Hitler's Promise

Hitler promised to make Germany better. "Give me ten years and you will not recognize Germany," he had said. It was probably the only promise that he made good on--no one certainly could recognize Germany after he got through with it. We are all familiar with the ravaging effects of World War II on his own country, not to mention the world.

This is the basis for my new Middle Grade historical fiction book that I am currently working on as my NaNoWriMo project. The main source of my information is a former Nazi soldier who was drafted into Hitler's army at age 16 near the end of the war. He remember's Hitler's speech when he made the above mentioned promise. Having lived through the war, seeing his home town of Saarbruecken bombed, evactuated twice, and being separated from his parents while in his youth to fight for a man he knew was evil, he saw first hand that Hitler was nothing but a liar--except for that one statement: "You won't recognize Germany . . " From this and his stories I gained the inspriation for my book. It is based very closely on the amazing experiences of this young German boy, now an old man in his eighties.

The picture I have attached is not that of my main character of course, but I think it expresses a poignant depiction of how many Germans felt (including Max, the story's MC) about having to salute Hitler and his Nazi reign of terror.