Herbert J. Stern

On a day when people are sending a message of love, I'm reading the book WOLF about a man who sent a message of hate.

Herbert J. Stern and Alan A. Winter team up to create a brilliant blend of fact and fiction in this well researched historical novel. And, I must tell you that this book had me hooked at the Prologue where Bernard Weiss is saved by fictional character Friedrich Richard.

The story is narrated by Richard. About four chapters in, we are taken back to October 21st, 1918. Germany has suspended all submarine warfare and two men have a close encounter outside Pasewalk Military Hospital.

The man with bandaged eyes, being guided from the wagon cart to the ground, is called Wolf ( Adolf Hitler). The man following is Friedrich Richard. A name assumed from a soldier who'd taken his own life.

Yes! Hitler's soon to be bunkmate has amnesia.

Hitler is the central character of the story. He's receiving special care for the mentally afflicted. Hitler believes himself to be suffering vision loss due to gas poisoning but we learn it's actually hysterical blindness.

The hospital is short-staffed, so Richard befriends Hitler with kindness and the two form a strong bond.

Aside from his military training, Hitler is a fine artist who expresses he despised his father who was an abusive drunkard. Hitler's father died and Hitler's mother was not able to be saved by the Jewish doctor who attended to her illness.

Less than a month from Hitler's arrival at the hospital the Armistice of Compiègne is signed and Hitler is devastated by this news.

Dr. Forster is employed in Pasewalk Hospital's psychiatric department. He hypnotizes Hitler and a monster is created. Hitler believes his sight is regained because he has a special purpose and heavy responsibility to save Germany.

Soon after, Richard and Hitler are discharged from the hospital. Richard follows Hitler as he rises to power and becomes the chancellor of Germany.

I found this book to be an utterly astounding look at dominating hierarchy which is well known in wolves. We find unified forces who obeyed orders. Hitler engages in small talk, forms bonds, and uses people to achieve his ends. He has a plan and it seems nothing is going to stand in the way of this WOLF.

I received a copy of this evocative thriller through the generosity of Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc. Despite the depressing nature of the book, as we already know of the social discrimination and genocide against specific groups, we can appreciate the open and honest way in which the authors write about relationships. We can recognize the things we take so readily for granted and build on the hope for a brighter, more compassionate, future.… (mais)

Sins of the Fathers, Herbert Stern and Alan R. Winter, authors
This is the second collaborative book about Hitler written by these two authors, one who is a lawyer and author of non-fiction, and one who is an educator and author of novels. In the first book they wrote, “Wolf” (Hitler’s nickname), Adolph Hitler’s life from 1918-1934 is imagined in detail. In this novel, his rise to power, as he gained complete control over the German people, and mesmerized a good deal of the world as well, is envisioned further. With an exhaustive amount of research and investigation, uncovering information hitherto unknown or not widely published, the authors have woven fact and fiction together to create a picture of Hitler’s mental state as he rose to power, and it is very plausible. The book exposes the efforts of those who both supported and tried to thwart him, those unsung heroes who originally supported Hitler, but then were ultimately forced to continue to support him and to participate in the barbarism of this man whose sanity was most likely teetering on the edge of madness. This book is dedicated to those very real characters who sacrificed themselves in order to try to stop Hitler from bringing the world to the edge of catastrophe, and when that failed, to try to ultimately destroy him as his growing diabolical plans took shape and World War II began.
Blending the real and the imagined expertly, the authors have illustrated and documented Hitler’s efforts to create the Third Reich, his thousand-year dream which was the embodiment of evil. He imagined and planned it down to the smallest detail. He surrounded himself with men who were brutal and without a moral compass. They were savages, criminals, sadists and haters of everything decent people respected. They were arrogant, and they were cruel and violent. They were infected with Hitler’s virulent need to Aryanize so much of the world. While some of the characters will not be easily recognizable to the reader, many of the characters in the book wiill be widely known, even to those who are not students of history. FDR, Mussolini, Himmler, Chamberlain, Churchill, Goebbels, Eva Braun and Pastor Niemoller, to name a few, will ring a bell, although many of those remembered will have become negative household names, so much so, that as one reads the book, it will be hard not to wish it was pure fiction. However, because it is based on reality, the reader cannot suspend disbelief. This book is dedicated to those men who saw through Hitler’s charade, recognized his madness and the country’s doomed future and sacrificed themselves trying to stop Hitler’s barbaric plans from reaching fruition. Hitler’s Final Solution, his violence and total disregard and dislike of certain segments of German society and the world at large, his plans to create his “master race” had to be stopped. It took far too long to recognize his barbarism, and so Hitler was responsible for the loss of far too many lives. The world lost a great deal of talented and brilliant human beings to the madness and malevolence of several unworthy leaders.
Through the eyes of Hitler’s imaginary confidant and companion, Friedrich Richard, Hitler’s thought processes and private life are reconstructed to reveal exactly how he develops his diabolical plans. In the first book, where it is imagined that Friedrich and Hitler met, Friedrich’s amnesia and Hitler’s mental state and coming rise to power is introduced. In the second, a decade and a half later, Hitler and his follower's descent into Dante’s ninth circle of Hell is explored. Both Hitler and Richard in this book have lives created from fact and fiction. Friedrich is created out of whole cloth and is the embodiment of the conflicted German, the German who supported Hitler and yet turned a blind eye to his brutality, to what was happening around them because of loyalty to The Fuhrer, or loyalty to themselves, even as they suspected the worst was happening and dismissed those thoughts. At first, the very real Hitler convinced the world that he only wanted to unite Austria and Germany, something he said the Austrians also wanted, which the world witnessed as he was cheered when he and his minions marched into Linz, his hometown. Later, Hitler recognized that no one would intervene. No one had the stomach for a war. No one wanted the Jews. Not many were fully aware of the evil that was soon to begin in earnest. Therefore, when Hitler encountered so little resistance, he was emboldened to go further. He realized that no one would stop him. Although the world feared the worst possible outcome, they preferred to give Hitler the benefit of the doubt. Only those closest to him realized how dangerous he was, or perhaps they were the only ones brave enough to try to defy and stop him.
Who would ever have believed, knowing what we know now, that Hitler would become the Time Man of the Year for any reason, even because he had the most influence on the world? Hitler’s ego and arrogance were so dominant, it must have been a seminal moment for him. Hitler believed he was invincible and infallible. The apathy of the rest of the world, the ambivalence about his behavior and plans, the acceptance of the explanations for his actions, propelled him to further invade other countries and his early success was dependent upon the inaction of other leaders. If you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it, and right now, in the winter of 2022, the world is witnessing Russia’s egotistic leader, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of a sovereign country, simply because he, too, can do it. Once again, the world is looking the other way, as another man, whose genius is both authoritarian and merciless, invades a nation. Once again, will too much human capital be lost as a result of the world’s unwillingness to see the importance of the meaning behind this invasion, rather than the meaning of the invasion itself? Is there another kind of master plan at work here? This book is very timely. I suggest all read it, treating the romances lightly, because that might also take the reader’s eye off the crucial ball.
I learned many things from this book, because although some characters are fictional, the history and recognizable names are quite authentic. For those readers who are not as well versed in this history, there is a marvelous end section written by the authors. It succinctly describes the worldview in the time of Hitler. I look forward to the next book because, as they have in this one, I feel certain that these authors will uncover further little known or previously unknown theories, thoughts, facts and odd bits of information that are now being proffered as very much a pertinent part of world history.… (mais)

