“American Wolf: From Nazi Refugee to American Spy” by author Audrey Birnbaum

“American Wolf: From Nazi Refugee to American Spy” by author Audrey Birnbaum

Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers, The Netherlands.

ISBN 9789493276987 for paperback and ISBN 9789493276994 for hardcover and ISBN 9789493322004 for ebook for the “American Wolf: From Nazi Refugee to American Spy” book by author Audrey Birnbaum.

This is a remarkable book. As a reader I had a hard time being a history buff to suspend my belief, or not just yell get out.

 The true story of Germany and its divided history is a hard pill to swallow. Knowing what is coming for the Jewish population of Prussia, Poland and Germany. I found it hard to understand why Wolf’s parents did not leave. But Wolf and Audrey show how hard it was for a middle income family to not only see the danger but take the risk of escaping before the war, or even at the beginning of the war. This book details all the subtle and manipulative practices of the Nazi party. How those practices now seen as overt and obvious were not to the people of Germany at the time. Many historical books gloss over this aspect of the rise of Hitler. They miss that people are averse to change, and that sometimes they are caught unaware of what we now know is true.

The remarkable story of his boat ride and immigration to the US. Is something that history tends to gloss over as well. How he did not fit in, because of language barriers, cultural differences, and expectations. Immigration is not an easy process, I see the struggle of many students throughout the school year  time and again as they attempt to bridge their old life with their current situation. This book shows how hard it is. Again showing how hard it was for Wolf’s family to move countries. It’s not just bureaucracy, or the physical move that is hard, but the lifetime of changes that affects the immigrant over and over again. 

Where I had a hard time believing in this story is the latter half, when he becomes a US Military spy. I think it’s more, my own lack of knowledge about espionage in Eastern Europe particularly in East Germany rather than what he states. He shows that there were practices of espionage that were not subversive but blunt and obvious. That they had a license plate that stated the car was a spy car. That they had rules of conduct when they were caught, that Russia sometimes did not follow. It is a thrilling time in the book. 

I think this book would be a good resource for middle and high school students. It shows the true nature of war, the struggle of immigration, and the humanity in all of us. Like Maus it shows the difficulties leading to world war 2, and the struggle of the Jewish population before, during and after the conflict.