NEW BOOK PUBLISHED SOON – PROJECT ECHO

I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone for my latest up-coming novel, stepping into the science fiction genera. While I have always enjoyed science fiction, I have never been willing to step into that area. However, I didn’t stray too far from my historical fiction roots. In my past writing, my topics have always focused on the Asian theater, such as, stolen gold by the Japanese in World War II, the Vietnam Conflict or Chinese spy operations surrounding the United States.

This time, I researched and wrote about World War II in Europe but with a sci-fi twist. While my novel follows the usual format, that is, most of the characters are real historical figures and followed the events as they occurred real time. I might add the plot of the novel could have actually happened. Moreover, the plot is not necessarily new but it is evil, very evil.

This blog is to introduce my antagonist, one of the most vile, real men from modern history: Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann.

Why Eichmann? And what did he actually do? What did I have him do in my novel?

Why Eichmann…

Using him as the antagonist, for those of you who know little about this German officer, selecting him allowed me to incorporate several real life issues into the plots of the novel. He grew up around a Jewish population in Austria, I might add the same home town of Hitler. He grew up a Nazi, serving in the Austrian Nazi Party during the 1930s. Then once in the military, he was assigned to the SS in a concentration camp. Shortly thereafter, he was re-assigned to Brigadier General Reinhard Heydrich’s SD, which was the German powerful SS security service or their military intelligence. This was the beginning of their friendship. In this new role, he was to catalog information on the Freemasons.  Later, he was re-assigned to the Jewish section. In 1938, he was transferred, once again, back to Austria to establish the Central Office for Jewish Emigration. This office had the sole authority for issuing permits to Jews wishing to leave Nazi occupied Austria. That put about one hundred thousand Jews at that man’s mercy. Eichmann quickly learned how to extort wealthy Jews. This was the final building block to cause him to be considered the Jewish authority in the Nazi Army and Party.

Finally, he was selected to be an integral part to the Lake Wannsee Conference to draw up Jewish Extermination Plan. Was his feelings toward the Jews a result of being teased while growing up, called “little Jew”? Due to his previous assignments and his accumulated knowledge on the Jewish population, he would soon be considered one of the experts on the Jewish population in Europe.

What did Eichmann actually do?

While there is a lot more to Eichmann’s background for the purposes of this blog, I’ll summarize. In 1939, he was transferred back to Berlin. He was promoted to lead the Gestapo Section IV B4. Then in January 1942, he joined General Heydrich and thirteen other men at the SS Villa on Lake Wannsee to draw up the final solution for the extermination of the Jewish race in all conquered territories with the ever expanding Nazi war machine. Because of his evil expertise, he was integral in the plan of how to exterminate the Jews. He had witnessed this first hand in conquered Poland, where SS officers murdered members of the politicians, professionals and others, due to the Nazi Party’s fear that they could be security threats or saboteurs.

What role did I give Eichmann, as the antagonist in my novel?

What if, Eichmann could change the outcome of World War II?