Book Club: A German Jew's Triumph

Authors Cindy Schweich Handler and Harry Handler will join 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.

The Authors

Cindy Schweich Handler

Cindy Schweich Handler is the author of "A German Jew's Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany." Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, AARP: The Magazine, Newsweek and numerous other national publications. She is a former editor of local magazines for The USA Today Network and has contributed regularly to The Record and Northjersey.com. Along with her husband, Harry, she has shared her book subject's story at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, KS, the 2026 Biographers International Conference and other groups.

Harry Handler

Harry Handler is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison history department, with degrees in history and political science. He lectures on World War I and II and contributed the Forward and Epilogue to "A German Jew's Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany." He serves on the History Department Board of Visitors at his alma mater. After moving to New York City post-graduation, his first job was to ghost-write a history book for the 300th anniversary of his trading firm. Though he has worked in finance for many years, his first love is history. He is currently working on a book about the storied art curator Max Friedländer, and the choices required to stay true to oneself during a time of reckoning.