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Elliott & Thompson to publish 'incredible' story of Felix Kersten for first time in the UK
Elliott & Thompson is to publish the “incredible” story of Felix Kersten, Henrich Himmler’s personal physician who saved thousands of lives during the Second World War, for the first time in the UK.
Robin Harvie, executive publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for The Man with Miraculous Hands: The Incredible Story of Himmler’s Physician Who Saved Thousands of Lives by Joseph Kessel from Gallimard. The book was first published in the US in 1962, and will be published for the first time in the UK by Elliott & Thompson on the 9th March 2023 ahead of a major film in which Woody Harrelson will star.
The synopsis says: “Felix Kersten was pulled into the Third Reich’s corridors of power as Heinrich Himmler’s personal physician, seemingly the only person who could cure the chief architect of the Holocaust of his crippling stomach pains. The Man With Miraculous Hands tells the story of how by working on Himmler’s vanity and gratitude, Kersten was able to persuade Himmler to free and pardon thousands of people who were destined for the concentration camps, and outlive his captor. Reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film ’Schindler’s List’, this book tells the story of a mild-mannered modern day hero who restores our hope in mankind, while reviving in our minds the 20th-century’s worst nightmare.
"There have been many books about the Holocaust — and there will be many more. What makes this one so memorable is Felix Kersten’s incredible courage and determination. He understood exactly what was in store for his fellow prisoners and he was determined to save as many lives as he humanly could.”
The book will include a foreword by Norman Ohler, the internationally bestselling author of Blitzed (Houghton Mifflin), who will address both the courage and the historical legacy of Felix Kersten’s story.
Harvie said: “Were it not for the outbreak of the Second World War, Felix Kersten would have been forgotten to history. Instead, his story has come to represent a moral dilemma that we are faced with when confronted by evil and is an important addition to our understanding of the horrors of the Second World War.”
