Soldier X by Don Wulffson

This was another book that my husband read while student teaching. It is a historical fiction book written by experiences from two germans that fought during WWII. Erik is our main character that goes through these experiences. He is drafted into the war when he is 15 under the impression that he is going to be an intrepreter or spy since he knows Russian. This is because his mother and grandparents are Russian and father is German. Of course no one knows this otherwise his family would most likely be killed. Unfortunately for Erik, he's sent to the Russian front and finds himself behind enemy lines and in order to stay alive he switches to a Russia uniform and becomes a medical orderly for the Russians. It is nice to be able to read a book about the experiences that the Germans had to go through instead of always hearing it from an American view. The book even starts with Erik saying that he's a history teacher in the US and each year he has to tell his students that he lost his arm in WWII. He never corrects the students that he fought for Germany, not the US. I never even thought about Germans who immigrated to the US and how they had to deal with criticism from Americans, especially ones who fought for Germany. I know people who didn't even fight had a hard time, but imagine what it is like for those who were forced to fight or die.