Biography
(Non-Fic)
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Young Manny Kaiter suffers through being buried alive in bomb devastated Berlin of 1945. He narrowly escapes being strafed by a Russian fighter plane as he hides in an outhouse. he learns notto trust anyone as time after time his efforts to escape Nazi Germany are stymied. How he overcomes all obstacles and makes hie way to America and eventually marries the sister of buddy holley will keep you on the edge of your seat. "Sounds interesting!"
As I ran for the outhouse, the roar of the engine on the Russian fighter plane filled the air. I knew he was shooting at me because I could hear the rat-a-tat-a-tat-tat of his machine guns, and I could hear the whack-whack-whack of the bullets as they chewed up the moist earth behind me. I jumped into the outhouse and slammed the door on the one-holer. I covered my face with my hands and cringed as I heard the bullets tearing up the path to the outhouse. I thought, God, what a place to die. Please do...
After Easter of I941, I started to school. It was a real treat to get away from the sandbox, the old woman and the yogurt. Siegie was already in the second grade. He walked to school every morning. Mom took me to school on the first day. but after the first day, Siegie and Manny and Fritz, and a few other kids from the apartment complex walked to school every morning. We had a ten-minute walk. We crossed a street only once. The blocks we walked had other apartment complexes on both sides with a few...
After a while the air seemed to stop going out, but the basement became very hot. A couple of hours passed before the old man peeled the blanket away from the edge of the door. He walked back across the room and felt of the air coming in the window. He nodded his head in a brusque affirmative, returned to the door and took the blanket down. Someone shouted, "Hey! Aren't you going to stop the air from going out?" The old man shrugged his shoulders. He said, "No need to. The air is as hot in he...
As I looked around my smile faded. My upper lip stuck to my teeth. I saw bricks, blown from our building and other apartment buildings, strewn ten feet deep in the street. My throat tightened. My stomach quivered. I saw a shroud of smoke and haze hanging over everything. It hid the sun. A heap of oddly shaped metal to my right had caught my eye as I had emerged from the hole. I turned to look at the heap. I saw the cannon barrels of what had been the anti-aircraft gun emplacement that had been on our roo...
Siegie and I re-entered school at Oberhof. I went back to the woman's class. Siegie was stuck with the SS teacher again. When we showed up for school, and the students saw our mementos of the Berlin bombing, we became the heroes of the day. We displayed our souvenirs and passed them around the classroom. We spent half of the school day telling about the bombing and our escape. The Berlin bombing and the appearance of the Army marked a very noticeable change in the peaceful and serene life around Ob...
That night, as we tried to sleep, we worried about the SS teacher. Our sleep was interrupted anyway by the passage through town of another wagon train. We heard It rumbling along the road as the iron bands on the wooden wheels bumped over the cobblestones. Siegie and I looked from our darkened room out into the night. We saw the blue lighted lanterns bobbing and weaving where they hung from the wagons. We knew the wagon train was a refugee wagon train because refugees usually traveled only at night and b...
Siegie and I were up before the sun rose. We were in and out of the house, in the predawn light, counting the wagons leaving, waving at the neighbors as they drove past. We weren't of much use to Mom, but we were probably more useful by being out of her way. Grandfather and Grandmother had left in their wagon before we got up. His plow horses were slow and needed a head start. The neighbor had a large rope coiled on the back of his wagon as he pulled around the corner of his home. He stopped in fro...
The sun had not yet risen when a rapid staccato sound woke me. It was the explosive coughing and rumbling to life of Organization TOT’s engines. I sat up in the seat of the car and looked out the window at the surrounding TOT trucks. Like grey specters. the TOT soldiers moved quietly around their vehicles while the blue slits of their truck headlights curved away from my vision and disappeared in the early morning fog. I saw Colonel Schlabach talking to an Army officer who appeared to be the ...
That evening. I watched with anticipation as Schlabach built us a small cook fire. Mom cooked our supper over that fire, and as we ate, my eyes never left the fire. I watched it burn to ashes and wished it would hurry up and die out. I could see that Siegie watched it too. Mom seemed distracted, but I knew she would get over it once the raid started. Finally, we finished supper. As Mom cleaned the dishes, the Colonel scooped some black ash into his hand. He went to the rear-view mirror on the fire...
We spent the rest of the day under cover at the quarry, waiting for the sun to go down. A squadron of Russian fighter planes flew over us, and several times we saw lone fighter planes looking for something to strafe. Somewhere several miles behind us, back toward the Oder, we heard the Russian assault cannons barraging our defense lines. We all dozed, and I awoke to the sound of Gunther snapping his fingers. He snapped his fingers and clenched his fists. Then he ground his knuckles into his palm. ...
CHAPTER 11 Gunther stopped the fire truck. He climbed down from the driver's seat. He glanced back at us, seated his hat firmly on his head, and picked up his leather case. He walked over to the officer who was flanked by two soldiers with rifles at the ready. He and the officer exchanged salutes. The officer questioned him and pointed at the fire truck. Gunther took out a map and pointed at it. He asked the officer questions. I looked at ...
As the man swung the door open, moonlight washed over his face. The face was Gunther's. I had been stiff with fear, but when I saw the man was Gunther, I relaxed. He entered the barn quietly and quickly. He walked quietly over to us. He spoke in a low voice, "The tank unit is breaking camp. They'll probably be moving out tomorrow. We're going to take advantage of the confusion. We're going to leave early tomorrow morning." He turned and walked out of the barn back to his sleeping place. We ro...
The soldier walked directly to Gunther. He saluted Gunther very formally. Gunther returned his salute. He put his hands near the small his back with one hand just above his pistol. Slowly. he asked. "Why have you been following me. soldier'?" "I'm sorry. Colonel. but I have to inform you that the Captain sent me after you." Gunther flexed the fingers on the hand above the pistol. I saw one finger brush the snap that held his holster flap in place. Cautiously. he asked. "And what does that lit...
Siegie eased away from Gunther. He moved back toward where Mom and I stood. Gunther turned around to face the SS officers. I couldn't see what was on his face or tell what he was thinking. I saw him put his hands at the top of his hips above his pistol belt. Siegie stopped beside me. He whispered, "I'm going over to the other side of this truck to see if there is any ammunition for those weapons piled up on it." I nodded and eased backward to reach the running boards. I climbed up on my sid...
At the winding down of the war, confusion reigned. The allied armies jockeyed for position against the Russian Army in an effort to determine who would control what parts of Germany. Because of the shifting lines of possession, even after Manny's small family gained relative safety at Castle Willigrad, they were faced again with the threat of rape, mayhem and starvation from the Red menace. For Manny and his family, the threat of rape did become a reality. Even though Manny's brilliant father did ...
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