K. Lang-Slattery's Blog, page 11

A Jewish Question

Recently I have received comments from Jewish readers of Immigrant Soldier regarding Herman’s friendship with the SS Officer Richard Schulze.

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Published on October 09, 2015 08:10

Finding My Radio Voice

I have been on the radio twice and it still makes me nervous.

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Published on October 04, 2015 08:20

1940: “The news from Britain was ominous. Herman began to have trouble getting to sleep at night. He would lie in bed for hours, his mind a jumble of worries, watching the dawn light creep through his apartment window. He could not banish thoughts of his mother and sister trapped in London while German planes thundered over the English countryside, their bombs a nightly rain on the capital city.”

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Published on September 26, 2015 09:31

A Stranger in Paradise

Herman arrived in California in mid-December 1939, after a long cross-country trip on a Trailways bus. As a new immigrant, all he wanted was a place to put down roots, a job that could sustain him, and a better life than he had lived in Germany under Hitler. What he found was paradise.

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Published on September 20, 2015 12:48

A Community of Immigrants, Chicago 1939

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Herman arrived in Chicago to visit with his relatives on a cold and blustery day in November 1939. The city had a large and growing Jewish community, many of whom were actively involved in aiding refugees from Nazi Germany. In fact, without the affidavit of financial support from Herbert Oberfelder, Herman would probably not have received his US visa. (For information about the Spiegel connection to Herman, please read the blog “Chicago and the Spiegels” posted on November 8, 2014.)

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Published on September 14, 2015 13:12

Two Sons of China

Several months ago, when I received news from the Independent Publishers Book Awards that Immigrant Soldier had earned the bronze medal in the military/wartime fiction category, one of the first things I did (after sending the news to my readers) was to look at the other winners of this niche genre.

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Published on August 31, 2015 08:35

The Spirit of Dunkirk

“While Herman enjoyed the intoxicating scene at the Zebra Room, the news from Europe continued to spiral downward. . . . Headlines blared the harsh news of the massacre at Dunkirk . . .”

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Published on August 23, 2015 22:00

An Enemy Alien in the Phoney War

Only weeks after Herman’s mother arrived in England, Germany invaded Poland. Within days, Britain and France declared war on Germany in response. “Mother and son now found themselves not only refugees but also classified as enemy aliens in a foreign land.”

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Published on August 14, 2015 11:20

Happy Days at The Wilderness

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One of the unexpected bonuses that came with the publication of Immigrant Soldier has been a connection between myself and my English cousin. In the novel, Hazel is the un-named baby who is trundled in her pram to the underground shelter each night by Edith and Clara.

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Published on August 07, 2015 18:12