Book Review: Surviving the Reich by Ivan Goldstein

 Surviving the Reich, The World War II Saga of a Jewish-American GI by Ivan Goldstein, is not just about the GI experiences of a young fellow from Denver, Colorado, as the title implies.  The experiences as a POW that Goldstein endured are sandwiched between his earlier life in Colorado, and his life after the war.  The result is an intimate account of how one’s faith and beliefs can not only ground the spirit in the strong values of integrity, family and hard work, it can also give you superhuman strength to survive.

Goldstein’s childhood memories shine with the rituals of his Jewish upbringing.  His mother, who managed against near insurmountable odds to care for her three sons after the sudden death of her young husband, becomes a strong and constant influence in his life.  She insisted he keep his college plans when he was not included in the first round of drafts.  Though college life was enjoyable, Goldstein recounts why he was willing to fight:  “Today, patriotism is considered naïve.  But back then, if your country called you, you went…We all knew that Hitler was perpetrating some kind of genocide on our people…Most Americans, and certainly every Jew, felt that this evil must be defeated at all costs.”  His turn came up in the winter of 1942, and in July of the following year, the young nineteen-year-old was off for his induction into military life.

Picked for the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), Goldstein was sent to Camp Cook, California where he took up membership in Company B, 41st Tank Battalion.  In spite of a captain who treated him with anti-Semitic disdain, Goldstein mastered the Sherman tank and embarked for overseas in September of 1944 on the HMS Samaria.  Goldstein arrived in Liverpool mid-October where he remained until December 20.  In what could only be described as a quirky twist of fate, this delay would send him directly into one of the worst final battles of WW II:  the Ardennes Offensive in Belgium, better known as “the Battle of the Bulge.”

As Company B, 41st Tank Battalion of the 11th Armored Division moved from Cherbourg towards the Seine River in December, Goldstein witnessed how the American troops were pitifully underdressed for the below-zero temperatures.  Many troopers simply froze to death “…as they spent night after night in icy foxholes…”  The snow and ice covering the fields also made everything slippery for the tanks and their metal tracks.  On December 29, the division reached its bivouac area in Longlier, Belgium, where they were told to expect heavy resistance the next day.  Suffering from pre-combat jitters, the young soldier rose before dawn, took out his tefillin and recited his morning prayers.  He climbed into his tank, the “Barracuda,” just as the sun rose on the horizon.

Air Force P-47s accompanied the tank division as it fought its way through villages, moving towards Lavaselle.  The Barracuda ploughed faithfully on but was no match for the grueling winter conditions.  At 3 P.M. the tank ground to a dead halt, stuck in the icy mud.  The mired tank became an easy target and immediately suffered a hit by a German 88mm shell.  Goldstein was wounded in the leg while escaping from the tank and soon found himself outrun by the Germans.

The Germans rounded up all their prisoners and marched them until evening.  The German who interrogated Goldstein recognized the “H” for Hebrew on his dog tags and shouted, “In the morning take the Jew out and shoot him.”   As he was dragged away, the young soldier thought of the pain his mother would suffer over his death, and hoped he would face his death with courage.  But when the morning arrived, it wasn’t a firing squad Goldstein found himself facing, but the barked out orders from the Germans to assemble and move out; the Americans were advancing.

The POW march would eventually arrive at a labor camp in Prüm, Germany, then on to Gerdstein (known as “The Hellhole”), before the final transportation by cattle car to the infamous Stalag XII A in Limburg.  No need to have their names recorded there…the war was ending but the prisoners weren’t expected to live long enough to see it.

Goldstein presents an almost detached view of his experiences as a POW from December 1944 to the allied liberation in April of 1945.  He mentions the lack of food and terrible conditions, but does not go into much detail on the bleak and desperate times, preferring instead to talk of the times of hope and courage.  The large scope of the brutality he was forced to endure becomes evident only when Goldstein arrives back home at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Denver. The weight on his 6 foot 3 inch frame in December of 1944 was a healthy 205 pounds.  After being treated for a full month in various hospitals in Belgium, Paris and Scotland, he stepped on the scales in May 1945 and weighed in at a skeletal 96 pounds.  He credits his daily thoughts of home and prayers for keeping him alive.

The decades that followed for Goldstein were rewarding.  He married, had a family and  established himself firmly in Colorado.  He had managed to successfully block the war from his mind until an unexpected call from historian Roger Marqut from the Cercle d’Histoire de Bastogne (Bastogne Historical Society), brought it full circle.  Only this time around, it was in a way that would awe and delight the aging WW II veteran.

The conclusion of Surviving the Reich, The World War II Saga of a Jewish-American GI is a wonderful account of how the Barracuda, Goldstein’s tank, was resurrected from the mud in 1947 and put on display in McAuliffe Square in Bastogne, as a memorial to the American liberators.   Goldstein renewed contact with some of the survivors, all of who were honored several times by the grateful citizens of Belgium.

Now living in Israel, the eighty-three-year-old Goldstein has one last prayer:  “As I look toward the future, I hope and pray that God’s countenance will shine upon us and guide us to a time when man will learn to live in peace.”

Amen.

You can purchase Surviving the Reich, The World War II Sage of a Jewish-American GI by Ivan Goldstein from Zenith Press or from Amazon

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