Overview

''A Tale of Two Soldiers'' is a memoir about the unlikely friendship an American Jewish G.I. and trained sniper for the US Army, formed with a German Luftwaffe pilot during WWII. On Dec. 18, 1944, twenty-one-year-old Max Gendelman was captured in the Battle of the Bulge, one of only a handful in his company to survive. Starving and dazed, his dog tags blown off, he was marched through German villages and eventually arrived at a farm the Reich had commandeered from a German family. The family's grandson, Karl Kirschner, a lieutenant in the Luftwaffe conscripted against his will, was hiding out in one of the barns. To Max's astonishment one day Karl spoke to him through the fence; they discovered a shared passion for chess, and began to secretly meet to play the game. As they got to know each other, they recognized what they needed to do; they formed a pact, a plan to escape together. This was the start of a friendship that would endure for more than six decades.

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9781626522879

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''A fascinating and inexplicable story about an American POW and a German officer that will move readers even as they learn about the hardships that American soldiers endured.'' -- Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of The Eichmann Trial cover copy

''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 cover copy ''The American soldier Max Gendelman's story of his six-decades long friendly relationship with the German pilot Karl Kirschner gives a rare glimpse not only of the personal toll of WWII but also of the triumph of personal friendship against improbable odds.'' -- Klaus Scharioth, former German Ambassador to the U.S., 2006-2011 cover copy ''This is truly a love story, and a grand tale of courage, faith, honor and most importantly, friendship. It is also the story of bigotry, and the injustices of anti-Semitism. May their memories be for a blessing.'' -- Hannah Rosenthal, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism under the Obama Administration, cover copy ''A fascinating and inexplicable story about an American POW and a German officer that will move readers even as they learn about the hardships that American soldiers endured.'' -- Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of The Eichmann Trial cover copy

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