nuremberg – A post-war mystery
In short:
Rookie journalist and historian Jutta investigates a WWII German resistance group in Nuremberg that did not lay down its arms after the war was over. The resistance group continues their lethal actions with journalist Jutta and the police on their trail.
Summary:
In the final months of the Second World War, one of the highest officers in the German army is assassinated by the German resistance in an attempt to speed up the outcome of the war. Months later, when the war is finally over, German resistance groups lay down their arms to return to regular life, and rebuild their country and their future. With that, assassinations cease – or do they?
In the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, one group continues their resistance. Only now their efforts are aimed at coward war criminals that managed to escape punishment after the war. Their lethal activities against former Wehrmacht and SS officers go undetected for decades. But only until rookie journalist and historian Jutta Grünebaum picks up their trail. Her investigations lead her to German and Dutch archives and historical war and memorial sites and events in several countries.
Simultaneously, high officers within the Bundes Polizei department Nuremberg start investigating a series of untimely and suspicious deaths amongst their own ranks. Accidents, suicides, or is there a more grim scenario going on?
Will the resistance men be apprehended by the police? Will Jutta be able to identify them? Will the truth come out?
Follow Jutta on her quest for the truth and for justice.
Cover:
Reviews:
Nuremberg by Paul Van Doorn:
Takes us through a time span from the end of World War 2 1945, to about 1985
Mostly occurring in Germany.
Paul tells a fictional story, tied into real places and historic events.
History of war horrors that we all need to reminded of.
The main characters named only as A, B, C, D, E, F and G. A secret group that takes it upon themselves to punish, (unpunished) war criminals. But as old age catches up on them, they choose to tell their story to Jutta, a female journalist at work. A historian at heart. Will she dare to take it upon herself to write?
Paul describes places, surroundings and environments’ but avoids people’s descriptions, thus keeping the story going forward without any unnecessary details. Like full speed ahead on a German autobahn. This preventing me from laying the book aside, I just kept reading and reading to the very end.
I shudder to think and wonder, how much of this is fiction and how much is the author’s own family history?
Well done, Paul, well written and an exceptional good story. Who knows, maybe even a manus for a great film.
Mike Coleman, Sweden March 2022
Another review:
by Henry M van Doorn
Authors comment:
Both my parents lived through the war as kids. Luckily, in our family, we kids could always ask questions about the war and get answers from our parents and were able to discuss the war. I was born 15 years after the war but it had not been forgotten by my country and its inhabitants.
As a kid, we often holidayed in Germany where I say many men only slightly older than my dad missing limbs, When asked, my dad explained that these men had likely been soldiers in the war and had lost their limbs during battle.
More recently, Germany took up trying to convict German citizens for war-related crimes. These could be either atrocious behavior during battle or corporation in war-crimes committed in the Nazi concentration camps. Notably, these persons had been living in Germany all their lives, participated in daily life and society, perhaps had held positions withing law enforcement or the judicial system, and without ever previousööy being bothered due to their shady past.
Why Germany decided to wait and do nothing all these years and now suddenly started filing cases against 90+ year old is beyond me, but they did. And it was this that triggered me to write this book.
While I have had thoughts to write a book for many years, the opportunity to do something with this ambition presented itself when Covid struck and everybody, including our family, was forced to stay at home. The book took less than a year to write as most of the ideas were already developped, and ready to be written down. Building a story around these ideas was new for me, and that was what took time.
Buy:
Happy reading!
Tags:
#lawandorder #revenge #warcriminal #ww2 #secondsworldwar #germany #deutschland #bundeswehr #wehrmacht #bundespolizei #paulvandoorn