Summer Of My German Soldier

An emotional, thought-provoking book from multi-award-winning author Bette Greene. The summer that Patty Bergen turns twelve is a summer that will haunt her forever. When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, Patty learns what it means to open her heart. Even though she's Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi, but as a lonely, frightened young man with feelings not unlike her own. In Anton, Patty finds someone who softens the pain of her own father's rejection and who appreciates her in a way her mother never will. While patriotic feelings run high, Patty risks losing family, friends — even her freedom — for this dangerous friendship. It is a risk she has to take and one she will have to pay a price to keep. "An exceptionally fine novel." —The New York Times "Courageous and compelling!" —Publishers Weekly A National Book Award Finalist An ALA Notable Book A New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year

When the train pulls into the station in Jenkensville, Arkansas, Patty Bergen senses something exciting is going to happen. German prisoners of war have arrived to make their new home in the prison camp. To the rest of the town these prisoners are only Nazis, but to Patty, a young Jewish girl with a turbulent home life, one of the young soldiers becomes an unlikely friend. Anton understands her in a way her parents never could and Patty is willing to lose her own family, friends and even freedom for a boy who becomes the most important part of her life.

World War II has come to Patty Bergen's hometown of Jenkinsville, Arkansas, in the form of a German prisoner of war camp. Patty, a twelve-year-old Jewish girl, is curious about these Nazi soldiers, who must be monsters for the killing they have done. She is also lonely and awkward, and looking for a friend. Anton, a German soldier, is not the monster that Patty imagined, but a frightened young man with feelings not unlike her own. He sees Patty in a way no one else does, as "a person of value." When she decides to help him escape from the camp, the consequences will change Patty's life forever. This thought-provoking, emotional narrative tackles difficult issues with insight and courage. Patty's story is as important today as ever, and has made Summer of My German Soldier a modern classic. It is a National Book Award Finalist, an ALA Notable Book, and a New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year.

En route to Germany in search of the maternal love she never had, eighteen-year-old Patty Bergen lingers in Paris and experiences her first love affair. A sequel to "Summer of My German Soldier."

The personal memoir of a Nazi soldier, from joining the German Army in 1941 through his time as a Panzer on the Eastern Front. Originally written only for his daughter, Armin Schedierbauer’s Adventures in My Youth chronicles his time as a solider during World War II. As an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German Army, Schedierbauer saw four years of combat on the Eastern Front. After joining his unit during the winter of 1942, he was wounded six times and had firsthand experience of the Soviet offensives in the summer of 1944 and January 1945. While fighting in East Prussia, he was captured by the Soviets and not released until 1947. Schedierbauer was only twenty-one years old when the war ended, and his memoir recollects the experiences he went through as a young man on the front.

Accomplished, resonant and surprising (Guardian) -- a debut for fans of Summer of My German Soldier. In July 1940, eleven-year-old Lydia escapes life as a child evacuee in Wales. She arrives home to her English village, gas mask in tow, only to find it abandoned. Her family's house is shuttered and empty. Lydia settles in though, determined to wait out the war. Later that night he arrives: a wounded soldier, gun-wielding, heralding a full-blown German invasion. He says he won't hurt Lydia, but she cannot leave the house. The unlikely pair coexists in their claustrophobic confines, becoming dependent on each other for survival. Lydia soon realizes that the soldier knows more than he should about her family -- and that he's plotting something for them both. Eerie, gripping, and incredibly moving, The Dynamite Room brings an original and contemporary resonance to the great tradition of war classics.

Alois Dwenger, writing from the front in May of 1942, complained that people forgot "the actions of simple soldiers.I believe that true heroism lies in bearing this dreadful everyday life." In exploring the reality of the Landser, the average German soldier in World War II, through letters, diaries, memoirs, and oral histories, Stephen G. Fritz provides the definitive account of the everyday war of the German front soldier. The personal documents of these soldiers, most from the Russian front, where the majority of German infantrymen saw service, paint a richly textured portrait of the Landser that illustrates the complexity and paradox of his daily life. Although clinging to a self-image as a decent fellow, the German soldier nonetheless committed terrible crimes in the name of National Socialism. When the war was finally over, and his country lay in ruins, the Landser faced a bitter truth: all his exertions and sacrifices had been in the name of a deplorable regime that had committed unprecedented crimes. With chapters on training, images of combat, living conditions, combat stress, the personal sensations of war, the bonds of comradeship, and ideology and motivation, Fritz offers a sense of immediacy and intimacy, revealing war through the eyes of these self-styled "little men." A fascinating look at the day-to-day life of German soldiers, this is a book not about war but about men. It will be vitally important for anyone interested in World War II, German history, or the experiences of common soldiers throughout the world.