Fr. Viktor had spent twelve long years fighting to preserve the humanity of his German flock. On April 24, 1945, it must have stunned him to realize he was doing the same for his American countrymen. The significance of sowing
There is a certain term that perfectly encapsulates the totality of human experience on April 23, 1945. Giving credit where it’s due, I didn’t coin this phrase. I learned it secondhand through Dr. Christopher Mauriello, my friend and colleague who
On April 22, 1945, about 5PM, the six Hungarian SS wiring up the Naab River Bridge with dynamite failed in their mission. They blamed it on the rain. The bridge was wired. They heard the rumble of tanks approaching. They
I once asked Hedy, my friend and eyewitness to history, “What was it like in Schwarzenfeld before the Americans arrived?” In a piquant, accented voice, she said, “Do you remember Gone with the Wind? The scene where Scarlett O’Hara was
Stories from this day 80 years ago convinced me that I had to write The Sower of Black Field. I’ll be honest. In the beginning, I was a skeptic of WWII-era Germans. All my high school and college history lessons
On this day 80 years ago, at approximately 8AM, Schwarzenfeld’s train station is a scene of horrors. In the gray morning hours, the train that departed from Flossenbürg on April 16 limps into Schwarzenfeld’s station. Its passengers have weathered a
What can we learn from people who have weathered the darkest of times? I think of what Fr. Viktor, the Passionists, and the Schwarzenfelders were experiencing on this day 80 years ago. The Passionists had witnessed the swift dismantling of
Imagine shaking awake at 4AM to a symphony of sirens and screams. That’s what happened this day, 80 years ago, in Schwarzenfeld. In a post ten days ago, I mentioned that Herta Hedy Arata, a secretary working for the scientists
The fateful events recounted in The Sower begin in an obscure town about 40 miles northeast of Schwarzenfeld. Its name is Flossenbürg. Flossenbürg is famous for two things. It is home to the ruins of a medieval castle that dates
I never imagined that a nostalgic symbol of the holidays could have such a sinister connotation. I first heard the term while talking to eyewitnesses in Schwarzenfeld. Hedy also referenced them in her stories of wartime Berlin. When a German
