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Shop nowUnlikely Warrior
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Learn moreAn astounding memoir about a Jewish teenager forced to become a German soldier
As a young adult in wartime Vienna, Georg Rauch helped his mother hide dozens of Jews from the Nazis behind false walls in their top-floor apartment and arrange for their safe transport out of the country. His family was among the few who worked underground to resist Nazi rule. Then came the day he was shipped out to fight on the Eastern front as part of the German infantry—in spite of his having confessed his own Jewish ancestry. Thus begins the incredible journey of a young man thrust unwillingly into an unjust war, who must use his smarts, skills, and bare-knuckled determination to stay alive in the trenches, avoid starvation and exposure during the brutal Russian winter, survive more than one Soviet labor camp, and travel hundreds of miles to find his way back home.
Georg Rauch (1924–2006) was a professional artist who has exhibited extensively in Europe, the United States, and Mexico. For the last thirty years of his life, he and his wife, Phyllis, made their home overlooking Lake Chapala in the central highlands of Mexico.
Robert Fass is a veteran actor and twice winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He has earned multiple Earphones Awards and been named in AudioFile magazine’s list of the year’s best narrations for six years.
Phyllis Rauch is a writer, artist, and wife of the late artist Georg Rauch. She has a masters degree in English and library science.
Reviews
“In his autobiographical Unlikely Warrior, Georg Rauch tells how as a young man he and his mother worked with the resistance in Vienna during the Third Reich. When drafted by the German army, Rauch revealed his Jewish ancestry—and was sent to the Eastern front where trenches, near starvation, and a Russian prison camp awaited him.”
“With honesty and affection Georg Rauch tells of the love and respect between a mother and son as well as the nightmare experiences of a young soldier fighting and barely surviving a war he never wanted, understood, or could justify.”
“Translated by his wife, Phyllis, and first self-published before Rauch’s death in 2006, this is a remarkable primary-source document with broad appeal to history teachers, students, and scholars alike. An exceptionally well-written account of unimaginable hardship, it’s also an engaging read that serves as powerful testimony to the insanity of war and the human will to survive.”
“In this glimpse into history, Rauch, a young Jewish man in Third Reich Vienna, describes his experiences during World War II…The story is well paced, offering a fascinating and intriguing look at the era.”
“A fascinating account of what it was like for a partial Jew to serve in the German military during World War II. Rauch’s experiences and hardships dramatically depict the physical and emotional struggles of a ‘Mischling’ during the Third Reich.”
“Not about combat tactics but about what it meant to be in an army at war. Rauch has put a human face on aspects of the war that are usually only referred to in passing.”
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