Levin, the journalist who uncovered the affair, describes British policy toward the Jewish people during the Holocaust era, particularly the construction of obstacles that prevented thousands from being saved. Levin then examines Britain's intentional and unabashed use of Holocaust victims and survivors' property after World War II.

This is the first book to describe this affair, which is relatively unknown to the general public, but which has already been described by public figures as one of the most serious incidents of the looting of Holocaust victims' property. Levin documents, from British Public Office files, the cynical manner in which His Majesty's government expropriated victims' assets in order to compensate British citizens who had claims against former enemy countries. He also describes the suffering of survivors until some of them managed after years of struggle to retrieve small portions of their property. He also deals with the struggle for a change in British policy which began with the publication of Levin's investigative report in June, 1997 and which continues to the present. An important book for anyone concerned with the Holocaust and British contemporary history.