'Tainted Blood?': Author Reveals Unimaginable Hardship of World War II in New Memoir |
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By: AuthorHouse Posted: 2007-09-02 08:26:02 |
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Contemporary thinkers still puzzle over the philosophy of the Third Reich and their concept of purity of blood. In her new memoir, "Tainted Blood?: Memoirs of a Part-Jewish Girl in the Third Reich 1933-1945" (published by AuthorHouse - http://www.authorhouse.com), Margaret Baacke recollects the trying times she, Gretel, and her twin brother, Hans, endured during the turbulent years between the German hyper-inflation in 1923 and the end of World War II in 1945.
Gretel and her brother entered the Hitler Youth in 1936, but being one quarter Jewish, i.e. 2nd degree Jewish Mischlinge, both were expelled after only two years. Hans was later drafted into the Wehmacht. Gretel started working as a secretary in a music publishing house while preparing in night school for the Abitur during air raids and bombardments. After one mandatory year in the Reich's Labor and War Auxiliary Service, Gretel became a doctor's assistant in a Luftwaffe hospital in East Prussia. Hans, after three years of combat in Russia, wounded twice, was awaiting the extraction of grenade splinters from his arm in a Berlin hospital, when the Soviet Army marched him from the hospital in Berlin to a prisoner of war camp in Russia. Gretel, with the patients and personnel of the East Prussian hospital, fled from the approaching Soviet army to Wittingen, near Hanover. There, they experienced the peaceful takeover by the American army on Friday, April 13, 1945 - almost a month before Germany's unconditional surrender. In the book, Baacke has interwoven stories of amazing strength, courage, and even humor. She has also inserted facts of recent history to paint an accurate picture of the critical decades between 1923 and 1945. As a result, readers will gain a much deeper understanding of what life was like in Germany during the Nazi Regime. Unfathomable emotions during days of equally unfathomable evil, "Tainted Blood?" opens the window into some of the most heartfelt and terrifying moments in human history. Readers will intently read its pages in search for the almost extinguished gleam of hope that led Gretel and her brother through the otherwise dark night of the war. Baacke enrolled at the University of Marburg, Hesse, in 1946, including one year of study at the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. After earning her doctorate, she emigrated to the United States in the early '50s and taught German at several universities, including the University of Illinois, Western State College, Purdue University and Knox College. Retired since 1989, she currently resides in Austin, Texas. "Tainted Blood?" is her first book, but she plans to write a second volume that will span her post-war experience from 1945 until her emigration to the United States in the early '50s. Please visit http://www.taintedbloodhitler.com for more information. AuthorHouse is the premier book publisher (http://www.authorhouse.com) for emerging, self-published (http://www.authorhouse.com/GetPublished/FAQ.aspx) authors. For more information, please visit http://www.authorhouse.com. EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact: Promotional Services Department Tel: 888-728-8467 Fax: 812-961-3133 |
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