Something interesting happened recently. Four years ago, I wrote A Lightness in My Soul, a WWII novella about a boy who is taken to the concentration camp, Dachau, by American troops. My friend, Marion, had met an old man in a car repair shop and he’d told her his story as a teen. Despite my friend’s efforts, she never found out his name. Another friend, who also lives in Herten, decided to investigate anew. She knocked on doors in the street, the old man had lived, and asked various neighbors.
Guess what, she found out his real name – Helmut N. He’d passed shortly after he’d told his story to my friend in 2021. Helmut had been childless, lived alone and been reclusive, apparently a complicated man. I’m not surprised. Considering what he saw and experienced, he would’ve been utterly traumatized. And no person in the 1950s or 1960s received therapy. In fact, he’d been so burdened, he’d never spoken to a soul about his ordeal – until he met my friend.
I just wish I’d had the chance to meet him.
The Last Novella about my Father Is Coming Out
In 2017 I’d written 47 Days, a novella about my father, Günter, as a youth at the end of WWII. Because this little book has been consistently successful – many love the fact that it’s the perfect story for teen boys and reluctant readers, also perfect for schools – I added a second novella, 24 Hours: The Trade in 2024.
Well, I have now written the third and last one called 5 Months: The Wait, set between April and August 1945. Right after the war, Günter and his mother and little brother began the painful and uncertain wait for his older brother, Hans, and his father. Neither has been from in months and millions are rumored to be missing. During this time, American troops have taken over the town while all schools and media outlets have been closed. There is little to eat while the country waits for Hitler to end the war …
All three novellas are biographical and take place in or near Solingen in Germany between December 1944 and August 1945.