Summary Of Through Hell For Hitler By Henry Metelmann

Through Hell for Hitler is the life story of the author, Henry Metelmann. He was an Austrian and born in Altona, near Hamburg in 1922. He writes about growing up during the era of the Weimar Republic, and how the mass unemployment and widespread poverty left a lasting impression on his life. So, when his father took him to a town gathering to celebrate Hitler’s appointment to lead German, he became excited at the promises that Hitler made to make Germany a great nation. Hitler Youth soon took over his school program, and he writes of his admiration of the uniforms, sports equipment, and outings that were provided. He also discusses how they were taught o love their Fuhrer, almost as a second God. When he was eighteen, he was transferred from
He made Metelmann keep quiet about what he had heard from his father, but he never agreed with him anyway. When his father was on his deathbed, he pleaded with him to realize the hypocrisy and unfairness of the Party. He told him if he did not realize it now, then he soon would. Metalmann begins to understand what his father meant when he has several confusing encounters. One of these encounters was with a wagon train full of women, children, and elderly people. A woman from inside was begging him for a piece of bread, and the Nazis told the soldiers to not give them anything. He said up until then, all they had heard about concerning the concentration camps, was that only anti-social and anti-German elements, such as Communists, homosexuals, Jews, and thieves were forced to do a “decent day’s work for the first time in their lives.” Another situation that took place was the morning after Christmas when he was awoken by gunfire and canons. He said the soldiers had no idea that the Russians were even within 100 miles of them, and they felt angry that they were not aware of the enemy being close enough to attack. He along with the other soldiers were forced to retreat North, instead of fight, which he thought to be cowardly. Metalmann was also in a situation where he shouted back to a commander and was locked up in a
When he was able to make a trip home for a few weeks, his mother asked him if what he was doing in the Wehrmacht was right. His reply was that if he did not return back to Russia to fight, he would have to face the firing squad as he had seen others do. He was in his early twenties when he said that all of the idealism hat had been pushed on the soldiers about what they were fighting for in Russia had evaporated, and they had no hope left for victory. However, they were not mentally beaten, yet, because they wanted to return to Germany in one piece. It would not come soon, however, because Russians executed a surprise attack on the town that Metalmann was staying in. He was able to escape without being detected, and eventually met up with others who escaped and survived the attack. It was not until he was hit by a shell fragment and had a place secured for him on a Red Cross transport that he was able to return to Germany. He was soon declared fit, and was forced to fight, even though he knew the final collapse of the Reich was only a question of time. Metallmann and a few of his comrades eventually surrendered to a group of Americans and were taken as prisoners of war, and sent to America. He arrived on the 8th of May, 1945, with alarms ringing because Hitler was dead and the war was over. He then writes of the brochures that he read, which showed