My Enemy, My Beloved Explores the "Enemy" Point of View as a Prisoner of War

Most Americans don’t know. In 1945, approximately 371,000 WWII German POWs were housed in internment camps inside the United States-6,000 in Minnesota-leading to My Enemy, My Beloved.

 

Shoreview, MN - Nov 29, 2010 - Author Karl Vanghen has written a work of historical fiction that will absorb you completely-and you’ll be telling others what you’ve learned.

 

The story is filled with historical authenticity, and strong ethical and moral characters, both the German prisoner and the residents of New Ulm’s farming community. A sensitive portrayal of those main characters gives the story “heart” and page-turning appeal.

 

Written with an artist’s eye to detail, the book takes the reader from the day a 17-year-old German farm boy (conscripted into the army three weeks earlier) is captured at Aachen by American soldiers. From the first moment we meet this young man, we see a strong and honorable character of hardworking farm stock.

 

All captured Germans were first sent to a very strict prison camp in Algona, Iowa. After a while, they started moving prisoners out to other camps in the Midwest-farm boys, not Nazi sympathizers. They were between the ages of 18 and 25, sent there to help the local farmers with harvest because American farm boys were fighting in Germany.

 

The camp (1 of 21 in Minnesota) was comprised of ten wood buildings, a mess hall, a recreation hall, a soccer field, and latrines, but no securing surrounding fence. The first POWs arrived in 1944, and soon 150 men were housed there. And when they worked for the farmers, they were paid ten cents per hour, the sum having been established by the Geneva Convention.

 

Then love enters the picture.the farmer’s daughter and the boy Henrik, who works for the farmer. The rest, as they say, is history. War is over, Henrik is returned to Germany-and then the incredible saga of the next part of his life ensues. Curious? The next stage of his life will shock you!

About the book

My Enemy, My Beloved by Karl Vanghen

ISBN: 978-0878393848

Publisher: North Star Press

Date of publish: Sept 1, 2010

Pages: 320

S.R.P.: $14.95