Join the Veterans Breakfast Club and the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown for a special public luncheon lecture with historian Todd DePastino, telling the fascinating and colorful story of Operation Pastorius, the Nazi plot to sabotage America during World War II. Part thriller, part farce, the story begins in 1942 when eight German saboteurs landed on American shores carrying explosives and big ambitions—but little common sense. Their mission: to cripple U.S. industry and sow terror on the home front. What followed was a tale of betrayal, blunder, and courtroom drama that drew in Franklin D. Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover, and the newly empowered FBI.
Todd will bring this stranger-than-fiction episode to life, revealing how wartime fears, propaganda, and luck shaped one of the most bizarre spy cases in American history.
Todd DePastino is founder and executive director of the Veterans Breakfast Club and author of the award-winning Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front and six other books. A dynamic speaker with a Ph.D. in history from Yale, Todd has a gift for making the past come alive with insight, humor, and humanity.
This event is free and open to the public.
You don’t need to be a veteran to attend. Lunch is included.
We’d appreciate your RSVP and a suggested donation of $10 per person.
To RSVP, contact:
JCC Youngstown: 330-746-3250 ext #106 or bwilson@jewishyoungstown.org
Veterans Breakfast Club: 412-623-9029 or JoAnn@veteransbreakfastclub.org
The Veterans Breakfast Club brings American history to life. Join us to listen and learn, connect and heal, and say thank you to those who’ve served.
Thank you to the Youngstown JCC and the Thomases Family Endowment for Supporting this Event!
