Kersten's List

Everyone knows the story of Oskar Schindler, who saved a thousand Jews during World War II. Few, however, know of Felix Kersten's feat, even though as early as 1947 a World Jewish Congress memorandum declared that he had saved "over 100,000 people of various nationalities, among them 60,000 Jews, putting their own lives in danger."

Who is Felix Kersten, anyway? A renowned physician and manual therapist, a true luminary in his field, Kersten enjoyed great respect among the rich and famous as well as among the poor, whom he treated for free. He was also known as "Himmler's therapist," who obtained the freedom of Jews and resistance fighters in lieu of payment. In order to reconstruct the true story, the author has done extensive research in archives, memoirs, newspapers, notes and interrogation reports of the main actors. Only a historian - a specialist in the history of World War II who is also fluent in German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Dutch - could have tackled this complex task. The result is a tale of terror, meanness, magnanimity, fanaticism and heroism that grabs the reader and keeps them riveted to the last page. But do we often witness lives of this magnitude?