Description
Walter Wolff was the son of a Jewish merchant family that fled their German home when the Nazis came to power and took refuge in Brussels, Belgium. On the eve of the German invasion, in May 1940, the family began its second escape. Their sixteen-month odyssey took them through the chaos of battle in France and the dangers of living clandestinely as Jews in occupied territory, before they finally boarded the notorious freighter SS Navemar in Cadiz, Spain, to be among the last Jewish refugees admitted to the United States before Pearl Harbor.
Within two years of his arrival in the States, Walter was ready to take the fight back to the Nazis as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Trained for the Intelligence Corps at Camp Ritchie, he was sent first to Italy and then to Germany and Austria, where he interrogated POWs for potential prosecution as war criminals at Nuremburg. At the same time, on his travels in Europe he returned to the confiscated properties of his extended family, throwing out the occupiers and reclaiming ownership. Telling the rousing story of a Jewish boy who fled persecution and returned to prosecute the Nazi oppressors, Walter Wolff's daughter Nina has reconstructed these events from family lore and her father's own cache of more than 700 wartime letters and 200 photographs, which he revealed to her shortly before he died.
Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Reviews
"Nina Wolff Feld reimagines with thrilling verve her father's life as a fugitive from Nazi Germany who returned to Europe from the United States as a refugee soldier. Besides her giving us an act of filial devotion par excellence, we are grateful to her for so deftly filling in one more blank in the vast nightmare of World War II. She has transformed a cache of letters written by her father to his family into a goldmine of unique historic interest." John Guare, playwright, author of Six Degrees of Separation and A Free Man of Color
"Both intimate in detail and sweeping in reach, Someday You Will Understand is a moving and often humorous story that Walter Wolff kept to himself until his final days when he gave his daughter the letters and photographs that recorded his odyssey. This is Nina Wolff Feld's book, but it is her father's life."
Alan Riding, author of And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris
"What appears at first glance as a daughter's tribute to an extraordinary father becomes a testimony to the achievement of a group of immigrants who rightfully stand with America's 'greatest generation.' They came from the countries ruled or occupied by the Nazi hordes and became the staunch defenders of American democracy within months. They donned the uniform of their country of asylum, fought the battles of World War II and contributed, with gratitude, to the growth of their new country. This books tells this little-told story in a clear style, factually, yet with empathy and love." Guy Stern, distinguished professor emeritus, director, International Institute of the Righteous, Holocaust Memorial Center
"Nina Wolff Feld tells the compelling story of a family's truly dramatic, last-minute escape through France and Spain from the clutches of the Nazis and of her father's return as an American GI after 1945 to interrogate suspected perpetrators. Richly illustrated, this book will captivate anyone interested in the European catastrophe of the 1940s." V. R. Berghahn,Seth Low Emeritus Professor of History, Columbia University
"A daughter's compelling account of her father's wartime journey a sensitive exploration of a family's hidden history." Anne Nelson, author of Red Orchestra
"An extraordinarily important story . . . a fascinating look into the experiences of an ordinary GI [that is] also the story of a refugee . . . finally able to return to his country years after being forced to flee." Alexandra M. Lord, The Ultimate History Project
"A dying father's wartime army box yields a wealth of lively detail about American intelligence work in POW and displaced persons camps within the ruins of Europe. . . . Along with Wolff's intimately chronicled accounts of the devastation from bombings and the homelessness of Jews and others, the accompanying photographs he took himself reveal stirring remnants of an apocalypse." Kirkus Reviews
"Feld strings together the events that shaped history with a personal touch . . . [Her father's] extraordinary journey grants us new insight into how a government run amok disenfranchised an entire generation." San Francisco Book Review
"Nina Wolff Feld reimagines with thrilling verve her father's life as a fugitive from Nazi Germany who returned to Europe from the United States as a refugee soldier. Besides her giving us an act of filial devotion par excellence, we are grateful to her for so deftly filling in one more blank in the vast nightmare of World War II. She has transformed a cache of letters written by her father to his family into a goldmine of unique historic interest." John Guare, playwright, author of Six Degrees of Separation and A Free Man of Color
"Both intimate in detail and sweeping in reach, Someday You Will Understand is a moving and often humorous story that Walter Wolff kept to himself until his final days when he gave his daughter the letters and photographs that recorded his odyssey. This is Nina Wolff Feld's book, but it is her father's life."
