“I think German Boy has all the qualities of greatness. I love
the book.” -- from the Foreword by Stephen Ambrose
As the Third Reich crumbled in 1945, scores of
Germans scrambled to flee the advancing Russian troops. Among them
was a little boy named Wolfgang Samuel, who left his home with his
mother and sister and ended up in war-torn Strasbourg before being
forced farther west into a disease-ridden refugee camp. German Boy
is the vivid, true story of their fight for survival as the tables
of power turned and, for reasons Wolfgang was too young to
understand, his broken family suffered arbitrary arrest, rape,
hunger, and constant fear.
Because his father was off fighting the war as a
Luftwaffe officer, young Wolfgang was forced to become the head of
his household, scavenging for provisions and scraps with which to
feed his family. Despite his best efforts, his mother still found
herself forced to do the unthinkable to survive, and her sacrifices
became Wolfgang’s worst nightmares. Somehow, with the resilience
only children can muster, he maintained his youth and innocence in
little ways–making friends with other young refugees, playing games
with shrapnel, delighting in the planes flown by the Americans and
the candies the GIs brought. In the end, the Samuels begin life
anew in America, and Wolfgang eventually goes on to a thirty-year
career in the U.S. Air Force.
Bringing fresh insight to the dark history of
Nazi Germany and the horror left in its wake, German Boy records
the valuable recollections of an innocent’s incredible journey.
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