"Helmut's life unfolds like a historical novel through correspondence, photographs,
and journal entries of his father. The story is immediate, concrete, and filled
with emotion." Pamela Tesch, Madison, Wisconsin
Home Alone In
America
Letters Exchanged
by a Young German in the U.S. and
His Family in
Berlin from 1946 to 1955
edited by Elizabeth Arnswald
Dost
It was September 1946, just a year after the war’s end, when an American-born German youth stepped off the ship
alone in New York City. In a hasty decision, precipitated by the chaotic aftermath of World War II, Helmut’s well-meaning
parents had sent their gifted teenager alone to the United States to claim the supposed advantages of his American citizenship—and
hopefully pave the way for their own early immigration. Little did they dream that nine years of separation lay ahead!
The extraordinary collection of letters exchanged during those years by Helmut Dost in the United States and his family
in Berlin tell the suspense-filled story of a young man’s struggles and challenges in the country of his birth. At the
same time, they give us intriguing glimpses of life in a beleaguered West Berlin
during the tense days of the Cold War.
Nonfiction, Heritage Books, 5x8, 248 pages, ISBN # 0-7884-149-8, $14.00 USD (from author).
Visit
her web site: www.homealoneinamerica.com to purchase books.
Contact Elizabeth Dost:
eadost@gmail.com
