Henri Korn was born in Wuppertal-Elberfeld in Germany, the son of Jewish-Polish immigrants who had fallen in love with German culture.
“In the autumn of 1938, an edict became law, which forbade Jewish children from attending Aryan schools. It caught up with me when I was nearly nine, in my third year of primary school.”
His beloved teacher of three years, with tears in her eyes, escorted him out the front door. The boy who couldn’t wait to grow up to be a Hitler Youth wandered the streets of his town noting, with a curious child’s precision, the growing preparation for war, though with some confusion as to which side he was on.
Smuggled into Belgium in June 1939, his survival till 1945 was never certain, not even when in hiding for over two years in a children’s home run by the fearsome Madame Jacqmotte, who pressured all those under her care to convert to Catholicism.
There are two main themes in this book: the war experiences of a young boy; the other, his continuing struggle to define his identity.
A memorable, vividly told story.
