Gauleiters Robert Wagner and Joseph Buerckel, the German administrative heads of the States of Baden and the Pfalz/Saar, sought to be the first to make their territories Judenrein (free of Jews). They engineered a massive westward expulsion of over 6,500 Jews to Camp de Gurs, located in unoccupied Vichy France. The event became known as the Wagner-Buerckel Aktion and was offered by the Gauleiters as their gift to the Fuehrer in October 1940. The relocation of Jews to the Gurs internment camp became an intermediate step when the infamous ?Final Solution? was pronounced at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942. This Nazi annihilation program triggered yet a second round of transports that would move the incarcerated Jews from Gurs to the Parisian suburb of Drancy, an assembly point where the victims faced a final deportation to the death camp of Auschwitz. The story of this little known tragedy is told by the author who delves into the background of the historical events that led to the Aktion. He recounts the impact of this cataclysm on the area surrounding his boyhood residence in Germany and relates the tribulations and ultimate fate encountered by nearly seven-hundred members of his widely located family in the State of Baden.

CORPORATE WAR: POISON PILLS AND GOLDEN PARACHUTES is a business thriller portraying two computer companies engaged in a hostile takeover. The novel chronicles corporate management protagonists seeking company growth, struggling to maintain control and battling for survival behind the closed doors of the Boardroom. Francis Taylor, a compulsive technocrat, founded one of the first computer software companies. He fulfilled his aspiration to be an industry leader when the company achieved public ownership and annual revenue of one-hundred million dollars. Then all hell broke loose. Taylor's mindset was stuck on room-size mainframes while the technology sweet spot moved to smaller computers. In addition, a haughty management style propelled his executives through a spinning revolving door. These factors, along with mismanaged financial statements, led to a nosedive of his company's stock during the recession of 1981-82. Colleague Brad Albright, the aggressive CEO of a computer hardware startup, seizes the opportunity to mount a leverage buyout of Taylor's weakened company with the assistance of Taylor's ambitious protege, Joshua Kerem. Albright's business strategy targets a turnkey solution for network computing by combining his niche hardware product line with the significant programming capability inherent in Taylor's company. The financial analysts characterize the Albright/Taylor confrontation as a David/Goliath battle, which intensifies when other buyers, greenmailers and arbitrageurs get into the act. After Taylor's management buyout countermeasure fails, he is left with one remaining deterrent, the company's arsenal of poison pills. Albright succeeds in the acquisition and Kerem becomes the CEO of the combined companies. Although Taylor receives the Golden Parachute kiss-off, he makes a fatal landing. Remorseful about his mentor's fate, Kerem perpetuates Taylor's legacy by a surprising decision.