Auslander

Piotr Bruck was found in a Polish orphanage by the German SS.  They wanted to find those of true Volksdeutsche - German blood.  Those found thus, would be placed in good German homes.  Piotr was quite excited about the prospect, but the other boys were not.

Professor Franz Kaltenbach lived in Berlin and had the job of ensuring that people brought before him were of proper German blood.  He was asked along with his wife Leise and their three daughters to take in Piotr.  They accept Piotr, but Germanise his name to Peter and ask him to call them Onkel and Tante.

Piotr learns that education meant sports and politics in everything at school.  He became a member of the Hitler Youth.  There he is befriended by Gerhart Segur.  They had to be careful in what they said or they would be reported to the Gestapo.  Excitement rose in Germany as the army pushed into the Soviet Union.

Anna Reiter was a pretty young woman and a member of the League of German Maidens.  She is concerned about how careful she has to be in everything she says and does.

Piotr feels pride in the German successes, but at the same time feels guilt about what is happening to the people of Poland.  He tries helping a young Polish boy, but only ends up creating trouble for the lad.  He begins to feel more and more like an Auslander - a foreigner.

Piotr discovers Anna in the library and walks her home on a dark evening.  They find that they have a like mindedness about many things.  They also begin to secretly listen to the BBC.  They discover that the British are calm, and quietly seem to know what it is really like in Germany.  Later, Anna takes Piotr to visit her brother in the hospital.  He has been invalided back from Stalingrad, and what he tells them is not pretty.

As the bombing of Berlin intensifies, Piotr and Anna are given new duties within the city, as are all young people.  Later, the family Piotr is living with receives news that his grandmother was Jewish.  He denies it, saying that she was very Catholic.

Not long after that Anna's father is arrested by the Gestapo.  Fortunately Anna and her mother see it happening.  They come for Piotr, too.  Now they must escape.

Author Paul Dowswell has written an exciting novel about life in Nazi Germany.  An excellent read.