Murder and Martial Justice. Spying and Retribution in World War II America
Meredith Lentz AdamsAn expert dissection of the crime, its witnesses, and Washington's shifting goals. Murder and Martial Justice is a good murder mystery, based on a solid examination of the various contradictions and irritating bureaucratic villains."—Arnold Krammer, author of Nazi Prisoners of War in America and Undue Process: The Untold Story of America's German Alien Internees During World War II, the United States maintained two secret interrogation camps in violation of the Geneva Convention—one just south of Washington, D.C., and the other near San Francisco. German POWs who passed through these camps briefed their fellow prisoners, warning them of turncoats who were helping the enemy—the United States—pry secrets from them. One of these turncoats, Werner Drechsler, was betrayed and murdered by those he spied on. U.S. military authorities reacted harshly to Drechsler's death, even though he was not the first captive to be assassinated by his fellow POWs. How had...