LAWRENCE MALKIN

Apenas dos semanas después de empezada la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la cúpula nazi planeó y puso en marcha una estafa monetaria a gran escala: acuñar millones de libras esterlinas falsas con objeto de financiar sus planes de guerra y debilitar la economia britanica. La operacion se encargo al alto mando de las SS Bernhard Krueger, quien no dudo en reclutar a los mejores falsificadores de moneda de entonces, nada menos que un grupo de judios internos en el campo de concentracion de Sachsenhausen, cerca de Berlin, a los que se aislo en el Bloque 19 para que pudieran trabajar en total secreto. Entre 1942 y 1945 los prisioneros falsificaron un total de 132 millones de libras esterlinas, el equivalente al 15 por ciento de la moneda de curso legal en circulacion entonces en Inglaterra. Todos los detalles y las consecuencias de la operacion (conocida como Operacion Bernhard), incluida la historia personal de muchos de sus protagonistas, se cuentan ahora por primera vez en un libro que ademas incluye fotografias, planos y reproducciones de los documentos falsificados. Su autor, el premiado escritor y periodista Lawrence Malkin, ha tenido acceso por primera vez a cuentas bancarias secretas, correspondencia germano-britanica recientemente desclasificada y transcripciones de interrogatorios. El resultado es una reconstruccion minuciosa y amena de la fascinante trama de esta conspiracion criminal sin precedentes.

The true story that inspired the Oscar-winning movie The Counterfeiters. "An astonishing and exciting tale. The drama of how the Nazis mounted a complex counterfeiting operation inside a concentration camp is matched by the chilling life-or-death saga of the prisoners involved. It reads like a thriller, but it's all true." -Walter Isaacson, author of The Wise Men and Benjamin Franklin Only a fortnight after the start of WWII, at a meeting that has remained a secret for more than half a century, Nazi leaders and officials of the German Reichsbank approved an audacious plot to counterfeit millions of British pounds. Drawing upon top-secret bank records, German and British correspondence, and interrogation transcripts, Lawrence Malkin reveals how an unremarkable SS officer named Bernhard Krueger attempted to bring down the world financial system. But when Krueger discovered that forging pounds, and later dollars, was no easy task, he made a crucial decision: he would seek out the greatest counterfeiters of pre-war Europe and enlist them in the effort. He found them in an unexpected place: a Nazi concentration camp. KRUEGER'S MEN is the remarkable story of how these Jews managed to save themselves. Part Schindler's List, part The Great Escape, this account of the Nazi plot is a fascinating portrait of deception, courage, and moral awakening. "Few writers understand the mysterious intricacies of money better than Lawrence Malkin, and in KRUEGER'S MEN he has reconstructed one of the last great untold stories of World War II." -Robert Crowley, founding editor of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History "A hard gem of a book." -Tampa Tribune "The compelling story of the Third Reich's attempt to wreck the British economy by flooding Europe with millions of counterfeit British pounds. . . . Thorough research and authoritative voice enable this fascinating chapter of history to hold interest. Gripping proof that indeed all is fair in love and war." -Kirkus Reviews