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Find Johnny Nicholas!

Just about everyone knows the story of the International Military Tribunal Trial held in Nuremberg, Germany between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946. Commonly known as the Main Nuremberg Trial, twenty-four senior Nazi party officials and military officers were indicted on one or more of the four charges: conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity (click here to read the blog, Hitler’s Enablers-Part One). Twenty-one defendants sat in the dock (Martin Bormann was tried in absentia, Alfred Krupp was too ill to attend, and Robert Ley committed suicide). Twelve men were sentenced to death, three were acquitted, and the remainder were given prison terms ranging from ten years to life imprisonment (click here to read the blog, Court Room 600).

By the time the main trial ended, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France had had enough of Nazi trials and future trials were carried out by the Americans and countries where Nazi atrocities had occurred. The twelve Nuremberg follow-up trials between October 1946 and April 1949 were held in Court Room 600, the same venue as the main trial. Defendants in the twelve trials included doctors, lawyers, industrialists, administrators, and members of the Einsatzgruppen, SS mobile killing units.

Subsequent post-war trials were held to establish accountability of the men and women who actively participated in the crimes and atrocities against their fellow human beings. The defendants were primarily lower-level party officials, officers, and soldiers. Among them were concentration camp guards and commandants, police officers, and collaborationist officials of occupied countries (click here to read the blog, Hitler’s Enablers -Part Two). The trials were conducted either in groups (e.g., Auschwitz, Belsen, Dachau, Sobibor, and Treblinka) or as single defendants (e.g., Rudolf Höss, Albert Kesselring, and Anton Dostler). Many of these trials were held in former concentration camps such as Dachau and Auschwitz.

It is here that Johnny’s story begins.


Understandably, there is very little information about Johnny Nicholas. The formative (and only) book devoted solely to Johnny is The Search for Johnny Nicholas by Hugh Wray McCann and David C. Smith. When I refer to “the authors” in this blog, I am speaking of Messrs. McCann and Smith. Mr. McCann first heard the story of Johnny in 1965 from a friend who had covered the 1947 Nordhausen War Crimes Trials. He and his journalist friend, Mr. Smith, decided to embark on a decades long journey to uncover the life story of a man who led a very interesting life before his untimely death at the age of twenty-six. I highly recommend you read this very interesting book but before starting Chapter One, I suggest you first read the Foreword (“How the Search Began”) and the Afterword (“The Search Within the Search”).

Cover of book, “The Search for Johnny Nicholas” by Hugh Wray McCann and David C. Smith.
Cover of book, “The Search for Johnny Nicholas” by Hugh Wray McCann and David C. Smith. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

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Something Must Be Done

Sandy and I have decided to take off the month of August regarding the creation of two new blogs. We will switch our focus this month to finishing the second volume of the German occupation of Paris (Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters?). We’re so close to wrapping up the new book that I am going to put blinders on and focus one hundred percent on completing it.

 In the meantime, we are “repurposing” two of our prior blogs for August. Two weeks ago, we expanded and reprinted the 2017 blog, The Sussex Plan and a Very Brave Woman (click here to read the blog). Today, we are presenting a blog that was published in 2019. Over the years, we have received many e-mails from people who knew Suzanne’s children, Bazou and Pilette. It was very interesting (and amazing) to hear their stories.


Do you ever wonder how rather obscure stories are resurrected from history’s dust bins? In the case of today’s blog, we have Anne Nelson to thank for uncovering the story of Suzanne Spaak’s resistance activities. Anne is the author of Suzanne’s Children (refer to the recommended reading section at the end of this blog for a link to her book). Anne came across Suzanne while researching her excellent book, Red Orchestra (again, refer to the recommended reading section). A haunting photo of Suzanne found in Leopold Trepper’s memoirs piqued Anne’s interest and initiated her nine-year journey. She was able to locate Suzanne’s daughter, Pilette, in Maryland and a series of three dozen interviews spread out over seven years formed the backbone of Anne’s research. There isn’t much out there regarding Suzanne’s story, so we owe many thanks to Anne for finding and “bird-dogging” the facts surrounding Suzanne’s activities. I’m quite sure she went down many rabbit holes while researching and writing the book. I have read both books and I look forward to Anne’s next book.


 I briefly introduced you to Suzanne Spaak in March (The French Anne Frank; click here to read). She and Hélène Berr worked together to save the lives of hundreds of Jewish children. Like most of the résistants during the Occupation, Suzanne and Hélène did what they thought was the right thing to do. As Suzanne told people, “Something must be done.”

Suzanne Spaak. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Read her story at "Something Must Be Done" - Stew Ross Discovers
Suzanne Spaak. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

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