Whew, this book is like watching a chess match. The strategic planning and placing of all the chess pieces, only to be checkmated in the end.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It definitely exceeded my expectations. Our main character, Fredrich Richard, although a fictional character, gives us a history lesson on the true events leading up of the failed coup to overthrow Hitler. I enjoyed the blend of the imaginative fictional story and the historical aspect of the book. As a reader you can tell this book was well researched and delivers the story in an engrossing and engaging way. I'm not sure I've ever read a WW2 book that focused on Hitler and his rise to power that portrayed him as an actual person and not just the monster he is/became. When you look at what he did to millions of people it's hard to see anything but an evil monster, but through Sins of the Fathers you get a better idea of how he got to be in that position of power. The ending leads me to believe there may be a sequel to this series?? I'm here for it. Also, I haven't read the predecessor novel, Wolf but it is now on my list of books to read.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and honestly review an advanced readers copy.… (mais)

The possibility that a monster like Adolph Hitler could have ever been a ladies man never crossed my mind. Never. But that is exactly the way that Hitler is portrayed here in Wolf, the new fictional look at Adolph Hitler’s rise to power by authors Herbert Stern and Alan Winter. And according to the novel’s “Historical Notes” section, there is good reason to portray him that way because Hitler was not really the cold, emotional wreck of a man who was incapable of forming meaningful relationships with others that so many “esteemed” historians claim he was. Stern and Winter say that he, in fact, “forged life-long friendships with numerous people,” people to whom he was “exceedingly loyal.” This is particularly true in cases of the men who were with him from the very beginning of his rise to power - as it was true of the “stable of women” he manipulated for his own purposes throughout most of his adulthood.

Most of the characters in Wolf were real people, but the book’s narrator, Friedrich Richard, is not one of these. Rather, Richard is a fictional, amnesiac soldier who meets Adolph Hitler in the mental ward at Pasewalk Hospital in 1918. Richard is in the hospital for treatment to help him recover his identity when Hitler, having been diagnosed as a psychopath suffering from hysterical blindness, introduces himself to Richard as “Wolf.” Both men are suffering from World War I combat-related issues. Richard is not particularly happy to have been asked by doctors to help look after Wolf, but after Wolf becomes completely dependent on Richard’s assistance for getting around the hospital, the two begin the close friendship that will last them for at least the next sixteen years.

The sixteen years encompassed by Wolf, beginning in October 1918 and ending in August 1934, would see Adolph Hitler rise all the way from being a mere corporal whose mind has convinced his body that he is blind, to the moment that German voters decide to “anoint” him their country’s dictator. Along the way the two men’s friendship will be tested numerous times, but Richard convinces himself that by staying close to Hitler he will be able to curb the man’s worst impulses. Hitler, on his part, remains dependent on Richard and is always more willing to listen to counsel from him than from anyone else in his organization. The supreme irony of their relationship is that Richard’s good advice is instrumental in Hitler’s rise to the top of German politics – and to all that will soon follow.

Bottom Line: Wolf helps explain what many readers will have only wondered about: How did the citizens of Germany not simply allow, but actually vote, a man like Adolph Hitler into the absolute power that would lead to him becoming perhaps the greatest monster the world has ever seen. While the novel can at times read a little too much like a history book, it is in its best moments a horrifying reminder of just how easily something like this could happen again.

Review Copy courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing… (mais)