Alan Riding, author of And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris
"What appears at first glance as a daughter's tribute to an extraordinary father becomes a testimony to the achievement of a group of immigrants who rightfully stand with America's 'greatest generation.' They came from the countries ruled or occupied by the Nazi hordes and became the staunch defenders of American democracy within months. They donned the uniform of their country of asylum, fought the battles of World War II and contributed, with gratitude, to the growth of their new country. This books tells this little-told story in a clear style, factually, yet with empathy and love." Guy Stern, distinguished professor emeritus, director, International Institute of the Righteous, Holocaust Memorial Center
"Nina Wolff Feld tells the compelling story of a family's truly dramatic, last-minute escape through France and Spain from the clutches of the Nazis and of her father's return as an American GI after 1945 to interrogate suspected perpetrators. Richly illustrated, this book will captivate anyone interested in the European catastrophe of the 1940s." V. R. Berghahn,Seth Low Emeritus Professor of History, Columbia University
"A daughter's compelling account of her father's wartime journey a sensitive exploration of a family's hidden history." Anne Nelson, author of Red Orchestra
"An extraordinarily important story . . . a fascinating look into the experiences of an ordinary GI [that is] also the story of a refugee . . . finally able to return to his country years after being forced to flee." Alexandra M. Lord, The Ultimate History Project
"A dying father's wartime army box yields a wealth of lively detail about American intelligence work in POW and displaced persons camps within the ruins of Europe. . . . Along with Wolff's intimately chronicled accounts of the devastation from bombings and the homelessness of Jews and others, the accompanying photographs he took himself reveal stirring remnants of an apocalypse." Kirkus Reviews
"Feld strings together the events that shaped history with a personal touch . . . [Her father's] extraordinary journey grants us new insight into how a government run amok disenfranchised an entire generation." San Francisco Book Review
Book Information
ISBN 9781628723779
Author Nina Wolff Feld
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Skyhorse Publishing
Publisher Skyhorse Publishing
Weight(grams) 481g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 28mm
Within two years of his arrival in the States, Walter was ready to take the fight back to the Nazis as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Trained for the Intelligence Corps at Camp Ritchie, he was sent first to Italy and then to Germany and Austria, where he interrogated POWs for potential prosecution as war criminals at Nuremburg. At the same time, on his travels in Europe he returned to the confiscated properties of his extended family, throwing out the occupiers and reclaiming ownership. Telling the rousing story of a Jewish boy who fled persecution and returned to prosecute the Nazi oppressors, Walter Wolff's daughter Nina has reconstructed these events from family lore and her father's own cache of more than 700 wartime letters and 200 photographs, which he revealed to her shortly before he died.
Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Reviews
"Nina Wolff Feld reimagines with thrilling verve her father's life as a fugitive from Nazi Germany who returned to Europe from the United States as a refugee soldier. Besides her giving us an act of filial devotion par excellence, we are grateful to her for so deftly filling in one more blank in the vast nightmare of World War II. She has transformed a cache of letters written by her father to his family into a goldmine of unique historic interest." John Guare, playwright, author of Six Degrees of Separation and A Free Man of Color
"Both intimate in detail and sweeping in reach, Someday You Will Understand is a moving and often humorous story that Walter Wolff kept to himself until his final days when he gave his daughter the letters and photographs that recorded his odyssey. This is Nina Wolff Feld's book, but it is her father's life."
