As a teenager, author Georg Rauch helped his mother protect the Jewish couples hidden in their Viennese attic. Officially classified as one-quarter Jewish, Rauch is drafted into Hitler s army and sent to fight for causes he detests. Rauch finds himself near death many times, but his talents as a shortwave radio operator, chef, and even harmonica player all play a role in his survival. Captured by the Russians in the autumn of 1944, Rauch faces brutality and near-fatal illness as a POW. Recruitment for Russian espionage ...
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As a teenager, author Georg Rauch helped his mother protect the Jewish couples hidden in their Viennese attic. Officially classified as one-quarter Jewish, Rauch is drafted into Hitler s army and sent to fight for causes he detests. Rauch finds himself near death many times, but his talents as a shortwave radio operator, chef, and even harmonica player all play a role in his survival. Captured by the Russians in the autumn of 1944, Rauch faces brutality and near-fatal illness as a POW. Recruitment for Russian espionage saves his life this time, but his story isn t over yet. Based on eighty letters sent home from the Russian trenches, The Jew with the Iron Cross is a riveting tale of paradox and survival during World War II. A fascinating account of what it was like for a partial Jew to serve in the German military during World War II. Rauch s experiences and hardships dramatically depict the physical and emotional struggles of a Mischling during the Third Reich. -Bryan Mark Rigg, author of Hitler s Jewish Soldiers Not about combat tactics but about what it meant to be in an army at war. Rauch has put a human face on aspects of the war that are usually only referred to in passing. -Tom Houlihan, WWII cartographer "With honesty and affection Georg Rauch tells of the love and respect between a mother and son as well as the nightmare experiences of a young soldier fighting and barely surviving a war he never wanted, understood or could justify." -Ellen Barone, Lake Chapala Review
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Add this copy of The Jew With the Iron Cross: a Record of Survival in to cart. $48.07, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Clarita, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Iuniverse Inc.
Add this copy of The Jew With the Iron Cross: a Record of Survival in to cart. $66.17, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Clarita, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Iuniverse Inc.
Yes, I'll confess. I am the author's widow and the translator of this book. I am also a professional librarian who has read many thousands of books over my lifetime. In the course of translating The Jew with the Iron Cross from Georg's original German, and through the many editings that followed, I read the book at least 10 times from cover to cover. And I never could read it without being pulled in once again to this fascinating story of the most charismatic man I've ever known. The only man, I always claimed, that I would be marooned on a desert island with. Why? Because I was certain that as he did, in this book, at only 18 years old, he would once again use his amazing wits, invent something, discover food, or end up saving our lives through sheer luck! Each time I have read the book I have laughed once again at his antics, marveled at his genius each time he found a way to escape certain death, and cried at the end as he finally found his way home. Georg was not a professional writer, but rather a great artist. This is the memoir of a terrible war, on the worst front, seen through the eyes of an artist and, above all, the memories of a survivor!! No one who has read it has failed to be moved and most claim it would make an amazing movie.
