Overview

The first book to lay bare the life of a Nazi camp guard who settled in a Chicago suburb and to explore how his community and others responded to discoveries of Nazis in their midst. Reinhold Kulle seemed like the perfect school employee. But in 1982, as his retirement neared, his long-concealed secret came to light. The chief custodian at Oak Park and River Forest High School outside Chicago had been a Nazi, a member of the SS, and a guard at a brutal slave labor camp during World War II. Similar revelations stunned communities across the country. Hundreds of Reinhold Kulles were gradually discovered: men who had patrolled concentration camps, selected Jews for execution, and participated in mass shootings—and who were now living ordinary suburban lives. As the Office of Special Investigations raced to uncover Hitler's men in the United States, neighbors had to reconcile horrific accusations with the helpful, kind, and soft-spoken neighbors they thought they knew. Though Nazis loomed in the American consciousness as evil epitomized, in Oak Park—a Chicago suburb renowned for its liberalism—people rose to defend Reinhold Kulle, a war criminal. Drawing on archival research and insider interviews, Oak Park and River Forest High School teacher Michael Soffer digs into his community's tumultuous response to the Kulle affair. He explores the uncomfortable truths of how and why onetime Nazis found allies in American communities after their gruesome pasts were uncovered.

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9780226835549

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Reviews

“An important work of history that is both deeply researched and beautifully written. Soffer illuminates an overlooked yet remarkable story of an American community’s reckoning with justice in the wake of the Holocaust. He has achieved what the best history writers aim to do: shaping our view of the present by opening eyes to a new view of the past.” * Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life * “A chilling account of how someone with an evil past can hide in plain sight, and the lengths to which those who would expose him went to get a well-justified reckoning. Our Nazi reads like a novel, but is in fact a fine piece of scholarship that combines the history of the Holocaust, American policy, and life in suburbia in the postwar period.” * Hasia Diner, emerita, New York University * “Our Nazi raises profound moral questions about justice, forgiveness, and Holocaust memory. Soffer deftly weaves together multiple story lines in this well-researched and riveting account.” * Daniel Greene, Northwestern University *

Author Information

Michael Soffer is a history teacher at Lake Forest High School. During his tenure at Oak Park and River Forest High School, he taught Holocaust studies in a classroom that former Nazi camp guard Reinhold Kulle used to clean. His writing has appeared in publications such as the Forward, Chicago Jewish History, and the Times of Israel. This is his first book.

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