Eight-year-old Elmer Hovland lived in Kenneth, Minnesota, a town of 118 people on the windswept plains. His parents, Nels and Mary Hovland, were devout Lutheran immigrants from Norway who settled there in the late 1890s. The family survived the Great Depression (1929-1939) through farming and Nels’s now-lost side businesses. They lived an austere life in a self-built log cabin without modern conveniences, drawing water from a well and using an outhouse.

Nels instilled a strong work ethic in his children and taught Elmer carpentry and mechanics. Aged 12, Elmer surprised his mother by carving a working clock that became the home’s centerpiece. The family emphasized warmth, community over individual achievement, and sound moral character while embracing their American identity alongside Norwegian customs. Elmer grew up happy and humble, enjoying simple outdoor pleasures like fishing and swimming. He was a problem solver whom neighbors praised and often called on for help.

Across the country near Boston, Sammy DeCola lived with his large Italian Catholic family in Waltham. Short, scrappy, and street-smart, Sammy adored his mother, Ma, who cooked traditional Italian food and called him her little tomato. His father, Nicassio DeCola, ran the Monarch Diner on Main Street, pursuing his American dream.

After Ma died unexpectedly when Sammy was 11, he was heartbroken. His grieving father threw himself into work at the diner while Sammy, unsupervised and rudderless, skipped school and picked fights. During the Depression’s worst years, Pa pulled the rebellious 13-year-old Sammy into working at the struggling diner.

In their teenage years, the sober, rooted Elmer and the lost-soul Sammy did not know each other, but both learned American values of duty to family, community, God, and country.

Eight-year-old Eddie Willner lived happily in Mönchengladbach, Germany, an only child in a large, close-knit Jewish family that had lived in the area for seven generations. In the late 1920s, the city’s nearly 1,400 Jews—about 1% of the population—were fully assimilated, experiencing little systematic prejudice and enjoying harmonious relationships with Christian neighbors.

Eddie and his parents, Siegfried and Auguste Willner, lived on the second floor of a duplex they shared with their best friends, a Catholic family who ran a butcher shop downstairs. The families celebrated religious holidays with each other. Eddie attended public school, where he was popular with Christian and Jewish classmates alike, played soccer, and dreamed of joining the town’s professional team.

Siegfried was a decorated World War I veteran who earned the Iron Cross for bravery. After the war, he met and fell for Auguste, a soulful beauty and talented pianist who hosted parties mixing Jewish and Christian friends. Eddie’s grandfather, Opa Josef, a retired cattle dealer, adored his grandson and saw him as a golden child whose gift for making people laugh would take him far.

Eddie was a happy-go-lucky class clown who pulled pranks. When Siegfried caught him, he began imposing strict Prussian discipline: making Eddie stand at attention, inspecting his fingernails, demanding proper posture, and keeping a switch at the dinner table. Despite Opa Josef’s protests, Siegfried systematically toughened his son through hikes, calisthenics, and yard work, believing life would “one day test his mettle” (19). This discipline would become the “cornerstone” of Eddie’s survival.

Post-World War I Germany staggered under crushing debt from the Versailles Treaty and was further devastated by the global economic collapse of 1929. Adolf Hitler, a former army corporal and fringe Nazi Party leader, emerged as a populist demagogue, claiming he alone could restore German greatness. He promised to tear up the treaty, rearm Germany, and build a 1000-year empire.

Hitler scapegoated Jews, accusing them of shirking military duty during the war despite census figures showing Jews served at higher rates than the general population. He promoted racist ideology, placing Nordic people atop a hierarchy with Jews at the bottom, calling them “vermin,” “parasites,” and a threat to Aryan purity. Influenced by international antisemites like Henry Ford, Hitler wrote in his 1924 prison manifesto, Mein Kampf, that Jews were “the personification of the devil” and had to be “exterminated” (25).

In 1921, Hitler founded the SA storm troopers, a fringe paramilitary group that assaulted Jews and political opponents. When the Nazi Party surged from 2.6% of the vote in 1928 to nearly 40% in 1932, becoming Germany’s largest party, the political elites, believing they could control him, made Hitler the chancellor in 1933. A month later, using the Reichstag fire as an emergency pretext, he seized total control.

Democracy died as Hitler created a one-party dictatorship, established the Gestapo secret police, controlled the media, and mandated the “Heil Hitler” salute. The first wave of antisemitic legislation removed Jews from government positions and universities. Propaganda newspapers like Der Stürmer displayed grotesque caricatures captioned, “The Jews Are Our Misfortune” (28). Hitler gauged public reaction, preparing to escalate this persecution when Germans proved willing to accept extremism.

