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Book 1: East-West Street. Returning to Lviv

When renowned international lawyer Philip Sands was invited to give a lecture to law students in Lviv, he decided that it was also an opportunity to discover the city of his grandfather, who did not like to talk about the past.

Why did Lviv become the starting point of modern international law? What did the most prominent international lawyers Lauterpacht and Lemkin, whose efforts led to the inclusion of the terms "crimes against humanity" and "genocide" in the Nuremberg trials, have to do with it? Building a powerful meditation journey, in which crimes and guilt scar generations along the path of memory, with gaps that will always be the secrets of others, the author eventually finds unexpected answers to questions about his family.

This book is an attempt to talk about the past, and it is a historical detective story, a family history, and a legal thriller at the same time, as Philip Sands travels between the past and the present, interweaving several stories into one.

The cover photo is courtesy of Niklas Frank.

Book 2. The Rat Hole. Love, lies, and justice on the escape route of a Nazi criminal

In this gripping, non-fictional thriller based on real events, Philip Sands offers a unique account of the life of Nazi SS Gruppenführer Otto Freiger von Waechter and his wife Charlotte. Exploring the family's private archive of letters and diaries, he reveals the true historical background of life before and during the war, their escape to the Alps, their hiding place in Rome, and the Cold War.

It takes a long time before new secrets are revealed that haunt Wechter's youngest son, as he continues to believe that his father was a good man. What really happened to Otto Waechter as he waited to cross to Argentina through the rat hole, with the support of the Vatican bishop? And what is the story behind Waechter's sudden and unexpected death?