Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
Authors Cindy Schweich Handler and Harry Handler joined the LBI Book Club to discuss their book A German Jew's Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany.
When Prussian soldier Fritz Oppenheimer left the World War I battlefield with two Iron Crosses, he could never have imagined that the pinnacle of his military career would come 27 years later at the German surrender in World War II, when he took top Nazi leaders into captivity and interrogated Wilhelm Keitel, head of the Wehrmacht.
A towering personality packed into a 5’3″ frame, Oppenheimer was a wealthy Jewish Berliner who fled the Third Reich in mid–1938, joined basic training in the U.S. Army at 45, becoming one of the "Ritchie Boys." He ultimately became General Eisenhower’s legal aid and translator, tasked with helping to build a sustainable postwar democracy in his former homeland. This historical biography presents an untold David-and-Goliath story, demonstrating how one person’s efforts can help change the course of history and forge a more hopeful future.
Authors Cindy Schweich Handler and Harry Handler joined the LBI Book Club to discuss their book A German Jew's Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany.
When Prussian soldier Fritz Oppenheimer left the World War I battlefield with two Iron Crosses, he could never have imagined that the pinnacle of his military career would come 27 years later at the German surrender in World War II, when he took top Nazi leaders into captivity and interrogated Wilhelm Keitel, head of the Wehrmacht.
A towering personality packed into a 5’3″ frame, Oppenheimer was a wealthy Jewish Berliner who fled the Third Reich in mid–1938, joined basic training in the U.S. Army at 45, becoming one of the "Ritchie Boys." He ultimately became General Eisenhower’s legal aid and translator, tasked with helping to build a sustainable postwar democracy in his former homeland. This historical biography presents an untold David-and-Goliath story, demonstrating how one person’s efforts can help change the course of history and forge a more hopeful future.
