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As The Bombs Fell
You almost never get to hear the other side of the story. What was it like to be a child living in Germany as the country descended into war? What did kids do while their dads were away fighting and the rest of the family was living in either privation or terror, or both? As the Bombs Fell is a treasure-trove of information about life as a child in Nazi Germany, told by a man who actually lived the experience. Otto Schmalz allows us to see, through the innocent eyes of a child, the realities of German life in several different circumstances – the regimentation and camaraderie of the Jungvolk and the boys camp that children were sent to to get them out of harm’s way in the cities, the pas...
Time for Taking Chances
Time for Taking Chances: Leaving Germany as a Teenager after the War is an intimate account of a profound transition undertaken by a nineteen-year-old German boy immigrating to Canada in 1951 who saw no hope for his bombed-out country ever getting back on its feet. At the Canadian consulate in Hannover, in whose dramatic ruins he’d lived for six years after the Second World War, Otto Schmalz learned of the possibility for another chance. Canada, way out there on the other side of the Atlantic, needed electricians like him, they told him. His skills in this trade would allow him to immigrate. But after he arrived in a camp outside Montréal, Otto immediately felt cheated. Penniless, without a job, with no relatives or grasp of the language, this teenage immigrant realized the chance he’d taken in coming to Canada would be followed up with a whole lot more chance-taking, much of it in the company of other immigrants, whose help and friendship were always invaluable. Here is the immigrant’s story, a story that many people have experienced, and many more will.
Taking Chances
In 1955, Otto Schmalz had been a single German immigrant in Canada for four years. It was time for him to go back to Europe and find a wife. In this, Schmalz’s fourth book of memoir, he takes us on an adventure that takes us from his return to Canada with his German fiancée through their early years together, which were abundantly propelled by an appetite for taking chances. Otto took on jobs away from home to earn more money, leaving his new-to-Canada bride to figure the country out on her own (she did). He postponed an urgent operation so he could finish his first year at university—at age thirty-three (he did). They went with nearly no income for five years, while Otto took engineering courses in the hope of becoming an engineer (he did). Otto and Gertrud’s bold approach to their lives, which featured no little sacrifice and financial hardship, has proved a spectacular success. Taking Chances Paid off, and the rollicking tales it unspools, is proof of that.
Out of the Ruins
Like all other German cities, Hannover, West Germany, was in physical and economic ruin when the Second World War came to a close in 1945. Many of the war’s hardships continued for German citizens in the post-war years, and it was exceedingly difficult to get materials enough to live. Everything was considered precious in this extraordinary stretch, and Germans collected, recycled, and reused all that they could, and produced no garbage. This was a population that learned how to make the best of what one has. Hannover was still in ruin in 1951, and Otto Schmalz, worn down by the bleakness of it all, decided to immigrate to Canada. Out of the Ruins is Schmalz’s frank and intimate story of a teenage boy’s experience of life during the post-World War II era in West Germany.
A Journey Back to Europe
In 1960, Otto Schmalz and his wife, Gertrud, decided to take a four-month vacation to their native Europe, where they would tour parts of West Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Italy, visiting family and friends, and seeing as much of the continent as possible. They went by freighter from Canada and took their car with them. Their goal was to discover and learn about history, culture, food, people, and new things. Having worked for more than two years without a day off, this transplanted-to-Canada German couple was itching for a change of scenery. Today, their tales still vibrate with interest and colour for anyone who likes to travel or has an interest of the histories of the places they visited.
Exploring Patagonia and Antarctica
Otto and his wife, Gertrud, had travelled to many places around the world—but by November 2006, they were looking for something different, somewhere out of the ordinary that tourists didn’t think of visiting. They set their course for two weeks cruising the fjords in Patagonia before heading even farther south to Antarctica. Although Otto describes the idyllic beauty of Patagonia and the unique terrain of Antarctica, he learns as well about the mark that humans have left in their wake. In Patagonia, European colonization has torn through its Indigenous peoples; in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, modern whaling practices have left the environment imbalanced, hunting animals to near extinction. The balance of beauty and ruin hangs in humans’ hands, and Otto witnesses the consequences firsthand in these remote areas. In Exploring Patagonia and Antarctica, Otto explores the effects that Homo sapiens has had all the way to the bottom of the world, as well as how important it is to protect the one and only planet we have.
To Abu Simbel and Back
In November 2001, mere months after the deadly attacks in New York on 9/11, Otto Schmalz and his wife embarked on a journey to Egypt. With security being more stringent and fewer travellers venturing outside of their homelands, tourism in Egypt was down ninety percent, which made it easier to get a close look at the breath-taking monuments and temples. For fourteen days, Otto and his tour companions cruised the Nile for nine days as well as toured the remainder by bus and visited many temples along and away from that great river. It was an eye-opening experience to discover how advanced the ancient Egyptian empires were thousands of years ago. Rather than channelling their strength and ambit...
Huntley
Huntley was founded in 1851. Its first boom years--the 1850s to 1920s--saw the town prosper thanks to the local dairy industry. Prolific dairy farmers provided milk for the many local condensing plants and cheese factories and sent huge surpluses into Chicago by train each day. It was said that the Huntley area produced more milk per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Businesses, homes, and churches all grew with the population. Village founders, movers and shakers of a century and more ago, as well as everyday workers and village residents are captured here in vintage images, showing what life was like in Huntley in years gone by.
Anticipating Total War
The essays in Anticipating Total War explore the discourse on war in Germany and the United States between 1871 and 1914. The concept of "total war" provides the analytical focus. The essays reveal vigorous discussions of warfare in several forums among soldiers, statesmen, women's groups, and educators on both sides of the Atlantic. Predictions of long, cataclysmic wars were not uncommon in these discussions, while the involvement of German and American soldiers in colonial warfare suggested that future combat would not spare civilians. Despite these "anticipations of total war," virtually no one realized the practical implications in planning for war in the early twentieth century.
