by Heinz Kohler
Anyway....MY NAME WAS FIVE takes us through the hardships of the war, the confusion, the loss and then follows the years that come later. Photos and cartoons of the time are included.
Well written, the author truly makes the pages come alive as we watch the years pass by through the eyes of FIVE.
17) Anne Spartandax
The boy Hans was known to his Nazi teacher as Five. This was the way the teacher placed the students-1 was the best, 56 the worse. Hans managed to get himself in the 5th position. I am sure it is in fact the story of Heinz himself. A fascinating read about a boy who grows up first in Nazi Germany and then, who happens to live in the wrong place when Germany is divided and ends up in the Russian sector. He finds out he has gone from bad to worse as the sadism of the Nazi's is exchanged for the sadism of Communism. I was surprised he stayed there when he was not far from the border, but I presume he cared for his family and worried they might be killed if he defected. In the end he does manage to get to the West, but this is a fascinating look at two different evils which came on the heels of each other. it also shows the difference between the Russian soldiers, who raped and killed their was through East Germany and the Americans who took prisoners and left the women alone.
18) Dick
A great piece of historical fiction. The author brilliantly takes stories from friends, family and acquaintances to blend them in the characters of this novel. The story covers a young boy, Hans, growing up in Germany during Hitler's rise to power, World War II and the Soviet occupation. The reader is introduced to how these tragic events affected the German people and the physical and mental scars that these traumas leave behind. The author peppers the novel with news summaries, posters and photographs related to the events of the story so one gets a great deal of history with a gripping story that gives us some insight into the scourge of PTSD. I cannot recommend the book enough.
19) Edwin R. Knopf
This story represents the trauma of war that affects all children through the ages. It begs the question that war is not the answer for any society, especially for the youth of any generation. The author has definitely shown great skill in depicting the long-term effects of armed conflict and the resultant post traumatic stress disorders one suffers from war. An excellently written account with perhaps too many technical explanations, but overall a very good read.
20) Allgood
How do you fight your way back to sanity after living through the hell of war? Heinz Kohler describes his journey.
21) Lilo Huhle-Poelzl, Vernal, Utah
I sincerely regret that there are only 5 stars in the system as I would very much like to give this book 10 stars.
If you will only read one book about the Third Reich and WWII, make it this book, and if you have already read 10 or even 100 books about this era, make sure not to miss this particular one.
Let me tell you one thing straight: This book is not a novel, it is a memoir. The author had personal reasons to disguise his memoir as a novel when he wrote it in the 1970s. I think labeling this book a novel was a mistake. O.k., so make it 9 stars instead of 10, or forgive the author and ignore the plane-crash frame of the story (which may or may not be fiction).
When you compare memoirs that have an historic background to straight history books, you'll find that memoirs usually only open a small window, mind you, an impressive window, from which you can imagine what it was like to have lived in this time, at this particular place, but a small window all the same, while history books open up a bigger window but rarely convey any subjective experience and feel for the time and place.
This book, however, gives it all. Heinz Kohler was an exceptionally intelligent child with early interest in what was happening in the world. That's why he collected and saved historic data from wherever he could find them, be they announcements his Nazi-teachers had written on the blackboard, be they bulletins, proclamations, or public notices on advertising columns, be they headlines from new or old newspapers. -- The story doesn't end with the war. The terror goes on. Only this time it's not Hitler and the Nazis that spread terror but Stalin and the communists. And what used to be the Gestapo is now the Stasi. The protagonist, meanwhile grown, is still collecting announcements, bulletins, proclamations, and public notices.
The way, the author integrates all this historic data into his book that tells about terror, horror, danger, bad guys, good guys (but more bad guys than good guys), turncoats, phony clerics, family ties, and even love, he combines the pros of a memoir with the pros of a history book, and he does it in the most brilliant way.
All in all, this book is the work of a genius.
Note:
The foregoing reviews come from readers of the print edition of this work, which is also available at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=My+Name+Was+Five
About the Author
Additional publications by the author are listed on Amazon’s Heinz Kohler page:
http://www.amazon.com/Heinz-Kohler/e/B001H9PWDS/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1429824814&sr=1-2-ent
His most recent books include a guide for exposing bogus claims about what’s good for our health; available at Amazon in print and as a Kindle edition:
CAUTION: SNAKE OIL! How Statistical Thinking Can Help Us Expose Misinformation About Our Health
http://www.amazon.com/CAUTION-Statistical-Thinking-Expose-Misinformation-ebook/dp/B008G4SQIU/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430169126&sr=1-8&keywords=Heinz+Kohler
SURFING A MAGICAL INTERNET, a series of Kindle books for children aged 10 or more and adults of all ages. These books resurrect the collection of Liebig cards discussed in Chapters 1, 4, and 29 of My Name Was Five. They include
Book 1. Extraordinary Birds
http://www.amazon.com/EXTRAORDINARY-BIRDS-SURFING-MAGICAL-INTERNET-ebook/dp/B00JK4EG52/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429824046&sr=1-11&keywords=Heinz+Kohler
Book 2. Brainteasers
http://www.amazon.com/BRAINTEASERS-SURFING-MAGICAL-INTERNET-Book-ebook/dp/B00KN6WYUU/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429824140&sr=1-5&keywords=Heinz+Kohler
Book 3. Unusual Plants
http://www.amazon.com/UNUSUAL-PLANTS-SURFING-MAGICAL-INTERNET-ebook/dp/B00MLJKB8O/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429824188&sr=1-10&keywords=Heinz+Kohler
Book 4. Remarkable Animals
http://www.amazon.com/REMARKABLE-ANIMALS-SURFING-MAGICAL-INTERNET-ebook/dp/B00UY07QZS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429824283&sr=1-1&keywords=Heinz+Kohler