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Invisible Ink
Invisible Ink is the story of Guy Stern's remarkable life. This is not a Holocaust memoir; however, Stern makes it clear that the horrors of the Holocaust and his remarkable escape from Nazi Germany created the central driving force for the rest of his life. Stern gives much credit to his father's profound cautionary words, "You have to be like invisible ink. You will leave traces of your existence when, in better times, we can emerge again and show ourselves as the individuals we are." Stern carried these words and their psychological impact for much of his life, shaping himself around them, until his emergence as someone who would be visible to thousands over the years.
This book is divided into thirteen chapters, each marking a pivotal moment in Stern's life. His story begins with Stern's parents-"the two met, or else this chronicle would not have seen the light of day (nor me, for that matter)." Then, in 1933, the Nazis come to power, ushering in a fiery and destructive timeline that Stern recollects by exact dates and calls "the end of [his] childhood and adolescence." Through a series of fortunate occurrences, Stern immigrated to the United States at the tender age of fifteen. While attending St. Louis University, Stern was drafted into the U.S. Army and soon found himself selected, along with other German-speaking immigrants, for a special military intelligence unit that would come to be known as the Ritchie Boys (named so because their training took place at Ft. Ritchie, MD). Their primary job was to interrogate Nazi prisoners, often on the front lines. Although his family did not survive the war (the details of which the reader is spared), Stern did. He has gone on to have a long and illustrious career as a scholar, author, husband and father, mentor, decorated veteran, and friend.
Invisible Ink is a story that will have a lasting impact. If one can name a singular characteristic that gives Stern strength time after time, it is his resolute determination to persevere. To that end Stern's memoir provides hope, strength, and graciousness in times of uncertainty.
This book is divided into thirteen chapters, each marking a pivotal moment in Stern's life. His story begins with Stern's parents-"the two met, or else this chronicle would not have seen the light of day (nor me, for that matter)." Then, in 1933, the Nazis come to power, ushering in a fiery and destructive timeline that Stern recollects by exact dates and calls "the end of [his] childhood and adolescence." Through a series of fortunate occurrences, Stern immigrated to the United States at the tender age of fifteen. While attending St. Louis University, Stern was drafted into the U.S. Army and soon found himself selected, along with other German-speaking immigrants, for a special military intelligence unit that would come to be known as the Ritchie Boys (named so because their training took place at Ft. Ritchie, MD). Their primary job was to interrogate Nazi prisoners, often on the front lines. Although his family did not survive the war (the details of which the reader is spared), Stern did. He has gone on to have a long and illustrious career as a scholar, author, husband and father, mentor, decorated veteran, and friend.
Invisible Ink is a story that will have a lasting impact. If one can name a singular characteristic that gives Stern strength time after time, it is his resolute determination to persevere. To that end Stern's memoir provides hope, strength, and graciousness in times of uncertainty.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
272 pages, Hardcover
Published May 5, 2020
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February 3, 2024
As Guy Stern was a colleague of mine at Wayne State University, I am certainly entirely hardly objective about this text, but I can vouch for its bona fides. I think anyone who seeks an unusually vivid and amazingly articulate portrayal of a life well lived, despite overwhelming tragedy, will be enthused by Guy's account. I have to admit that the middle chapters on teaching and research might be a bit over-detailed in some respects, but the later chapters on many of his late life encounters -- the Normandy Invasion reunion, rediscovering friends in his home town in German, even discovering the secret behind his own escape -- bring numerous surprises. Certainly, the first half -- about Guy's escape from Germany, then becoming the sole member of his immediate family to survive; his years working for US Army intelligence (not an oxymoron in this case), notably as a Richie Boy helping to interrogate German POWs; and then his return and rise into American academe, finding and losing love, and finding it again... and on and on -- well, this really is something to reflect upon. Guy still lives, within 5 miles of me, here in the Detroit suburbs and at age 96, is still working in the Holocaust Center in Farmington, MI. I just saw him speak on a Zoom talk about this new book, sponsored by the Holocaust Center and Wayne State, and he is still witty and active, working out each morning and then heading to work. This is a truly great book.
[Alas, Guy passed away on Dec 7, 2024]
[Alas, Guy passed away on Dec 7, 2024]
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