The Death's Head Chess Club

Can you ever forgive the unforgivable?





In 1962, Emil Clément comes face to face with Paul Meissner at a chess tournament in Holland. They haven't seen one another in almost two decades. Clément, once known only as The Watchmaker, is a Jewish former inmate of Auschwitz. Whilst there, he was forced to play chess against Nazi guards. If he won, he could save a fellow prisoner's life; if he lost, he would lose his own. Meissner, a soft-spoken priest, was also at Auschwitz. He was the SS Officer who forced The Watchmaker to play...



John Donoghue has worked in mental health for over twenty years and written numerous articles about the treatment of mental illness in a variety of medical journals. He is married and lives in Liverpool.