Hal Marienthal

Good Germans: a Child's Fateful Journey Through Hitler's Third Reich Hal Marienthal

Only rarely does an autobiographical manuscript become a breathtaking thriller However, the novel of American emigrant Hal Marienthal maintains its tension on a high level from the first to the last page and is, at the same time, a time-specific document of a terrifying reality.-Walter Gruenzweig, Vienna Standard"A soul-riveting, heart-shattering personal account of the Holocaust, from the 1920's to liberation under the Statue of Liberty. Absolutely spell-binding."-Kenneth Lincoln (UCLA), Men Down West, The Good Red Road, A Writer's China"Hal Marienthal writes with the assured rhythms of a gifted storyteller. This coming-of-age narrative carries us deep into the heart of Nazi Germany, where a wise child leads us through harrowing near-death tunnels into the expanse of a new life. Rich with cinematic vividness and the authenticity of a first-person witness, Good Germans makes a truly important contribution."-Elizabeth Rosner, The Speed of Light, Blue NudeGermany 1929: Horst, son of Jewish parents, is six years old when he runs away from an orphanage. For three years the desperate little boy survives by sheer determination and with the help of ordinary citizens. Unintentionally he witnesses the rise of Nazism on its most elemental level. Germany 1932: When Horst and his widowed father are reunited they accept proposed adoption plans by distant relatives in Chicago. The agonizing mechanism of getting Horst out of the country is the suspenseful core of the novel. Good Germans becomes an electrifying adventure story whose outcome remains uncertain until the book's final page.