Author Talk -Terence Clarke & Ron Kaufman – M.M. Diaries

A gifted scientist and engineer, the developer of Nazi Germany’s V-2 rocket guidance system, Moses Mendelssohn is also a member of the legendary Mendelssohn family that includes his namesake, the noted 18th century philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, the 19th century genius composer Felix Mendelssohn, and the legendary Mendelssohn family of German bankers.

Although his family converted to Lutheranism in the 19th century, the Mendelssohns are considered simply as Jews by the Nazi regime, and therefore targeted. But without Moses’s expertise, the missile will fail as Germany’s ultimate weapon. Moses’s wife and son, both also considered Jews, disappear from Berlin, and Moses learns that they have been kidnapped by the Nazis. He knows that if the V-2 fails, his family will perish, as will he.

The V-2 must fly so that his family may be saved.