Debbie Cenziper is an investigative journalist, professor, and author based in Washington, D.C. A contributing reporter for the investigative team at The Washington Post, she has won many major awards in print journalism, including the 2007 Pulitzer Prize. Cenziper is the co-author of the critically acclaimed Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality. She was recently named the director of investigative journalism at the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism.
"Citizen 865 is a fantastic piece of detective work.... A
compulsively readable story of mass murder and an epic quest by
Nazi hunters to bring evil men to justice."--Alex Kershaw, New York
Times bestselling author of The Bedford Boys and The Longest
Winter
"Citizen 865 is a great book that couldn't come at a more crucial
time. In telling the story of a little-known Holocaust site called
Trawniki and the people who dedicated themselves to bringing some
of modern history's worst monsters to justice, Debbie Cenziper has
honored the vanishing plea to never forget, first by breaking my
heart with the worst of humanity, and then, with the best of us,
stitching it back together."--Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist
David Finkel, author of Thank You for Your Service and The Good
Soldiers
"Citizen 865 reads like a thriller, but it is so much more... [It]
tells an essential and unknown tale of post-war justice and the
search for truth, linking the events of the Holocaust to the
familiar, more recent past. Telling this story of a decades-long
quest for justice is itself an act of justice. "--Ariel Burger,
author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom and winner
of the National Jewish Book Award in Biography
"[Citizen 865] is serious journalism at its best....a history worth
reading and knowing....a hopeful book about the power of knowing
history and the rule of law."--LA Review of Books
"A Pulitzer-worthy investigation....Debbie Cenziper provides
stunning insights into these Nazi hunters' skill, accomplishments,
and dedication....Passionate, provocative, and artfully
constructed, this fully engaging work of deeply humanized
scholarship is a fine addition to the literature of the Holocaust
and its aftermath."
--Washington Independent Review of Books
"Anchored in painstaking research and reporting, Citizen 865
chronicles the efforts of the lawyers and historians of the Office
of Special Investigations to rid the United States of the Third
Reich's mass murderers who had been hiding in plain sight. Debbie
Cenziper's account vividly-and movingly-captures both the
frustrations and triumphs of this extraordinary group of dedicated
men and women who refused to abandon the quest for a measure of
long overdue justice."
--Andrew Nagorski, author of 1941: The Year Germany Lost the War
and The Nazi Hunters
"Brilliant....Intriguing....[Citizen 865 is] a powerful book and
reads like a fast-paced mystery novel. But it is not fiction. It is
a story and history worth reading and knowing."--Jewish
Exponent
"Cenziper brought her investigative skills to bear on the challenge
of retrieving the hard facts, but she also possesses the gift of a
storyteller....[Citizen 865 is] a highly significant work of
investigation that is eye-opening and heartbreaking. She compels us
to confront the crimes of the Trawniki men in a way that burns
itself into both memory and history."--Washington Post
"Cenziper provid[es] fascinating insight into the personalities,
motivations, and procedures of the OSI prosecutors.... The accounts
of Lucyna and Felix...are told with a great deal of
empathy."--Library Journal
"Cenziper's sophomore effort...is of vital
importance....Fast-paced, well-researched, and rife with touching
human details, Citizen 865 is a rarity: a thrilling work of
historical nonfiction that readers will struggle to put
down....Beautifully human, devoted to detail, and thoroughly
enthralling...Cenziper has written a book with the power to compel
its readers to honor the Holocaust's devastating history."--The
Federalist
"Debbie Cenziper has written a page-turning detective story about
the hunt for Nazi killers living openly in neighborhoods across the
United States....This is a book that anybody interested in the
quest for international justice should read."
--Michael Isikoff, New York Times bestselling co-author of Russian
Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the
Election of Donald Trump
"Enriched by Debbie Cenziper's world-class investigative skills,
Citizen 865 is a powerful piece of history that washes over you in
waves of horror and beauty."--David Maraniss, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of A Good American Family
"Excellent....Well researched work of historical non-fiction reads
like a fast-paced fictional thriller. [Citizen 865] provides a
comprehensive and insightful presentation, not only of the
painstaking work of the OSI, but also the personal lives and
motivations of the attorneys and historians who staffed it."--Times
of Israel
"For Cenziper, who is Jewish, the question of delayed justice
remains a key theme in the book."--The Miami Herald
"Gripping... [A] brisk, thrilling account."
--Publishers Weekly
"I have read fictional thrillers far less gripping than Citizen
865."--The Charlotte Observer
"Skillfully written and reported....Riveting....Cenziper's account
moves cinematically around in time and place."--The Forward
"This is a gripping tale, which reads at times like a novel. Just
when you thought you knew everything about the Holocaust, we learn
about the uniquely devastating role of the Trawniki training
center. At a time of rising anti-Semitism, Debbie Cenziper's
Citizen 865 offers a harrowing reminder of the consequences of
unchecked racism and anti-Semitism. And it serves as a repository
of hope-that the leadership of good men and women could bring a
measure of justice to the world in the face of such overwhelming
evil."
--Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and National Director,
Anti-Defamation League
"This riveting saga, replete with heroes and villains, is the true
story of a few good men and women who worked tenaciously to expunge
an evil in our midst."--George F. Will, author of The Conservative
Sensibility
"With much human interest, Cenziper draws out all the implications
for principles of justice for victims and perpetrators of
unspeakable crimes."
--Booklist (starred review)
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