The Watchmaker's War

A new beginning. And old enemy. A perilous choice. ‘With so many stories untold, The Watchmaker’s War is a unique and wonderful telling of one of them: how after liberation peace doesn’t automatically follow, particularly peace of mind for those who witnessed and experienced so much evil. To be human is to desire justice – or is it revenge? – for your family, your friends, your people’ Heather Morris, author, The Tattooist of Auschwitz

When Yakov Holtzman arrives in Melbourne – about as far away as he can possibly get from the graveyard that is Europe – he puts behind him the years he spent in the forests of Lithuania as a leader of the resistance, fighting the Nazis. He has come to join his brother – his only surviving family member – and start a new life as the watchmaker he once was.

Yakov looks for solace – and love – in the fragile, traumatised community of Jewish refugees taking root in a new land. But when swastikas, threats and, most frightening of all, the faces of old enemies appear on the streets of suburban St Kilda, his new-found peace is shattered.

Fierce instincts are reawakened in Yakov, and he knows he must act. But how can justice – or revenge – best be served? And will Yakov’s drive to destroy his enemies overtake him too, and leave his new life in ruins?

Based on a true story, The Watchmaker’s War is a gripping, high-stakes tale of Nazi hunters in Australia and the war criminals they pursued – killers with links to the highest levels of Australia’s spy agency. It offers profound insights into the lingering trauma of genocide, posing difficult questions about competing desires for peace and vengeance, and how far a victim should go in the pursuit of justice when the authorities fail to act.

PRAISE

‘Can we ever really escape the past? A haunting thriller about old enemies, wounded hearts and rough justice. Spellbinding’ Michael Visontay, author of Noble Fragments

Author Biography

Danny Ben-Moshe is a Walkley Award-winning documentary filmmaker, whose films have screened on leading networks around the world, from the BBC to PBS. Prior to becoming a full-time filmmaker Danny spent over a decade as a professor at Deakin and Victoria universities in Melbourne where he researched issues of cultural diversity in general, and Jewish identity in particular.

His first podcast, My Lost Family, featured in Audible’s top 10 podcast in its year of release. His documentary Revenge: Our Dad the Nazi Killer, which inspired The Watchmaker’s War, debuted in 2023. Danny’s work takes him around the world but when home in Australia, he lives in Caulfield North, Melbourne.