By the mid-1930s, Nazi indoctrination pervaded every aspect of German life. At Eddie’s school, Hitler’s portrait dominated classrooms where students gave Nazi salutes each time teachers entered. Children were taken to the train station to witness Hitler passing through Mönchengladbach. His theatrical rallies became religious-like spectacles where he preached that fighting Jews was a Christian duty, twisting scripture to claim Jesus was an Aryan warrior. Hitler delivered on economic promises, however, building the autobahn and producing affordable consumer goods like radios that doubled as propaganda tools. Nazi propaganda films like Jud Süß became box-office hits, depicting Jews as criminals deserving elimination.

The sudden mass hatred shocked the Willners and other Jews in their community. Non-Jewish neighbors, colleagues, and Siegfried’s war buddies distanced themselves. Only Fritz, their Catholic neighbor, remained friendly, though worried about consequences.

At school, Eddie’s classmates read books comparing Jews to “poisonous mushrooms” and played board games about pogroms. New teachers arrived in Nazi uniforms and drilled Aryan superiority into students through textbooks describing Jewish physical features as inferior. Eddie and other Jewish pupils were segregated, no longer allowed to give the Nazi salute or answer questions. Former friends bullied him, calling him a “dirty Jew” while teachers watched silently.

In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of citizenship and legal protections. Jews had to bow to non-Jews on sidewalks. Curfews were imposed. They were barred from public transportation, restaurants, theaters, and parks. Eddie was kicked off his soccer team. Siegfried lost his job and veteran meetings. Auguste could no longer perform at community events. Eddie was expelled from school.

Germany became a dictatorship with tight control of information; many either embraced the regime’s ideology or looked away, making disaster for European Jews inevitable.

By the mid-1930s, America’s economy had recovered through President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Americans embraced cultural distractions: Howard Hughes set aviation records, Parker Brothers introduced Monopoly, and Amelia Earhart flew solo from Hawaii to California. A 1936 Gallup poll showed most Americans were optimistic about the future.

In Kenneth, Elmer earned average grades, but his classmates admired his composure and confidence. Neighbors praised his work ethic and problem-solving skills. At 13, he worked at a pool hall, trusted to deliver daily earnings to the bank with a loaded handgun.

In Waltham, Sammy remained devastated by his mother’s death. Pa honored her by adding Ma’s Meatballs to the diner menu. Overworked, Sammy often missed school to pull double shifts. He escaped stress by listening to baseball, following stars like Babe Ruth, whose last home run he would never forget.

In 1936, Germany hosted the Olympics as a propaganda showcase for “Aryan superiority.” Black American Jesse Owens thwarted Hitler’s plans by winning four gold medals. Though international Jewish athletes were made unwelcome and Germany had recently enacted the Nuremberg Laws, Western democracies failed to boycott. The lack of international outcry served as a litmus test, as Hitler realized the world would not stand in his way, giving him clearance for the next stage of his plan. For German Jews like Siegfried and Auguste listening to Olympic broadcasts, the world’s participation caused despair as they wondered if anyone cared about their plight.

On November 9, 1938, the antisemitic violence known as “Kristallnacht” erupted across Germany: In Mönchengladbach, SA thugs and mobs smashed Jewish storefronts, attacked Jews, and arrested some 40 men. Siegfried’s Iron Cross status protected him from immediate arrest, but the Gestapo opened a file and watched him. Storm troopers desecrated the synagogue, extinguishing the eternal light, ripping out Torah scrolls, and torching the building. Eddie and other Jewish children fled a basement classroom before fire engulfed them. When a firefighter tried dousing the flames, a storm trooper cut his hose. The mayor attempted to stop the violence but was hauled away and replaced by a hardline Nazi. Vandals wrecked the rabbi’s home.

Eddie’s family was evicted and forced into a designated Jewish section of town. Opa Josef was removed from his home and forced into a crowded Jewish senior facility. Hermann Göring fined the German Jewish community one billion marks for Nazi-inflicted damages and warned of a coming “final reckoning.”

The pogrom sparked numerous emigration attempts. Wealthier Jews escaped, but families like the Willners—their bank accounts frozen—were trapped. Auguste tried selling furniture and jewelry until a new law required Jews to surrender valuables to authorities. Siegfried wrote to international organizations seeking help but could not secure sponsorship or funding. As a military reservist, he was forbidden to leave the country. Ships like the MS St. Louis sailed with refugees, only to be turned away by Cuba, the United States, and Canada.

In early December, Eddie’s passport arrived, though his parents’ did not. Siegfried and Auguste made the difficult decision to send 12-year-old Eddie alone to Brussels with a note pinned inside his coat and a silver kiddush cup in his suitcase. At the train station, Auguste told Eddie not to be afraid; Siegfried promised they would find him. As the train departed, Eddie wondered if he would ever see his parents again.

