A German Tale: A Girl Surviving Hitler's Legacy

by Erika V. Shearin Karres

Offers an account of life in Germany before and after World War II.

312 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Dr. Erika Shearin Karres is an educator, motivational speaker, and author.

Reviews

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a large library of Holocaust testimonies and I thought that reading this account would be a good counterpoint for me. And I was not disappointed. Prof Karres' account is factual, straightforward and unsentimental and should be required historical reading. When she says: "I am the offspring of a killer nation." (p. 280) you can accept by this stage in the book that this is not an self-pitying utterance but rather a realistic fear for the future, a fear for all Germans of her generation. Yes, the burden is onerous, and Prof Karres is careful nowhere to shirk it or thrust it under a carpet of I-wasn't-responsible. She paints her guilt bravely and vividly and the reader is awed and sometimes shocked, yes, by the extreme postwar hardships experienced by the ever-expanding and starving family but most importantly s/he is informed. I recommend this book highly to all WW2/Holocaust readers.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This memoir casts a new light on the suffering endured by the non-Nazi's in post-Hitler's Germany. So in this respect the book was unique. I was also enlightened to read of this German girls on-going shame and guilt for what her country had done to not only the Jews, but to the entire world. But I struggled with 300 pages of this German girl's sad post-Nazi life where there's not one positive character or person she ever encounters (other than her biological mother who died when she was young). Whether stranger or family member; everyone in her life is cruel, crude, heartless, selfish or down-right evil. Even Eli Wiesel's "Night", as awful as his life was during the Holocaust, he could see heroes in the midst of the evil.
So in spite of this downer in the book, I did read it pretty much non-stop during our latest trip.

[Agnes DiPietrantonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A disturbing and heart breaking story told in a bare, matter-of-fact manner. What is even more amazing is the fact that this lovely lady went on to become an American and valued member of academia.

[Jungsook Chung · Rating 4 out of 5]

A German Tale ‘A Girl Surviving Hitler’s Legacy’ by Erika V. Shearin Karres is the first book I read about the aftermath of Germany. I have only read about the Holocaust so far. It opened my eyes to the shame and guilty feelings of being a German after WW II.

The author wrote her dysfunctional family story with bitter humor. I enjoyed the first half as it was something fresh to me, but I became very tired of the dark stories that kept on and on without any amelioration even though I admired Erika who was so tenacious. This family story is just too dark. And I wonder if the author had to show everything as it happened without filtering. There are many devastating and miserable and not solved parts mysteriously. I still applaud Karres who escaped to America and became an author. I am ready to read her other books as the titles interest me.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful and stunning memoir of a childhood in Germany post-WWII.