Stephen Uzzell
While researching World War II in his capacity as a UK secondary school teacher, Stephen Uzzell stumbled upon the name Haim Michael Klar, a Jewish man who impersonated a Nazi officer in order to help those trapped in the ghettos and concentration camps. The survivors' subsequent recollections to the Association of Descendants of The Shoah, based in Illinois, are all that remain of Haim Michael's extraordinary legacy.
Stephen was so enthralled by what he'd read that he first set out to write Haim Michael's biography. Unfortunately a lack of corroborating sources slowed progress, and the project was shelved. But Haim Michael's story could not be so easily forgotten. The novel I Am Juden was conceived in 2014, with the character Jozef Siegler standing as a testimony to this unique and unsung hero.
Published to acclaim in January 2019, I Am Juden has climbed to the Amazon UK Top 60 list in Historical Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense Fiction. Stephen's follow-up novel, The Ballad of Liberty Siegler, was published in May 2019.