By 1939, the Great Depression lifted, and America’s future brightened. The 1939 World’s Fair in New York showcased innovations including dishwashers, fax machines, and the first live presidential television broadcast under the banner, “Dawn of a New Day” (47). Despite the fair’s optimistic message, Germany’s invasions of Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia cast shadows over international goodwill. President Roosevelt reminded Americans they were descended from immigrants and declared their strength lay in unity.

Sports, music, and arts flourished. Jazz, swing, country, and immigrant sounds merged into distinctly American styles. Technicolor films filled theaters. Americans embraced their multicultural identity while building community through county fairs and sandlot baseball.

The era had darker aspects: Jim Crow laws oppressed Black citizens, Chinese Americans faced discrimination, and a pro-Nazi rally packed Madison Square Garden in 1939. Though Eleanor Roosevelt supported admitting Jewish child refugees, the American Legion and Daughters of the American Revolution opposed it.

In Kenneth, Nels listened to President Roosevelt’s fireside chats and worried as Germany invaded Norway. Seventeen-year-old Elmer grew tall and sturdy with Nordic features. He stepped beyond his comfort zone, landing the lead in a school play and forming a swing band. Mechanically talented, he disassembled and reassembled his Model T just for fun. After graduation, he worked at an assembly plant, eventually earning a promotion.

In Waltham, Sammy continued hustling around the clock at the diner. He learned how to work with people but grew resentful as Pa announced Sammy must one day take over the business, making Sammy feel trapped. His constant work at the diner caused him to graduate high school one year later than his classmates.

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and President Roosevelt declared America would enter the war. Exactly one month later, Sammy happily quit the diner and enlisted. For Elmer, the war came at a difficult time: He had just met Harriet, a girl from work he affectionately called a “fancy thing from the city” (63).

Young Eddie arrived in Brussels, where a Joint Distribution Committee aid worker took him to live with a local family. Hitler began calling Jews “Untermensch”—subhuman—and mandated naming them “Israel” or “Sara” in official documents. As the Gestapo prepared to arrest Siegfried, his and Auguste’s passports finally arrived. Before fleeing, they took family treasures to Fritz for safekeeping, including Opa Josef’s purple velvet prayer book inscribed in Hebrew with “God, please watch over my children” (57). Siegfried promised to retrieve them when things had improved.

The Nazis seized all the Willners’ other possessions, meticulously cataloging everything down to teaspoons and distributing clothing to German families. Opa Josef and other elderly Jews were photographed in the senior home’s rose garden before deportation to Theresienstadt, a hybrid ghetto and concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.

Siegfried and Auguste found Eddie thriving in Schaerbeek with the Leeks, an upper-middle-class Jewish couple who enrolled him in Brussels’s most prestigious school. Eddie had learned French and Flemish Dutch and had been preparing for his bar mitzvah with the Grand Rabbi. On May 10, 1940—one week before the ceremony—the Nazis invaded Belgium. The Willners fled to France but were caught and imprisoned after the German occupation of France. They spent over a year being transferred between internment camps at Gurs and Saint-Cyprien. Eddie and his father were separated from Auguste at Rivesaltes camp, where Eddie befriended a French gendarme who occasionally gave him bread. One day, the guard quietly turned away and allowed Siegfried and Eddie to dig under the barbed wire and escape into the night.

Following Pearl Harbor and Hitler’s declaration of war on America, President Roosevelt warned of an unprecedented challenge to civilization. A patriotic swell led young Americans to enlist in droves at recruitment stations open at all hours. Boys as young as 15 attempted to join, some lying about their age. Women joined the service corps as pilots, mechanics, and code breakers. Despite facing prejudice in the US, Black Americans, Japanese Nisei, and Indigenous American citizens signed up to the war effort.

An excited Sammy DeCola joked that he might need a map to find Germany. 21-year-old Elmer Hovland had just met Harriet and wanted to be with her constantly. The day he received his draft notice, he proposed, and she accepted, though he admitted he was unsure whether she had fully settled on him.

American women stepped into factory jobs, working assembly lines and shipyards. America converted 97% of its industrial production to the war effort, becoming the “Arsenal of Democracy” (64). General Motors switched from cars to tanks and airplane engines. Ford’s Ypsilanti plant churned out one B-24 Liberator bomber every 63 minutes. Americans embraced rationing, bought war bonds, and participated in massive recycling efforts.

At basic training, recruits were sorted by skills. When asked what he could do, Sammy said he could cook and became an army cook. Elmer was made a tank crewman and sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He scored high on mechanical aptitude tests. Drill sergeants noticed his steady demeanor and leadership qualities. Despite his protests against being an officer, he was selected for officer candidate school and commissioned as a second lieutenant.

