Family Album

Several of my readers have expressed disappointment that Immigrant Soldier does not have photos.     Other than the pictures used on the cover, I decided that because the book was written as a novel, it would be better without photos which might inhibit a reader’s imagination.  You will find some pictures of Herman on various pages of this web-site, including one on the author page of myself with Herman just a few months before he passed away. But for followers of this blog, I thought I would share a small selection of family photos.  I hope you enjoy these glimpses of Herman’s early years.

 

The three siblings, Edith, Friedel, and Herman, in about 1923. They are a perfect group of early 20th Century, German kinder. Note that in the center Friedel, the oldest, proudly wears his beloved Lederhosen and Tyrolean jacket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo of the three siblings was taken, sometime in late 1933 or early 1934,just before Friedel left Germany for the USA.  It is a serious pose for a serious occasion, but there is a glimmer of mischief in Edith’s expression.

These two pictures of Herman were taken during the time he was living in Suhl, probably in 1937 or early in 1938. The little girl on the back of the motorcycle is the young daughter of Fritz and Hilda Meyer.  This is the photo that I selected to put on the updated cover.

 

Herman with his mother and sister pose for the camera at Uncle Bruno’s estate in late summer or early fall of 1939. It must have been taken soon after Clara finally arrived in England.

 

 

 

Herman’s older brother, now known as Fred, with his wife and daughter on the steps of their Laguna Beach home sometime in 1941.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo must have been taken soon after Herman got his job at the Zebra Room lounge.  He poses for the snapshot in the restaurant pantry wearing his bus-boy uniform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please, let me know if you enjoyed seeing these photos.  Do you think they added to your experience of Immigrant Soldier?  If you have not yet read the book, does seeing these pictures  make you more (or less) interested in reading it now?