| Summary |
April 1945. Gestapo Headquarters, Innsbruck, Austria. In the dank room, the two Gestapo officers punched the spy in the face. "Jude!" the tall one barked, glaring into the man's swollen eyes. "Quatsch!" (Nonsense) another Gestapo officer stated. It was inconceivable that a Jew would dare to return to the heart of the Third Reich as an Allied agent. In July 1934, Frederick Mayer, a German-born Jew was recruited to secret operations unit, the OSS. Along with four other German-Jews, he volunteered for behind-enemy-lines operations. All had family members in concentration camps. All wanted revenge. Mayer and his comrades were dropped into the "Alpine Redoubt" area of Austria, where Hitler planned to make a desperate last stand. Capture meant certain death, yet under Hitler's nose this tiny army blew up trains, stole secrets and even impersonated German officers. Eventually, after the most daring missions, Mayer was captured and tortured by the Gestapo, but still he did not break. Meanwhile the Allies were approaching, sounding the death knell for Nazi Germany. Mayer, in his greatest act of chutzpah, then convinced his tormentor not to risk being shot defending a lost cause, and instead to surrender his forces. This is a riveting, first-hand, intensely human story of courage and revenge that has never before been told. |
