The thrilling true story of Agent A12, the earliest enemy of the Nazis, and the first spy to crack Hitler’s deadliest secret code: the framework of the Final Solution.
In public life, Dr. Winthrop Bell was a Harvard philosophy professor and wealthy businessman.
As an MI6 spy—known as secret agent A12—in Berlin in 1919, he evaded gunfire and shook off pursuers to break open the emerging Nazi conspiracy. His reports, the first warning of the Nazi plot for World War II, went directly to the man known as C, the mysterious founder of MI6, as well as to various prime ministers. But a powerful fascist politician quietly worked to suppress his alerts. Nevertheless, Dr. Bell's intelligence sabotaged the Nazis, in ways only now revealed in Cracking the Nazi Code.
As World War II approached, Bell became a spy once again. In 1939, he was the first to crack Hitler’s deadliest secret code: Germany’s plan for the Holocaust. At that time, the führer was a popular politician who said he wanted peace. Could anyone believe Bell’s shocking warning?
Fighting an epic intelligence war from Eastern Europe and Russia to France, Canada, and finally Washington, DC, agent A12 was a real-life 007, waging a single-handed struggle against fascists bent on destroying the Western world. Without Bell’s astounding courage, the Nazis just might have won the war.
“In Cracking the Nazi Code, Bell offers a deeply researched, intriguing portrait of Winthrop. It is a remarkable story. The author, who spent 15 years on his research, argues that his subject was a super-spy who ‘led the fight’ against the Nazis, both in their early days and on the eve of World War II.”
“Exceptionally well-written, clear and engaging. Readers will be fascinated by the information that was, until now, unknown to the public. They will be captivated by Bell’s prose; his descriptions of fighting, landscapes, and historical figures carry the reader into the story.”
“The investigative work the author has done has produced a biography suited to the best of the current-day spy novels. Well-written and interesting and deserves to be devoured.”
“A hitherto unknown story about how Bell, who had been interned in Germany during World War I, used his excellent German and many connections to describe the country’s turmoil after the war for the benefit of the British secret services and government. The core story is remarkable in itself, but the wealth of detail about Germany in the years after World War I and the inner workings of British espionage makes it doubly so.”
