The Avenue of Spies: A True Story Of Terror, Espionage And One American Family's Heroic Resistance In Nazi - Occupied Paris, Kershaw - C

                                               This history is set in occupied Paris and focuses on two men: American physician Sumner Jackson and a German SS Major, Helmut Knochen. They had addresses a few doors apart on Avenue Foch, one a long-term family residence and the other a converted office. Their paths never crossed and the title of the book appears to be a bit of a contrivance.
                                               Jackson had served in the US Army Medical Corps in WWI, married a Frenchwoman and stayed on at the American Hospital in Paris. He rose to its head and, from May 1940 on, always managed it with an eye to helping those whom he was not supposed to treat: downed allied pilots, refugees, spies, soldiers while also contributing to an escape line to Spain. Knochen supported Eichmann's deportation of France's Jews and was in charge of suppressing the Resistance. Because Jackson was so highly regarded by the French, he was allowed to continue his role at the hospital. Although only a few feet from the Gestapo, they did not know of his existence. In 1943, his wife, Toquette, was recruited by and joined the Resistance. Arrest came  two weeks before D-Day. Shipped around France but never tortured, Jackson and his son, Phillip, wound up just outside of Hamburg and Toquette in Ravensbruck, north of Berlin. Toquette, barely alive, was transported to Sweden, where she slowly regained her health.  Both Sumner and Phillip were on another transport headed to Sweden when their overcrowded ship was attacked by the RAF. Thousands died, including Sumner, but Phillip miraculously survived.
                                             Sumner received posthumous awards from the French and American governments.  Toquette lived until 1968  and Phillip has had a full life in France. Like so many German war criminals, Knochen was twice sentenced to death, but both times, his sentence was commuted. He was out of prison by 1958 and lived to be over ninety and into the next century.
                                             I suspect the story might be compelling in different hands. But, it's very hard to take seriously histories that constantly use the phrase "one can only wonder' when discussing the actions, thoughts or activities of the principal players. This may be an example of superior marketing - certainly not storytelling.