Description:
What happens when loyalty becomes a deadly trap and history has already passed judgment on you?
In 1933, young German Hans Steup makes a courageous decision: he follows his Jewish employer and friend into exile in Paris to escape the Nazi regime. In France, he builds a new life for himself and finds true love. But the long arm of history knows no escape.
In the maelstrom of World War II, the German emigrant becomes a pawn of the powers that be: interned as an enemy by the French, forcibly recruited by the Germans, and ultimately forced into an activity that will mark his life forever.
The real tragedy, however, begins after the war. The man who fled Germany is sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor by a French military court as an alleged "war criminal." As his world crumbles in the wheels of a merciless justice system, he fights with his last ounce of strength for the only thing he has left: his honor.
Based on carefully researched historical documents and personal accounts, this book tells the true, harrowing, and moving story of a man who wanted to escape the pull of large collectives and was swallowed up by them.
Discover an almost forgotten fate that raises uncomfortable questions about justice, guilt, and the established narratives of the postwar period.
A read that will stay with you long after you finish it.