After training, both were assigned to D Company, 32nd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored “Spearhead” Division. Soldiers were issued gear, inoculated, signed wills, and shipped out to war.

After escaping Rivesaltes and finding Auguste, the Willners fled farther south, hoping to cross the Pyrenees into neutral Spain. They reached Ortaffa, a picturesque winemaking village near Perpignan in France. At a stone church, a Catholic priest greeted them kindly and summoned the mayor, Ros, and schoolteacher Monsieur Thubert. At clear risk to their own lives, the three devised a plan to hide the family. The mayor arranged false identification papers, the priest sheltered them in the rectory, and a local farmer gave them vineyard jobs as cover. Together, villagers of Ortaffa concealed the Jewish family within the local community.

For months, the Willners hid in plain sight. Siegfried worked harvest crews while Eddie stomped grapes barefoot to make wine. Auguste played small piano concerts for the community in gratitude. Eddie developed broad shoulders carrying grape buckets and received his first glass of wine from French laborers. Despite uncertainty, it was a beautiful time, and Eddie felt emboldened, like it was “him and his parents against the world” (69).

Siegfried knew time was not on their side; they had to flee over the mountains to Spain before the first snowfall. One day, police working for the Vichy government—the puppet government of Nazi-occupied France—arrived. Someone tipped them off about the falsified papers, and the family was arrested. Shattered by betrayal after coming so close to escape, they were led away and put on a train bound for Paris. Vichy police gathered Jews from across France, loading them into cattle cars, and telling them they were going back to Germany to work.

Elmer married Harriet and spent his last precious moments with his new bride before shipping out. Of 21 male graduates in his high school class, 20 joined the military; the remaining boy had a heart condition.

In New York Harbor, tens of thousands of 3rd Armored Division recruits boarded vessels for the crossing to England. On the dock, Sammy said goodbye to Pa, who kissed him on both cheeks and said in Italian, “Rendimi orgoglioso” (Make me proud) (71). As soldiers’ names were called, they filed up gangplanks while the sky rained confetti and women waved handkerchiefs. In the ship’s belly, the boys settled into bunks stacked from floor to ceiling for the weeklong journey.

Ships cast off toward the Atlantic, passing the Statue of Liberty holding her torch high. Lady Liberty—who welcomed millions of immigrants—now bade Godspeed to America’s boys sailing to Europe. Liberty grew smaller until she vanished.

At a time of life which should hold adventure, new loves, and everyday experiences, “hundreds of thousands of young lives were sidetracked” by war (71). America, staunchly isolationist just years before, now sent an entire generation back to Europe to fight another war. Sammy and D Company headed to England to prepare for the invasion of Europe.

Throughout France, Vichy collaborators captured Jews and handed them to the Nazis. At Drancy transit camp near Paris, Eddie and his parents waited with thousands of others, told they were being resettled in Germany to work.

On September 11, 1942, Vichy police loaded passengers, including the Willners, onto Transport 31: One hundred people were crammed into each of 10 cattle cars, including 171 children. Amongst them was nine-year-old Anny Yolande Horowitz, who would later come to personify the “lost children” of the Holocaust in the public imagination. A telex reported to Nazi officials that “1,000 Jews” were in transit to Auschwitz. Conditions were horrific: near darkness, no ventilation, no food, one toilet pail per car. Mothers comforted weeping children. Eddie found reassurance from his parents. Siegfried told them that if they were separated, they would meet up in Brussels when all this was over.

After three days and nearly 1,000 miles—during which several people died—the train halted at Kosel, Poland, not Germany. SS guards with barking dogs ordered all men aged between 16 and 50 to get out. Auguste pushed 16-year-old Eddie to go with his father. On the platform, an SS guard inspected each man. Siegfried, 48, stood at attention with military bearing and was sent right. Eddie, small for his age, mimicked his father to look strong and was also sent right. In that moment, Eddie’s childhood ended.

The train doors were re-bolted and carried Auguste and the others away. An hour later at Auschwitz-Birkenau’s Judenrampe, 78 women were selected for labor; the rest, including Auguste and Anny, were sent left. In a carefully orchestrated deception, they were told they needed showers before work. They undressed, hung clothing on numbered hooks, and entered a concrete chamber. The room was sealed, and Zyklon B pesticide pellets were dropped in, releasing poisonous gas. Auguste Willner, 42, and Anny Horowitz, nine, were murdered along with the others in the chamber, making them two of more than 1 million systematically killed in Auschwitz’s gas chambers in Hitler’s “Final Solution.”