A Tale of Two Soldiers is an unusual memoir by our father, Max Gendelman. It is an American story about the son of immigrants raised during the depression, who left college to serve his country. It is most poignant as an unlikely story of friendship between an American GI sniper, and Karl Kirschner, a German Lieutenant Luftwaffe pilot conscripted against his will. After capture in the Battle of the Bulge, Max marched through hedgerows of dead soldiers piled five feet high, traveled in a crammed cattle car of death, then starving and ill, ended up at a family farm commandeered by the Nazis. Max had a secret. He was Jewish. The farmers also had a secret: their grandson Karl was AWOL, hiding out in a barn, avoiding Nazi capture and discovery by the Americans or Russians. There, by chance, the two met.
Over clandestine chess games they formed a plan to escape together.
It was the beginning of a friendship which lasted their lifetimes.
Nina Edelman Lisbeth Rattner Bruce Gendelman
Over clandestine chess games they formed a plan to escape together.
It was the beginning of a friendship which lasted their lifetimes.
Nina Edelman Lisbeth Rattner Bruce Gendelman
"This World War II memoir is a remarkable history of survival and friendship. If an American military sniper--a young
Jewish man from Milwaukee--can befriend a German Luftwaffe pilot and become lifelong friends,
then we can all certainly hope for a better world."
Wolf Blitzer, CNN
Jewish man from Milwaukee--can befriend a German Luftwaffe pilot and become lifelong friends,
then we can all certainly hope for a better world."
Wolf Blitzer, CNN