German-Iowan author visits Reinbeck

Growing up in Nazi Germany, author Karl Schaper experienced firsthand the terrors of Adolf Hitler’s reign and the tragedies of war. It’s these experiences that he shares in his new book “Three Towers of Home.”
 
Schaper reflected on these experiences - and his journey to becoming a U.S. citizen and moving to Iowa - during an author talk and book discussion at Westview Estates in Reinbeck on Friday afternoon.
At just 10 years old, Schaper was ordered into Hitler’s Nazi Youth program in 1942.
 
“Every young boy who was not Jewish was ordered to be in it, and they said it was like Boy Scouts,” Schaper said. “We were sworn in and had to recite an oath to Hitler sort of like [Americans would say the Pledge of Allegiance.]"
 
Schaper - who hails from a small village in northern Germany - says he was chosen as a group leader for the local boys in his Nazi Youth program because he was physically strong, smart enough to follow orders but not smart enough to question things, and because he was one of the few boys left in town that hadn’t already gone off to join the war.
 
 
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