Work 1 - Description
CHOOSING SIDES: An Ordinary Family Torn Apart by Hitler's Germany -
details the story of a family split by the violent winds of change in Germany between the two World Wars - and the impact this had on an adolescent with deeply divided loyalties.
It tells the tale of Diech and Mimi Wessel, the author’s grandparents: their multiple ocean crossings, their lives on both sides of the Atlantic and their despair as they lived through the rise of the Nazi Party. It portrays the experiences of their son, Karl-Heinz: his membership in the Nazi youth organization and the difficulties he faced due to his feelings for both Germany and America. It shares the story of the family’s mixed emotions about the ascendancy of Adolf Hitler – and how that all changed the day the met der Fuhrer in person.
Along the way the novel touches on key aspects of the social and political history of Germany in the first half of the 1900’s: the trench warfare of “The Great War,” the Treaty of Versailles, the Spanish Flu, the growth of anti-Semitism, the book burnings, and Kristallnacht; with a focus on the history of the Hitlerjugend itself. It highlights relevant pieces of U.S. history: its entry into World War I, the Roaring Twenties, isolationism in the build-up to World War II, and the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in America.
Readers will note many parallels between world events in the first half of the last century with those in the first half of this one: political extremism, the rise of nationalism, rejection of foreign emigrants, reaction to a global pandemic, and the polarization of society. In telling the story of his family, with members on both sides of history, the author challenges the reader to reflect on the degree to which external circumstances and internal nature influenced the choices they made - the same ones that countless emigres the world over have faced when Choosing Sides.
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