Learn History Through Fiction – Page 2

Learn History Through Fiction: The Limping Spy

As a woman and amputee, American Virginia Hall was not expected to succeed at espionage during WW2. Yet operating under 20 different code names, with an artificial leg, she gathered intelligence, rescued fellow agents, eluded double-crossing informants, and helped organized the French resistance. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans spoke out and saved lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Virginia Hall’s feats as a WWII spy are only being belatedly recognized

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Learn History Through Fiction: Dedicated Quakers

Young newlyweds Roswell and Marjorie McClelland were ordinary Americans who took extraordinary action during the Holocaust to save victims of Nazi persecution. Well-educated, they could have earned a good living while staying safe at home. Instead they volunteered with American Friends Service Committee. One step ahead of the Nazis, they moved from Italy to France to Switzerland to assist refugees trying to escape. The exact number they rescued is unknown, but it is estimated to be in the hundreds. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans helped to save lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Quakers Roswell & Marjorie McClelland helped hundreds of refugees escape the Nazis

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Learn History Through Fiction: Chanteuse and Spy

Black singer and dancer Josephine Baker left the U.S. to live freely in France. When Nazism threatened her adopted homeland, she used her talents to defend it — as a spy. Baker socialized with Axis elite, eavesdropping and reporting back to French intelligence. When the Nazis occupied Paris in 1940, she fled to southern France, rented a chateau, and gave refuge to others. In 1945, General Charles de Gaulle awarded her two prestigious honors for her actions. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans helped to save lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Josephine Baker spied to defend freedom in France during WWII

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Learn History Through Fiction: Truth or Rumor?

A 1943 poll showed half of U.S. respondents thought the fact that million of Jews had been murdered was a rumor. By 1944, three-quarters believed Nazi concentration camps were real, but that hundreds of thousands, at most, were killed. The State Department misled Congress and the American people. Today, ignorance of the Holocaust is rampant, especially among millennials and Gen Z. History shows America failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long lied about Nazi atrocities and the number of refugees admitted to the U.S.

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

A Post Father’s Day Post: When Father is a Bad Dad

In 1926, the wealthy eccentric barrister Charles Vance Millar, having no heirs, left the bulk of his estate to the Toronto woman giving birth to the most babies in the decade following his death. The race was on for his fortune, which newspapers dubbed “The Great Stork Derby.” Inspired by this real, but bizarre, event in Canadian history, I wrote the novel The Great Stork Derby, about an imaginary family caught up in the madness. Fifty years later, the ailing widower Emm Benbow, who made his wife Izora have lots of babies, must now face his estranged grown children. The novel asks whether this “bad dad” can finally learn that the true value of fatherhood is not measured in big prizes, but in small rewards. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Toronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize

Learning the true value of fatherhood

Pride Month: Time to Revisit Death, Shmeath

In recognition of June being Pride Month, I invite readers to revisit my short story “Death, Shmeath” (North American Review, Summer 2021), which was inspired by the life of Sidney Franklin. Here’s the log line: “In ‘Death, Shmeath,’ set in 1932 Brooklyn and based on a real character, an Orthodox father struggles with his son’s worldwide fame as the first and only gay Jewish matador.” Read more in SHORT STORIES.

Sidney Franklin, the gay Jewish matador from Brooklyn

North American Review, founded in 1815, is the oldest literary journal in the U.S.

Learn History Through Fiction: Rescuing Jews Low Priority

The Roosevelt administration made a conscious decision, even after the U.S. entered the war, to focus on military defeat of the Nazi regime. The rescue of Holocaust victims was a much lower priority. History shows America failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

“America First” dominated U.S. sentiments in WWII

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Learn History Through Fiction: A Frightening Fool

American news outlets didn’t take Hitler seriously at first, lampooning him as a fool and the “Vegetarian Superman,” while at the same time quoting him as blaming Jews for Germany’s defeat in WWI and current debts. History shows America failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

U.S. press depicted Hitler as a fool

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Learn History Through Fiction: Blinders

The U.S. press said they couldn’t see what was coming, yet TIME magazine quoted the Nazi Minister of Propaganda when he blamed Germany’s economic woes on the Jews. History shows America failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Americans feigned ignorance, but knew what was coming

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Learn History Through Fiction: “We Didn’t Know”

It’s a myth that Americans were ignorant about what was happening in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. A review of magazines and newspapers shows they had ample access to information detailing what the Nazis were doing to Jews and others targeted by Hitler’s regime. History shows America failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Ignorance about Nazi persecution in WW2 is a myth; Americans knew!

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins