By Karen Truesdell Riehl
I met Helga in 1977. She was the librarian in an elementary school east of Seattle. We became friends and daily lunch companions. Helga had a heavy German accent but never mentioned growing up in Germany. One day I asked her how long she’d been in this country. She told me she met her American soldier husband in Germany, shortly after the war. They moved to the United States in 1948.
I asked her to tell me about her experience during the war. She hesitated a moment, then announced, not proudly, “I was Jugend.”
“What’s a Jugend? I asked. [Read more…]