Alan Riding, author of And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris
"What appears at first glance as a daughter's tribute to an extraordinary father becomes a testimony to the achievement of a group of immigrants who rightfully stand with America's 'greatest generation.' They came from the countries ruled or occupied by the Nazi hordes and became the staunch defenders of American democracy within months. They donned the uniform of their country of asylum, fought the battles of World War II and contributed, with gratitude, to the growth of their new country. This books tells this little-told story in a clear style, factually, yet with empathy and love." Guy Stern, distinguished professor emeritus, director, International Institute of the Righteous, Holocaust Memorial Center
"Nina Wolff Feld tells the compelling story of a family's truly dramatic, last-minute escape through France and Spain from the clutches of the Nazis and of her father's return as an American GI after 1945 to interrogate suspected perpetrators. Richly illustrated, this book will captivate anyone interested in the European catastrophe of the 1940s." V. R. Berghahn,Seth Low Emeritus Professor of History, Columbia University
"A daughter's compelling account of her father's wartime journey a sensitive exploration of a family's hidden history." Anne Nelson, author of Red Orchestra
"An extraordinarily important story . . . a fascinating look into the experiences of an ordinary GI [that is] also the story of a refugee . . . finally able to return to his country years after being forced to flee." Alexandra M. Lord, The Ultimate History Project
"A dying father's wartime army box yields a wealth of lively detail about American intelligence work in POW and displaced persons camps within the ruins of Europe. . . . Along with Wolff's intimately chronicled accounts of the devastation from bombings and the homelessness of Jews and others, the accompanying photographs he took himself reveal stirring remnants of an apocalypse." Kirkus Reviews
"Feld strings together the events that shaped history with a personal touch . . . [Her father's] extraordinary journey grants us new insight into how a government run amok disenfranchised an entire generation." San Francisco Book Review
"Nina Wolff Feld reimagines with thrilling verve her father's life as a fugitive from Nazi Germany who returned to Europe from the United States as a refugee soldier. Besides her giving us an act of filial devotion par excellence, we are grateful to her for so deftly filling in one more blank in the vast nightmare of World War II. She has transformed a cache of letters written by her father to his family into a goldmine of unique historic interest." John Guare, playwright, author of Six Degrees of Separation and A Free Man of Color
"Both intimate in detail and sweeping in reach, Someday You Will Understand is a moving and often humorous story that Walter Wolff kept to himself until his final days when he gave his daughter the letters and photographs that recorded his odyssey. This is Nina Wolff Feld's book, but it is her father's life."
Alan Riding, author of And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris
"What appears at first glance as a daughter's tribute to an extraordinary father becomes a testimony to the achievement of a group of immigrants who rightfully stand with America's 'greatest generation.' They came from the countries ruled or occupied by the Nazi hordes and became the staunch defenders of American democracy within months. They donned the uniform of their country of asylum, fought the battles of World War II and contributed, with gratitude, to the growth of their new country. This books tells this little-told story in a clear style, factually, yet with empathy and love." Guy Stern, distinguished professor emeritus, director, International Institute of the Righteous, Holocaust Memorial Center
"Nina Wolff Feld tells the compelling story of a family's truly dramatic, last-minute escape through France and Spain from the clutches of the Nazis and of her father's return as an American GI after 1945 to interrogate suspected perpetrators. Richly illustrated, this book will captivate anyone interested in the European catastrophe of the 1940s." V. R. Berghahn,Seth Low Emeritus Professor of History, Columbia University
"A daughter's compelling account of her father's wartime journey a sensitive exploration of a family's hidden history." Anne Nelson, author of Red Orchestra
"An extraordinarily important story . . . a fascinating look into the experiences of an ordinary GI [that is] also the story of a refugee . . . finally able to return to his country years after being forced to flee." Alexandra M. Lord, The Ultimate History Project
"A dying father's wartime army box yields a wealth of lively detail about American intelligence work in POW and displaced persons camps within the ruins of Europe. . . . Along with Wolff's intimately chronicled accounts of the devastation from bombings and the homelessness of Jews and others, the accompanying photographs he took himself reveal stirring remnants of an apocalypse." Kirkus Reviews
"Feld strings together the events that shaped history with a personal touch . . . [Her father's] extraordinary journey grants us new insight into how a government run amok disenfranchised an entire generation." San Francisco Book Review
Book Information
ISBN 9781628723779
Author Nina Wolff Feld
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Skyhorse Publishing
Publisher Skyhorse Publishing
Weight(grams) 481g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 28mm
