Hans's Story

Hans's Story treats us to a child's view of how Nazi anti-Semitism gradually destroys his long-established family's existence, his teenage problems with emigration, his life in a school for refugees in England, and to his eventual arrival in New York, penniless, with only menial jobs to help support a reunited family. When War comes, he volunteers. His early experiences as an "enemy alien" in the U.S. Army are odd and often amusing. Though (absurdly) Army-trained as an Arabic expert, he still manages to emerge with a direct commission as a German speaking Intelligence officer. As such, he lands behind German lines in Holland with the 82nd Airborne Division, experiences the Battle of the Bulge, the advance through northern Germany, has encounters with the Russians and assists in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp. He is one of the first American officers in Russian conquered Berlin. Finally, his life comes full-circle as the ex-refugee takes charge of denazification in Bavaria, there beginning married life with the girl he first met in his English school. The decorated Army Captain's acceptance by Harvard Law School crowns the end of this phase of his life.