Michael Witt

Henry Schultz's family left Nazi Germany and settled in the United States before the war broke out. Now, in 1989 Henry watches the Berlin Wall fall on TV and decides it is time to go back to Germany. Henry hopes to visit his former home and connect with his enchanting neighbor, Anna Himmel. Arriving in Germany, Henry is surprised by all of the changes. He finds Anna quickly, still residing in their childhood town. Anna has changed, but she has not lost her spirit. Anna desperately wants to tell Henry the story of her attempt to rescue a young girl from death, the affects her brother suffered working for the Reich and the consequences for her intervention.

I Am Germany tells the important story of a population killed outside of the concentration camps, disabled children. Through Anna and Henry's alternating points of view from 1989 and and 1940, a harrowing story of the awful and truthful events in Hartheim Castle come to light. With the two points of view and timelines, it did take a little while for me to settle into the story. However, once Anna began her tale of rescue from Hartheim, I was fully engaged. While I was aware of the additional killing of those who were disabled in Nazi Germany, I was unaware of the entirety of the act. Anna learns that her brother is employed at Hartheim Castle, a fairytale setting, and will be engaged in heinous acts. Anna's brother collects children with disabilities from their parents and tells them they will be receiving treatment, only to be killed upon reaching the castle. This was a very real program at Hartheim and part of Action T4, an action of mass murder by involuntary euethenasia. To add insult to the act, the parents were told that their children died at a later date of tuberculosis. Through the writing the additional consequences of these killings are shown, the psychological effects on the employees forced to carry out the killings and dispose of the bodies as well as the people in the surrounding town showered in the ashes of the children. I Am Germany is a powerful story of confronting the past and resilience in the face of evil.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (mehr)

I Am Germany by Michael Witt is a poignant story about Heinrich Schultheiss, who changed his name after coming to America, Henry Schultz, half-Jewish, his early years, and his years as an older man. Anna Himmel, Henry's secret love, before his marriage years. When Henry lived in Germany as a child and Anna lived next door. She was a child prodigy, a violinist.

Henry returns to Germany to find Anna, he does but after 50 years, she is not who he thought he would find. She has a secret. He had left Germany with his parents in 1936 just 16 years old. They moved to Iowa and started a life there away from what was going on in Germany.

The secret she has has torn her life apart, and she reluctantly tells Henry about Hartheim Castle, The building became notorious as one of the centers for the Nazi killing program known as Action T4, in which German citizens deemed mentally or physically unfit were systematically killed with poison gas. Henry goes there to find out for himself about what atrocities were exacted on the Jewish people in Germany.

To me, this was a sad story, the horrible things that happened before, during, and after the war, the building of the wall, and the wall being taken down. A very poignant story, a story of a young woman with a talent that surpassed other people, who turned into a broken cynical elderly woman who suffered unspeakable things. In the telling of her story, I think that she was able to come to terms with her younger life.

I think that this is an important book to read about Hartheim Castle, 30.000 people (18.000 people with handicaps and mentally ill people, about 12.000 concentration camp prisoners, and forced laborers) were killed in Hartheim until the end of the year 1944. A book that should be read by everyone interested in the war.

I give this book 5 stars, if I could I would give more.

I received a copy of the book for review purposes.… (mehr)