Overview

A spellbinding account of a German teenager's ordeal in World War II Fifteen-year-old Jakob left his German village in Yugoslavia in 1942 with the goal of avoiding conscription in the German army. His only option besides becoming a soldier was learning a trade in support of the war effort, thus he became a machinist for Messerschmitt, an aircraft manufacturer that supplied the German air force. Throughout the war years he endured bombing raids and constant hunger, all while managing to stay just ahead of the Russian army. Jakob's ordeal was not that of a soldier, spy, persecuted Jew, or prisoner of war, but of an ordinary young man caught up in a conflict he didn't understand with survival as his only goal. Years later Jakob shared stories of his experiences and post-war search for work and love with his daughter Luise, who relays an emotional and heartwarming account of her father's journey through and beyond the Second World War.

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Reviews

Supremely readable...lyrically alive. Bolleber incorporates impressive research and wonderfully specific detail to tell a large, complex story in measured, mindful prose imbued with imagination and generosity. LEAH HAGER COHEN, Author of To and Fro

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