For half a century Louis Maier kept much of the history of his life under the Nazis and the destruction of his family and community to himself and only reluctantly shared his thoughts and memories with the closest of friends.
His family lived in Malsch, a village on the edge of the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. He was nine years old when the Third Reich started. In the voice of this young boy he describes his life and the subtle changes under the Nazis which grew into terrible assaults on the Jewish community.
In twenty-eight stories he depicts different aspects of his own and his family's experiences in this integrated community of Jews and Gentiles, their relationship with friends and neighbors. Together, they portray the insidious influence of the Nazi regime. The content is lighthearted at times, and poignant at others, a contrast which reflects their lives at the time and their spirit of survival.
One chapter, In Lieu of Flowers, speaks about the deportation of his parents and the remainder of the Jews of Malsch to Camp de Gurs, an internment camp in unoccupied France. Many died there from disease and malnutrition. (The monument pictured on the front cover of the book honors the inmates of the camp.) His parents, then in their early fifties, were deported to Auschwitz where they met their deaths. In this section, the author speaks of the search for his parents, family and friends. He wonders about an appropriate memorial eulogizing them. This book is one means of honoring the memory of his family and community.