Final Verdict

In this informed, thoughtful work [Buck] skilfully weaves together his investigation into his own family’s Nazi past - and their attempts to disguise it - with broader themes of historical justice and culpability … [a] masterly account – Adam LeBor * THE TIMES *Final Verdict tells the story of a 21st-century trial that raises vital questions about how we remember the Holocaust. [A] gripping and fascinating book – James Holland * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 5* review *Timely … gripping. A narrative that wrestles - calmly and very elegantly - with huge questions. This is a brilliant book. I learned a lot from it, and I was glad of Buck’s unshowy, measured style: on the page, he makes complicated things (the law, especially) straightforward. Above all, I found it - and this feeling has only grown since I finished it - to be important … books such as Final Verdict have never been more necessary – Rachel Cooke * THE OBSERVER *Excellent … a timely, wise and fair-minded meditation on a singular crime – Lawrence Douglas * TLS *Final Verdict is a thrilling read. It is a book that raises a myriad of fascinating questions and human dramas, beautifully constructed and enticingly written – PHILIPPE SANDS, author of EAST WEST STREETDiscursive and engaging … Buck deftly outlines the legal procedures while also expanding his narrative to take in other late Holocaust trials and testimonies from survivors * IRISH TIMES *Through a riveting account of the trial of 93-year-old Bruno Dey, a guard at Stutthof concentration camp when he was 17 in 1944, “the smallest of small cogs” in the SS hierarchy, Buck compellingly shows how History is always present, never past – CATRINE CLAY, author of THE GOOD GERMANSThe author provides a powerful guide to the proceedings and their context … Final Verdict provide[s] a fresh perspective on how Germans have negotiated their sense of historical and individual responsibility * THE WALL STREET JOURNAL *Timely and deeply thought-provoking, The Last Verdict examines how German courts let hundreds of thousands of Holocaust perpetrators off the hook until only a few low-level concentration camp guards remained alive to prosecute. Tobias Buck navigates the thicket of thorny questions surrounding this vexed and vexing history with great scope and sensitivity – PHILIP GOUREVITCH, author of WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIESAbsorbing … his insightful book examines questions of guilt, complicity and collaboration – Colin Shindler * JEWISH CHRONICLE *[A] lucid account … Buck crisply explains the legal hurdles that thwarted prosecution of alleged German perpetrators in West German courts * HISTORY TODAY *A gripping read from first to last … Buck’s deep research into his subject makes his book highly informative and thought-provoking. Final Verdict is an important contribution to understanding the impact of the Holocaust on the nation from which it emanated. This is a book that deserves to be read * THE JERUSALEM POST *

Tobias Buck is the Managing Editor of the Financial Times. Born in Germany, he studied law in Berlin before joining the FT as a graduate trainee in 2002. He went on to serve as the FT’s correspondent in Brussels, Jerusalem, Madrid and Berlin. His first book, After the Fall: Crisis, Recovery and the Making of a New Spain, was published in 2019.

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