Author: Georg Rauch Title: Unlikely Warrior, A Jewish Soldier in Hitlers Army. Length: 350 pages. Suggested audience: High School. Reading this book there were two questions that would repeatedly pop up in my mind. "Did this really happen?" and "Is this really a youth literature book, let alone a 'juvenile' book?" Hearing the story of a young Jewish man, barely a boy, who fought for Germany sounds insane. Was he blinded by patriotism, was he self hating, did he lie out of fear? Reading the book I was relieved to see none of the above was true. Georg Rauch explained that he explained to recruiters that he was Jewish. His opening explained the irony of how his features were anything but "Aryan." Reading this book shows the desperation that the Axis had during the end of the war. Reading this book was like navigating through a minefield of emotions. In the beginning of the book it is clear what is good and bad. Georg talks about how the philosophy of "Might makes Right" was frowned upon by the Rauch family. His mother explained to him that being strong does not mean you are right. There were times when Georg would talk about going into battle against the Russians and I wanted him to be victorious but then I reminded myself that he was fighting for Germany and the Nazi's. This confusion was prevalent throughout the first part. One of the distinctions that was clear was on page 101 where he talks about knowing that a fellow solider was not a Nazi. He also would bring up how the SS would have much better treatment in battle than he and his fellow soldiers. In the second and third part you have a clear understanding that Georg was making. There were all kinds of people who fought for Germany, who would have never belonged anyway. He explained to his captor that he felt like he had no where else to turn and that is why he fought for Germany. Although I would argue it felt like he was pressured and forced into fighting. Part 2 brings up when he was captured by the Russians and sent to a prison camp. There he went through starvation, got diseases like pneumonia and dysentery. His health would be poor and he would rarely get the care he needed. He mentioned that people around him were dying and he had an experience that could be considered death. He mentioned coming back and seeing a spoon and being amazed at the plight of human progress to make something like a spoon. This seems so much different than the protagonist of part 1 who wrote to his mother about how lethargy was numbing everyone down. In the second part there was a man trying to survive, doing anything from playing the harmonica to get more rations from his captors to volunteering to be a spy to find the true Nazi in the prison camp. Part 3 is about the end of the war and his journey back home. He brings up how he was so focused on surviving that when he went home he was not aware over how gaunt and strange he looked to other people. He mentions the kindness such as people sharing bread and how at a restaurant, other customers took up a collection to allow him to eat, even though he had no money. Part 3 shows how he re gained his humanity. In part 1 he talks about having a girlfriend, in part 2 he would mention forgetting that he should have feelings for women. In part 3 he is surprised by the kindness of people around him. The beginning of part 3 also how his loose fit very worn clothes he had included a swastika and at the very end of the book when he finds his sister and mother, they strip him of his clothes and burn them. In a set of night clothes and in a bed he cries. This book is extraordinary. I read on "Goodreads" that there are small differences between this Juvenile book and the adult version of this book titled "The Jew with the Iron Cross." The biggest differences is that the images and drawings in "Iron Cross" are all in one section where "Unlikely Warrior" has the illustrations spread out. I think this could be reading in school. One group could read "Unlikely Soldier" and the other could read a book like "Night" to see the comparisons of the horrible treatment each got. They could come to understand war is never as simple as "we = good, they =bad" that there were victims and heroes on all sides.
1 Comment
Evie
11/23/2018 07:32:27 pm
What a fascinating book. I loved "The Hiding Place" and other Holocaust books, but this title shows you a different perspective all together. What must it have been like to be 1/4 Jewish and yet drafted into the German army. On Amazon it says Rauch and his mother hid dozens of Jews behind false walls in their apartment before he was drafted. Thank you for sharing this title. I think teens who are interested in World War History would enjoy this title. I had never heard of it before.
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