Listen "Fifteen: Murder, Retribution, and the Forgotten Story of Nazi POWs in America - William Geroux"
Episode Synopsis
Listen to this audiobook in full for free onhttps://hotaudiobook.com/free Title: Fifteen: Murder, Retribution, and the Forgotten Story of Nazi POWs in AmericaAuthor: William GerouxNarrator: TBDFormat: UnabridgedLength: 12:00:00Language: EnglishRelease date: 03-18-2025Publisher: Random House (Audio)Genres: History, Non-Fiction, True Crime, Mystery, Thriller & Horror, North America, MilitarySummary:The revelatory true story of the long-forgotten POW camps for German soldiers erected in hundreds of small U.S. towns during World War II, and the secret Nazi killings that ensnared fifteen brave American POWs in a high-stakes showdown.
After the U.S. entered World War II, the American government placed nearly 400,000 German prisoners of war into hundreds of hastily built camps in the United States. Today, traces of those camps—which once dotted the landscape from Maine to California—have all but vanished.
All but forgotten, too, is the grisly series of killings that took place at those camps—Nazi power games playing out in America’s backyard.
Protected by the Geneva Convention, German POWs in the U.S. were well-fed and housed, with most even working jobs, including on American farms. Some were impressed by America’s vast land and bounty—a few would even marry farmers’ daughters. Ardent Nazis in the camps, however, took a dim view of fellow Germans who befriended their captors.
Soon, the killings began. In camp after camp, Nazis attacked fellow German prisoners. Fifteen were sentenced to death for murder by secret U.S. military tribunals. In response, German authorities condemned fifteen American POWs to the same fate. Nazi Germany proposed an audacious trade: fifteen German lives for fifteen American lives.
Drawing on extensive research, journalist and historian William Geroux shines a spotlight on the surprising saga of German POWs in America, a forgotten story of murder and high-stakes diplomacy, and the fifteen American lives that hung in the balance, including a fearless P-51 Mustang fighter pilot, two American intelligence agents, and a hot-tempered lieutenant colonel nicknamed “King Kong.”
Propulsive and vividly rendered, The Fifteen reminds us that what happens to soldiers after they exit the battlefield can be just as harrowing as what they experience on it.
After the U.S. entered World War II, the American government placed nearly 400,000 German prisoners of war into hundreds of hastily built camps in the United States. Today, traces of those camps—which once dotted the landscape from Maine to California—have all but vanished.
All but forgotten, too, is the grisly series of killings that took place at those camps—Nazi power games playing out in America’s backyard.
Protected by the Geneva Convention, German POWs in the U.S. were well-fed and housed, with most even working jobs, including on American farms. Some were impressed by America’s vast land and bounty—a few would even marry farmers’ daughters. Ardent Nazis in the camps, however, took a dim view of fellow Germans who befriended their captors.
Soon, the killings began. In camp after camp, Nazis attacked fellow German prisoners. Fifteen were sentenced to death for murder by secret U.S. military tribunals. In response, German authorities condemned fifteen American POWs to the same fate. Nazi Germany proposed an audacious trade: fifteen German lives for fifteen American lives.
Drawing on extensive research, journalist and historian William Geroux shines a spotlight on the surprising saga of German POWs in America, a forgotten story of murder and high-stakes diplomacy, and the fifteen American lives that hung in the balance, including a fearless P-51 Mustang fighter pilot, two American intelligence agents, and a hot-tempered lieutenant colonel nicknamed “King Kong.”
Propulsive and vividly rendered, The Fifteen reminds us that what happens to soldiers after they exit the battlefield can be just as harrowing as what they experience on it.
More episodes of the podcast Say Goodbye to the Struggle of Flipping Pages: Free Audiobook to the Rescue
Trauma Plot: A Life - Jamie Hood
25/03/2025
Sister Europe: A novel - Nell Zink
25/03/2025
Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us - Herman Pontzer
25/03/2025
Ordinary Magic: The Science of How We Can Achieve Big Change with Small Acts - Gregory M. Walton
25/03/2025
Body-First Healing: Get Unstuck and Recover from Trauma with Somatic Healing - Brittany Piper
25/03/2025
Lady Sparks a Flame - Elizabeth Everett
25/03/2025
Lucky Night: A Novel - Eliza Kennedy
25/03/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.