I Must be a Part of this War: A German American's Fight against Hitler and Nazism

285 Pages·2005·2.16 MB·English

by  Patricia Kollander

‘‘I Must Be a Part of This War’’
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world war ii: the global, human, and ethical dimension
G.KurtPiehler,serieseditor
1. LawrenceCane,DavidE.Cane,JudyBarrettLitoff,andDavidC.Smith,eds.,
FightingFascisminEurope:TheWorldWarIILettersofanAmericanVeteranofthe
SpanishCivilWar.
2. AngeloM.SpinelliandLewisH.Carlson,LifeBehindBarbedWire:TheSecret
WorldWarIIPhotographsofPrisonerofWarAngeloM.Spinelli.
3. DonWhiteheadandJohnB.Romeiser,‘‘BeachheadDon’’:ReportingtheWarfrom
theEuropeanTheater,1942–1945.
4. ScottH.Bennett,ed.,ArmyGI,PacifistCO:TheWorldWarIILettersofFrankand
AlbertDietrich.
5. AlexanderJeffersonwithLewisH.Carlson,RedTailCaptured,RedTailFree:
MemoirsofaTuskegeeAirmanandPOW.
6. JonathanG.Utley,GoingtoWarwithJapan,1937–1941.
7. GrantK.Goodman,America’sJapan:TheFirstYear,1945–1946.
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Copyright(cid:2)2005FordhamUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans—electronic,
mechanical,photocopy,recording,oranyother—exceptforbriefquotationsin
printedreviews,withoutthepriorpermissionofthepublisher.
Unlessotherwisenoted,allphotographsarefromtheK.FrankandRitaKorf
Collection,FloridaAtlanticUniversityLibrary,BocaRaton,Florida.
WorldWarII:TheGlobal,Human,andEthicalDimension,No.8
ISSN1541-0293
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kollander,Patricia.
‘‘Imustbeapartofthiswar’’:aGermanAmerican’sfightagainstHitlerand
Nazism/PatriciaKollander;withJohnO’Sullivan.—1sted.
p. cm.—(WorldWarII—theglobal,human,andethicaldimension,ISSN
1541-0293;8)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-8232-2528-3(hbk.)
1. Korf,K.Frank(KurtFrank),1909–2000. 2. WorldWar,
1939–1945—Participation,GermanAmerican. 3. WorldWar,
1939–1945—Militaryintelligence—UnitedStates. 4. UnitedStates.
Army—GermanAmericans—Biography. 5. GermanAmericans—Social
conditions—20thcentury. 6. GermanAmericansoldiers—United
States—Biography. I. O’Sullivan,John,1939– II. Title. III. Series.
D769.8.F7G48 2005
940.54(cid:2)8673(cid:2)092—dc22
2005017142
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
070605 54321
Firstedition
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Formyhusband,
BruceB.Fuller
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
Introduction xiii
1 FromPatriottoOutcast:1909–1937 1
2 HowtoBecomeanAmerican:1937–1942 24
3 AGermanintheU.S.Army:1943–1944 55
4 IntotheAbyss:1944–1945 88
5 TheHuntforWarCriminals:1945–1946 127
6 FromWorldWartoColdWar 152
7 TheGoebbelsDiaries 177
Conclusion 195
Notes 205
Bibliography 239
Index 249
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Acknowledgments
Many people helped bring this project to fruition. Dr. Christopher
Keller of Davidson College and Louise French of the U.S. Military
History Institute in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, helped locate
valuable information on the ethnic backgrounds of soldiers who
servedintheU.S.militaryduringWorldWarII.Researchassistants
at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and the Holo-
caust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., were also very help-
ful. Eileen Simon of the Veterans History Project at the Library of
Congress located taped interviews and papers of German-born vet-
erans.IamalsoindebtedtoDeborahLattimore,DianaBurkley,and
Michelle Millet, who helped to transcribe taped interviews with K.
FrankKorfandhiswife,andtoAthaliaRodriguez,whotypedKorf’s
memoirdraft.
I am particularly indebted to Dr. Harry Kersey, who read a
draftofthebookandsuppliedagreatdealofinsightandvaluable
advice. I am also grateful to Dr. Alan Berger, who read a draft of
the book as well and provided helpful suggestions. A graduate
student in the History program at Florida Atlantic University,
Charles Riley provided excellent information about the workings
of the military.
Aone-semestersabbaticalfromFloridaAtlanticUniversity,are-
searchgrantfromtheFloridaAtlanticUniversityFoundation,anda
releasetimeawardfromtheDorothyF.SchmidtCollegeofArtsand
Lettersallprovidedmewithtimeandresourcesneededforresearch
andwriting.
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