Review
A terrific read and an important portrayal of actual legal work performed by real-life lawyers committed to pursuing those who assisted in Nazi atrocities and then lied to gain US citizenship. --Steven Biskupic, former federal prosecutor
It is absolutely brilliant! I loved it. The plot and detailed writing is riveting and exciting. --Rabbi Meir Hecht, Director, Jewish Learning Institute of Metropolitan Chicago
Extraordinary story. I started on Saturday morning and finished Saturday night, ignoring all of my errands. I could not put it down. The legal scenes are authentic and compelling. --Richard Kling, Professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law
A dramatic reminder through the life and remembrance of one Holocaust survivor who bravely survives the ruthless Nazi conquest of Poland and the struggle of Jews to survive the degradation and annihilation of Polish Jewry. --Victor Weissberg, D.H.L., D.D. Rabbi Emeritus
If you enjoy a good story, if you like novels, if accidentally learning something significant gives you a charge, buy this book and I PROMISE you that you will be glad you did. --David Templer, Attorney, Miami, FL
Product Description
Elliot Rosenzweig, a wealthy Chicago philanthropist, is attending opening night at the opera. Ben Solomon, a retired Polish immigrant, makes his way through the crowd and shoves a gun in Rosenzweig's face, denouncing him as former SS officer, Otto Piatek. Solomon is blind-sided, knocked to the floor and taken away. Rosenzweig uses his enormous influence to get Solomon released from jail, but Solomon commences a relentless pursuit to bring Rosenzweig before the courts to answer for war crimes. Solomon finds a young attorney, Catherine Lockhart, to whom he recounts his family's struggles and heroisms during the war, revealing to her that he and Piatek grew up as brothers in the same household.
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_Once We Were Brothers is a contemporary legal thriller and a poignant look back into the lives of small town Poland during World War II. _
The author, Ronald H. Balson, is a Chicago trial attorney, an educator and writer. His practice has taken him to several international venues, including villages in Poland which have inspired this novel.