My Father Against the Nazis

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)><em>What does it mean to stand against tyranny across generations?</em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>In 1959 sixteen-year-old Steven Mayer performed in </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The Diary of Anne Frank</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> wearing his father's coat from their 1939 escape from Nazi Germany. In the audience was his father whose silent scream revealed depths of trauma that would take young Steven decades to understand.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Through intimate family memories long-hidden documents and his father's own words Mayer traces a journey that begins with his father's childhood in Köln the life-killing force of fascism the life-sustaining force of family history the agony of deciding to stay or leave his service in the US Army with the Ritchie Boys and postwar life in pursuit of justice and a life lost.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Post-war</span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> My Father Against the Nazis</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> is more than a Holocaust memoir. It's the story of Paul Mayer's lifelong battle in pursuit of justice the intergenerational transmission of trauma and a son's quest to understand his difficult father within the vast currents of 20th-century history.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Blending history memoir reflection and a light foray into prophecy </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>My Father Against the Nazis</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> is a powerful reminder that the fight against fascism and hate is never over. Using an innovative structure inspired by John Dos Passos Mayer weaves personal narrative with historical context to explore questions that resonate powerfully today: How do we recognize the warning signs of authoritarianism? Does one flee hunker down or fight back? And what can we usefully learn from history?</span></p>