Someday You Will Understand

My Father's Private World War II

By: Nina Wolff Feld

Narrated by: Nina Wolff Feld

Walter Wolff was the son of a Jewish merchant family that fled their German home when the Nazis came to power and took refuge in Brussels, Belgium. On the eve of the German invasion, in May 1940, the family began its second escape. Their sixteen-month odyssey took them through the chaos of battle in France and the dangers of living clandestinely as Jews in occupied territory, before they finally boarded the notorious freighter SS Navemar in Cadiz, Spain, to be among the last Jewish refugees admitted to the United States before Pearl Harbor.

Within two years of his arrival in the States, Walter was ready to take the fight back to the Nazis as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Trained for the Intelligence Corps at Camp Ritchie, he was sent first to Italy and then to Germany and Austria, where he interrogated POWs for potential prosecution as war criminals at Nuremburg. At the same time, on his travels in Europe he returned to the confiscated properties of his extended family, throwing out the occupiers and reclaiming ownership. Telling the rousing story of a Jewish boy who fled persecution and returned to prosecute the Nazi oppressors, Walter Wolff's daughter Nina has reconstructed these events from family lore and her father’s own cache of more than 700 wartime letters and 200 photographs, which he revealed to her shortly before he died.

©2014 Nina Wolff Feld (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Excellent listen, however...

The word “Requisition” was far over used in this story, however this was well worth the listen and I feel honored to have experienced it.

Fascinating

A Jewish boy escapes to America to return to Germany to interview Nazis and send them to trial in Nuremberg
I read several one star reviews and after finishing this book I realized that those people did not get the point...these are letters that a 21 year old wrote to his parents and sister. I thought him to be very intelligent, very clever and very brave long before joining the army. Occasionally the book runs into the weeds but overall I found it to be interesting and have a feeling the rest of Walter's life is also book worthy.

conflicted

I get it.. many in WWll were just out for what they could get out of it, but hearing this over and over with a guy for whom we should feel empathy is conflicting.. painful.. why don't I cheer for his cleverness and abilities, his superiority.? maybe just a young entitled guy of his time.. we certainly have a society filled with them maybe me just a victim of too many incomplete stories of the WWll genre

Great true narrative

The contents of the book were both interesting and entertaining but my biggest compliment is for the authors own reading for the audiobook. No one can narrate a story as well as the person who wrote it and she did a fantastic job of narrating this one.

interesting story

I have read many books from WWII and many of the horrible treatment of Jews. This story gave me a new perspective on a Jew who was able to out maneuver and successfully avoid most of the tragedies during WWII.

LETTERS FROM MY FATHER DURING WW2

I have always loved stories fiction or nonfiction about WW2. However, it took all I had to complete this book. If the author didn't "understand" by the time she finished this book, well? I really don't know what to say. This book seemed to have every minute detail of her father's life over there, and hardly anything about the war. I'm all for recollections, that's why I bought the book, however, I was looking for a piece of history/anything, and sadly learned about how her grandmother was going to be so mad that her father wasn't eating she was going to "have a fit!" I have the Kindle edition
also, and there are pictures in there 😶 that's why I gave it a 4 star review. I do want to say she did a great job narrating! 😁

Boring

What should be a gripping story is rendered mind numbing because of the soporific narration. It’s obvious that the author idolizes the protagonist, her father, but this book does not do him justice. I couldn’t finish it.

Not What I expected

I was eager to read of her father's experiences during WW2. What I wasn't prepared for was a story of of an entitled immigrant who spent the majority if the war avoiding direct conflict and exploiting any opportunity for his advantage. Having 2 uncles born in the US who served selflessly and were wounded in WW2, her father's behavior sickened and angered me. I'm sorry I read this.

I wanted to like him...

I really wanted to like this book and the main character. As much as I tried I could not get past his self promotion and absorption. Perhaps, in life he wasn't but, he comes across as an pompous, egotistical, self important man. He doesn't seem like someone I would have wanted to meet unlike most of the true heros about whom I've read and researched, including those who served in my own family.

Laborious

Unbearably laborious.
The main character is immensely absorbed into his self constructed image. Huge attention given to details that don’t have anything to do with the point of the story.
If you have an unquenchable appetite for anything related to WW2, you may like this book. Otherwise it is quite boring.