Synopsis "Sacrifice and Salvation: Mission gdr (in English)"
"Sacrifice and Salvation: Mission GDR" is a post-WWII novel describing a daring intrusion into East Germany by young ethnic Germans, Gertrude "Trudi" Kehle and Peter Ackerman. They have a US Army-sponsored mission of finding and enticing suspected war criminal Herman Nagle to defect from the East. Both Trudi and Peter have personal motivation and demons to conquer as they wrestle with their own and their fellow Germans Nazi guilt. During dog-handling training of a Belgian Malinois, parachute training and other mission-preparatory skills, they meet an innocent young American girl named Evelyn Thompson. Evelyn is mentored by the experienced-in-an-oppressive-life and athletic Trudi until Evelyn achieves success athletically and as a maturing young girl.During the search for Herman Nagle, Trudi and Peter, who have parachuted into East German, find Sarah Blumenstein, a Jewish woman, hiding in the forest. Sarah is a concentration camp survivor, has been separated from her family and doesn't know the war is over. After escaping tne East and returning Herman Nagle to the West by raft on the Baltic Sea, Trudi and Peter find Sarah's family and devise an escape plan from the East for Sarah.The escape reunites the Blumensteins a but near-death injury ruins Trudi's world-class athletic aspirations. Trudi feels redeemed for the rescue of Sarah and the athletic and personal maturation of her protégé, Evelyn. At the trial of Herman Nagle, Trudi testifies to damning critical evidence she had been withholding, for reason, that leads to the conviction of Herman.That Herman Nagle was such an unsavory character, guilty of Nazi crimes and guilty of complicity in the death of Peter Ackerman's parents, the judge imposes an unusual and controversial sentence upon Herman--death by Zyklon B at Auschwitz or life imprisonment if he admits the Holocaust was a stain on the lives of contemporary Germans and not false oratory as he had maintained during the trial.World War II history and combat-action novels are found frequently with good reason. That war rescued Europe, and likely the world, from an incomprehensible fate. Little is written about how the aftermath of World War II affected the everyday lives of millions of European residents. This novel describes events that could have been a reality for survivors Trudi Kehle and Peter Ackerman.
