A Visa or Your Life!: A Boy's Life and the Odyssey of His Escape from Nazi Germany, Hardcover/Kurt W. Roberg

This book, an autobiography, starts with the story of a Jewish boy growing up in Nazi Germany, related from the viewpoint of a teenager. He tells us about his youthful experiences and impressions, the restrictions and degradations forced on Jews by a hostile, totalitarian regime, and the ultimate struggle to secure the permits and visas for a life-saving emigration. After his escape to Holland, he is caught there in the grips of war and survives the bombardment of Rotterdam. His adventures continue with his ongoing struggle to obtain the necessary transit visas in wartime Berlin as the Nazi's plan had escalated from hostility toward Jews to their destruction. His problems do not end when he finally reaches the United States. Eventually, however, he is reunited with his family. The author then takes the reader to New York City of the 1940s and US army life in World War II during his tour of duty in the Pacific. His trips back to Germany after the war open a door to the emotions of returning to a scene of humiliation and brutality, as well as recognition of those righteous people who helped his family in their hour of need. The book relates a wealth of historic information and succeeds in painting a vivid picture of a world at war, a young man and his family's escape to freedom, and coming to terms with the past through redemption and recognition.