Books, Writing, History, and Me
In “Books, Writing, History, and Me” I share my thoughts on travel, cooking, van-life, books, the process of writing, the experiences of an indie-publisher, WWII, the Holocaust, and anything else I feel might be of interest to readers of my books. Please send me comments and let me know what you like and what you want to know more about. Everything in this blog reflects my personal ideas and feelings–a memoir of sorts, it is my perspective and any errors or omissions are mine.
Turkish Diplomats Save Thousands from the Nazis
Who knew? In spite of all the books on the Holocaust and Hitler’s war that I have read, I did not know about this. Between 1941 and 1944, the Turkish legation in France saved thousands of Jews from deportation and arrest by the Nazis. Yes, Turkish diplomats, representatives of the same country that during World…
Thanks to my 3 D’s – The Value of a Writing Group
The journey to turn my earlier nonfiction manuscript into a novel was long and sometimes difficult. As I wrote new sections, added dialogue, and struggled with what bits to delete, my writers’ group, women I met years ago through the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), remained staunchly behind my efforts. They have…
Nonfiction Morphs into Fiction
When I began talking with Herman about his experiences, I had already enjoyed some small success as a writer of stories and articles for the youth market. Naturally, my first thought was to turn his adventures into a nonfiction book for middle-grade readers. However, because during most of the story Herman is in his early…
Two Books about good Germans
One of the things I want to do with this blog is occasionally take a break from the narrative of the process of writing my novel and share with you some of the books that have inspired or informed me, adding new substance to my library of Holocaust and World War II literature. I never…
The General
“Call me GG,” he said. “That’s what my friends call me.” GG, a retired army general and a Ritchie Boy, was the executive director of the local United Way in Sierra Vista, Arizona and he had arranged for us to meet in their comfortable conference room. While my daughter, Erin, was setting up her camera…
The Vagaries of Memory – Finding the Truth when Oral Histories Vary
I have a dear friend who always quotes his grandmother as saying, “There are three ways to tell every story—your way, my way, and the truth.” I suppose if three or four people tell the story, there are that many more versions. Putting them all together in a true way is the job of a…
Joy at the National Archives – Research and Primary Documents
As I worked on my manuscript, I continued to immerse myself in movies, novels, and all kinds of nonfiction about WWII—from books to online articles, from the German documentary titled The Ritchie Boys to Lucky Forward by Robert Allen—but I still felt inadequate to write the chapters about Herman’s time at Camp Ritchie and his wartime activities in Europe.…
Finding The Ritchie Boys
Somewhere in the middle of a day of taping Herman’s memories in 1991, he mentioned his special training. “They sent me to the Army Intelligence Center,” he told me. “That was in Camp Ritchie, Maryland. And I took the course and graduated from the Army Intelligence Corps. We were trained in interrogation, espionage, and counter-espionage.”…
Getting the Story – Oral History from Herman Lang
Separated by the breadth of America, he in New York and I in California, my uncle Herman and I didn’t meet until 1969. I had been teaching art to middle school students for a year, and I needed a break. I packed my Volkswagen van with camping gear and…
Family Secrets
I was born during World War II and raised in southern California where I spent my childhood reading, drawing, whiling away days at the beach, and being nurtured by my Grandma Clara. I knew nothing of my father’s family story other than his childhood in Germany and sudden emigration to the United States. Then, the…
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