Thaler_Reviews_CraneSchool - page 28

Beila Sanford
Mr. McCaslin
History 7 -
18 May 2015
Unforgottenby Franz Thaler Report
For my history book report, I read Unforgottenby Franz Thaler. It is historical
autobiography about Thaler's time in Dachau (along with sorne other smaller camps) and
his turbulent reiationships and conflicts after his concentration camp was liberated by the
America. In this book, the author does not indulge on gory details and tells the story with
great emotion. The main point of the book was to teach the pubic about a different side of
the Holocaust, the side where Italians and Germans were sent to camps for being "anti-
Hitler." I chose to read this book because I have always been interested in reading about
the Holocaust and survivor stories because they constantly keep you worrying whether
the victims will survive not.
The book starts out with Thaler as a countryman. In Itaiy where he lives, the
Nazis have started to take over and they want to people to make a vote to support Hitler
in the army and become German, or to stay Italian. "The Option, the 'vote', created a
deep division in the people. Many families in Sarn Valley were also torn apart. Some of
them decided to leave things as they were, others were very keen to 'vote German"'
(Thaler 32). Thaler's family chose to stay Italian because he liked things the way they
were. He eventually had to skip schooi because the teachers only wanted to teach German
children and not traitors. As Thaler says in the book, "It went on like.this for a few years"
(Thaler 36).
Franz Thaler soon leamed that he would have to serve up front in the German
army when Hitler gained the upper hand and Italy was almost fully controlled by Nazis.
In fact, he had no choice. "I desperately tried to find a way out, as I had already heard
about too many of the atrocities which the Hitler regime had perpetrated. And so I
decided to follow the advice of some of my friends and flee to the mountains. They
promised to supply me with food. I was allowed to collect milk at night from one of
them" (Thaler 39). He overcame many obstacles in that time period including: tricking
Nazis, eaming money for food by helping farmers, and engraving metal for extra money.