In The Fields of the Eagle
Historical fiction inspired by actual events.
In the 1930s, as the Nazis rose to power, those who opposed them looked for anyone to stand up. As adults abdicated their responsibilities- or were 'disappeared' for standing up, some young people decided to take a stand.
The college students had Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Society.
But the younger kids, the teenagers, had a loose organization called the Edelweiss Pirates.
They trained, much like the Hitler Youth, by hiking and learning to fight and understanding history. Unlike the Hitler Youth, they hated Hitler. They hated the Nazis. So, they set out to make their lives difficult. Pranks like sugar in the gas tank escalated to stealing supplies and picking (and winning) fights with the Hitler Youth. Eventually, some Edelweiss Pirates helped Jews to escape the country as the Holocaust began to ravage their society.
As an AP History teacher, I wrote this book for my students.
But I hope all will learn from this fictionalize account of a very real- and relevant- fight against fascism.
“It would be better to be free and live in the shadow of death than to be trapped in the certainty of it,” I said. (Klaus Volk)
Would you stand against the rise of evil?
Klaus Volk and his young friends find that they must stand against the Nazis when no one else will. What starts as light-hearted pranks soon because deadly serious, and they must choose to become a different kind of soldier in an all too important war.
A war for the soul of a country.