The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill

by Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A detailed and meticulous examination of the supposed Nazi plot to kill FDR, ripe with convincing historical evidence, a full scope investigation of WWII and the breakneck pace of a thriller. This is riveting history with plenty of surprises.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"An absolute home run! You will never look at WWII the same way again." —Brad Thor, #1 bestselling author

"Meltzer and Mensch are masters." —Jon Meacham, author The Soul of America

"A true story that reads like a thriller." —Alexander S. Vindman, LT. Col., U.S. Army (Ret.)

"An outstanding and memorable reading experience....a true page-turner from beginning to end." —Bookreporter

From the New York Times bestselling authors of The First Conspiracy and The Lincoln Conspiracy comes the little-known true story of a Nazi plot to kill FDR, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill at the height of World War II.

In 1943, as the war against Nazi Germany raged abroad, President Franklin Roosevelt had a critical goal: a face-to-face sit-down with his allies Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. This first-ever meeting of the Big Three in Tehran, Iran, would decide some of the most crucial strategic details of the war. Yet when the Nazis found out about the meeting, their own secret plan took shape—an assassination plot that would’ve changed history.

A true story filled with daring rescues, body doubles, and political intrigue, The Nazi Conspiracy details FDR’s pivotal meeting in Tehran and the deadly Nazi plot against the heads of state of the three major Allied powers who attended it.

With all the hallmarks of a Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch page-turner, The Nazi Conspiracy explores the great political minds of the twentieth century, investigating the pivotal years of the war in gripping detail. This meeting of the Big Three changed the course of World War II. Here’s the inside story of how it almost led to a world-shattering disaster.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250777287
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	01/09/2024
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	71,688
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

BRAD MELTZER is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lightning Rod, The Escape Artist, and over ten other bestselling thrillers, as well as the Ordinary People Change the World series. He is also the host of the History Channel TV shows Brad Meltzer’s Decoded and Brad Meltzer’s Lost History, which he used to help find the missing 9/11 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero.

JOSH MENSCH is a New York Times bestselling author and documentary television producer with a focus on American history. He is co-author with Brad Meltzer of The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington and The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President. For television he has written, directed, and produced nonfiction series for PBS, the History Channel, and other networks. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.

Hometown:

Florida

Date of Birth:

1970

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

B.A., University of Michigan; J.D., Columbia University

Website:

http://www.bradmeltzer.com

Table of Contents

A Note on the Text ix

Prologue 1

Part I Commander in Chief 5

Part II Storm and Ruin 47

Part III Uncle Joe 123

Part IV Eureka 187

Part V Aftermath 293

Acknowledgments 337

Notes 341

Selected Bibliography 375

Index 381

Editorial Reviews

10/31/2022

Meltzer and Mensch follow up The Lincoln Conspiracy with an action-packed account of the German plan to assassinate the leaders of the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union in Tehran in 1943. The story begins after the plot has been discovered, with Franklin Roosevelt hunkered down in the back of a nondescript car on his way to the Soviet embassy while his body double rides through the city’s streets in a presidential motorcade. From there, the authors flash backward, recounting the attack on Pearl Harbor; Allied assassinations of enemy leaders, including Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto; and the infiltration of Iran by German spies including Franz Mayr, a sleeper agent who kept his affiliation with Nazi intelligence secret despite not getting any communications from his superiors for almost two years. Though Mayr was arrested by British intelligence, the German paratroopers he helped infiltrate into Iran remained, and when a Turkish valet assigned to the British ambassador to Iran leaked information about the top-secret summit, Nazi officials hatched a plan to use the commandos to assassinate the “Big Three”—or so Soviet intelligence officials claimed. Meltzer and Mensch acknowledge doubts about the plot’s actual existence yet convincingly argue that it was real, and provide necessary historical context while setting a brisk, thriller-like pace. WWII buffs will be enthralled. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"This is a riveting sub-plot in the middle of the greatest cataclysm in human history -- the Second World War. It's told with confidence and mastery and is what we all crave -- a page turner!" -Ken Burns

“History is full of fascinating twists and near twists—and Meltzer and Mensch are masters of the tales of such moments.” —Jon Meacham, author The Soul of America: The Battle for our Better Angels, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

"An absolute home run! You will never look at WWII the same way again." —Brad Thor, #1 bestselling author

“Nazis, body-doubles and WWII like you’ve never seen it. Here’s the assassination plot that nearly changed history! Reads like a thriller, but it’s all true. One of the best books of the year. Read it now!”
- Brian Kilmeade, bestselling author of The President and the Freedom Fighter

"A colorful trek through a labyrinth of twists and turns that could have changed history." -Kirkus

"thrilling account....A fascinating and potentially controversial book." -Booklist

"WWII buffs will be enthralled." -Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Scott Brick, with his rich baritone and impeccable pacing, delivers a commanding performance of a riveting, unconfirmed WWII incident. In 1943, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin met in Iran to strategize their attempt to end the war. Authors Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch lay out the Nazi conspiracy to kill the “Big Three,” with action that moves from Tehran to Berlin, Washington, Moscow, London, and beyond. The story involves spies as well as the highest officials. Although it’s impossible to prove the existence of the plot, if it is true and had it been successful, it would have plunged Allied Forces into chaos. Brick’s expressive narration highlights every bit of intrigue, danger, and horror in this electrifying historical exploration. S.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

2022-09-21
The Tehran Conference was a pivotal event of World War II, but there was danger lurking in the shadows.

This is a strange—and strangely entertaining—book. Meltzer and Mensch, whose careers have included TV documentaries, nonfiction, thrillers, and comic books, acknowledge that the events they recount may not have happened, and they have obviously filled in some blank spaces with reasonable speculation. The authors focus on a possible plot by the Nazis to assassinate Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—the “Big Three,” as they were called by the media of the time—when they met for a crucial conference in Tehran in 1943 to plan strategy. Several chapters of the book deal with the problems of setting up the conference, especially Stalin’s insistence that it must be held in Tehran. The Nazis, who had a network of spies and sympathizers in the city as well as tapped communications line between Roosevelt and Churchill, were aware that the conference was going to happen and saw an opportunity to reshape the global order. There was a plan to send a squad of commandos into the Soviet Embassy, where the meetings were being held, through underground tunnels. But the NKVD, one of the Soviet intelligence agencies, discovered the plot and intercepted the group before they could do any damage. Much of this territory has already been covered, but Meltzer and Mensch dig up some new material. They admit that several researchers, pointing to contradictions in various firsthand accounts and a lack of documentation, have described the “plot” as a Soviet hoax. However, after sifting through the evidence, the authors conclude that there probably was a plot. As in the authors’ previous two co-authored books, The First Conspiracy and The Lincoln Conspiracy, the narrative sometimes wanders away from the main story, but it makes for interesting reading.

A colorful trek through a labyrinth of twists and turns that could have changed history.

Kirkus Reviews