Based on a true story: Towards the end of World War II, when Hitler in desperation pulls in young and old to fight a losing war, 16 year old Karl together with his older brother Hans is ripped from his Mother’s house in the middle of the night to join the SS. After spending months digging trenches as a deterrent for Russian tanks, Karl and his brother are captured by the Russians. Known for their … their atrocities, Karl in immense danger, flees Russian captivity and surrenders to the Americans. What happens to his brother?
As an American POW Karl helps clean up Mauthausen-Gusen, where he finds his neighborhood friend Michael whose entire family had gone missing. Karl remains in American prison camp for five months: will the American GIs set him free or hand him over to the Russians? The Russians are demanding that prisoners in their territory are handed back. Will Karl make it home alive?
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Karl’s story is amazing!
Dustin pens her father, Karl’s story during WWII in the remarkable title in Save Me Twice. This is the second book of this author’s that I’ve read. I read the acknowledgements and preface before the story, and it just grabbed this read. I could almost hear Karl tell his story. When the story starts, it immediately startles the reader, as it did Karl. “[Karl] jumped out from under his warm down comforter, swept aside a strand of red curls off his forehead, and hurriedly tip-toed to his bedroom door to press his ear against it. “SS! Open the door!” ordered a harsh, deep voice, accompanied by even more impatient banging. “SS!” Karl knew the SS was the German Schutzstaffel, soldiers known for their organized oppression under Hitler’s iron fist…” I read this book from start to end and couldn’t put it down. It was not just a story, it was the life Karl lived during this most dramatic and traumatic time in history. Dustin does a wonderful job telling Karl’s story second hand, and I truly enjoyed reading it, every emotion and fear, and startling truths. I look forward to reading more by this author. This book is a definite recommendation by Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews.
Save Me Twice by E.A. Dustin is a heart wrenching historical novel set in Germany between October 1944 – October 1945. The novel is grounded in fact as it is based on the author’s father’s wartime experiences. It is a marvellous, comprehensive and horrifying read.
The author has captured the horrors of war. The novel is written from the point of view of sixteen year old Karl (the author’s father) who was conscripted into the SS as the Nazis grew ever more desperate.
Not all Germans were Nazis. As the war drew to a close, old men and young boys were forced from their homes to join the SS. It was a painful and horrifying process.
As the war ended in 1945 the fleeing SS faced the Russians who were brutal in the extreme. Karl became an American POW in preference to the Russians. He had to help the living and the dead in Mauthausen. There are some very hard to read scenes as we witness man’s inhumanity to man.
Save Me Twice is a powerful read. It is not a pleasant read but it is a necessary one. We owe it to the six million innocents who perished to keep their memories alive. The world needs to know the horrors.
Thank you E.A. Dustin for sharing your father’s story in this powerful, heart breaking read.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.
Save me Twice: Based on a true WWII story by E.A. Dustin
Have read quite a few stories about the war overseas, mostly in France so this was a very educational story for me, learning from the German side of things.
Excellent story teller as I found I felt like I was right there, the details are so clear and descriptive.
The details of the relationships are like being family, some are very close to one another and look out for each other through the years and through the war.
Story starts out where the family is all together and one night the knock on the door takes the boys away. Some are together and others with the neighbor boys are taken to a different location
I had never heard of the tattoos the boys received under their arms. Learned so much more than I ever thought there was to learn. Sad when I heard of other days when they had to dig out the trenches and the troops on the move and them being out in the open.
Really sad hearing they had no real food to eat on a daily basis. I could feel the excitement when they reached the US POW camps. Like the stats at the end of all those that died, were tortured, etc
Amazing how some got to reunite with their neighbors. Sad to hear not all the brothers made it back home.
Like the up to date in the USA where Karl has a medical emergency and coming to find out the relation his doctor there is to a neighbor boy he grew up with. If only they had reunited.
Powerful story, so glad I got a chance to read this one!
Book ends with footnotes explained and references and note from the author as to how this book came into being.
Received this review copy from the author and this is my honest opinion.
Save Me Twice by E.A.Dustin
I wrote this review based on an advanced copy that the author sent me.
A work of fiction based on a true story, this book describes an experience of the exploitation of race and class that millions fell victim to and “ it is our responsability to not let history repeat itself “.
It begins in October 1944 Nümberg in the dead of night when 16-year-old Karl is woken by hammering on the front door. As his mother nervously opens it, he recognises the voices of SS soldiers on their mission to forcibly take Karl and his older brother Hans to train as SS recruits. As the two brothers hurriedly throw on their Hitler youth uniforms, the soldiers demand that their brother Hermann in the next room and spends his days in a wheelchair, must also be removed from the house. To make matters worse Hermann is not allowed to join Karl and Hans, he is to be transported separately to a home but even their mother knows what that means. “ She stands there helplessly and watches them take her three sons, not knowing whether she would ever see them again “.
Karl is placed within a group and attempted brainwashing training given to the youth at that time, the obligatory meetings, the Fatherland above everything as Germany had to be superior to the rest of the world. I could feel the conflict in the young Karl as his family did not support Hitlers movement and beliefs, himself actually despising Hitler for several reasons but fearing the repercussions if his sentiments were discovered as he knew full well the consequences.
Being taken in the middle of the night, almost as a kidnapping, it slowly dawned on Karl and Hans that they were actually being sent to war. Allied forces were advancing and Hitler was desperate, pulling in the young and the old, men and women. All of them being drilled to help build the Thousand Year Reich and the necessity to swear to fight until their death before receiving an afternoon crash course in learning how to fire a machine gun then transported to Linz, Austria.
I noticed on reading that the conditions of the Hitler youth seem to be comparable to conditions of the prisoners of war in the numerous camps e.g. little or no sleep, forced labour shovelling trenches in all weather from dawn to dusk, little or no food – hunger pains becoming part of a daily routine etc and these were the boys, because that is all they were, fighting under Hitlers name!
My heart went out to Karl and his German companions, shown by the Americans how bad Hitler and his officers had treated countless human beings. How they had been reduced to walking skeletons whilst Karl stared in shock and disbelief, being blamed by the GI’s for atrocities Germany had committed but not actually themselves in person – Karl sympathised and understood how abhorrent his nationality must seem to others. “Karl has witnessed things in his young life that nobody in any lifetime should have to see “.
This is a wonderfully written book covering a topic which is never easy to address especially seen from a German point of view but the author manages it with emotion and tact. A great read for any fans of this era or a reader wishing to experience another viewpoint.
I give Save Me Twice 5 out of 5 stars.
It is a powerful and beautiful true story that upends many of our thoughts about the Hitler Jungen during WWII. It’s a story about boys dragged into the Hitler Youth organization against their wills, attempting to indoctrinate them into Hitler’s awful beliefs. Two of them were captured by the Russian forces, watched their buddies slaughtered by them, escaped and surrendered happily to the American Army, brought to the massacre at the death camp, Mauthausen, where they took care of the released prisoners, desperately ill and suffering from torture and starvation. Certainly an important read for young men and women.