Page Title

About the Guest Speakers

The Way We Actually Were

By Walter Auer

&= nbsp; From an innocent youth in the southern Moravian city of Znaim to near-= death battles on the Russian Front in World War II and imprisonment in a So= viet work camp, Walter Auer offers a unique perspective on what life was re= ally like for members of the German Wehrmacht and for millions of civilians= ensnared in the war’s carnage. Left homeless in the wake of his impr= isonment, Auer roamed Europe homeless for a year before finding work and th= en emigrating to the U.S. in 1956 where he eventually established a solid b= usiness career in Chicago before retiring to the small northern Wisconsin t= own of Elcho where he presently resides. Auer has sold thousands of books a= round the world on the strength of his balanced, first-hand account of what= life was really like for eastern World War I soldiers on both sides of the= line.

&= nbsp; A detailed and stunning picture of World War II from the= other side. Author Auer dispels long held views that all German soldiers, = like the dreaded SS troops, were evil as he offers a telling first-hand acc= ount of battles on the eastern front as a Wehrmacht radio operator. Auer's = book paints a compelling picture of the widespread carnage on soldiers from= both Allied and Axis sides, in addition to atrocities committed against in= nocent Eastern Europeans. The theme running throughout Auer's autobiography= is that war is indeed hell, but always on both sides, and that glimpses of= humanity were demonstrated on both sides even when waging war against each= other.”

&= nbsp; The book is available online at www.winpresshosting.com = and at Amazon.com.

CAMPAIGN IN THE EAST (FELDZUG IM OSTEN)<= /span>

By Heinz Postenrieder, compiled by Christine Miller=

&= nbsp; Offering a unique look at World War II from an expert photographer who= served in the German Army during the Russian Campaign, Heinz Postenrieder&= #8217;s Campaign in the East (Feldzug im Osten) takes readers on a graphic = and detailed journey through the joys and sorrows of war. Released this mon= th by Postenrieder’s daughter Christine Miller and published by WinPr= ess, the book is available online and www.winpresshosting.com and at and at= Amazon.com.

&= nbsp; Compiled by Mrs. Miller, a retired educator from the Mar= shfield School District, the book is a day by day diary that includes over = 150 pictures taken by Private First Class Postenrieder during a year of his= service before being captured and imprisoned in a Russian POW camp.

&= nbsp; The author utilized his photographic skills to earn mone= y while serving, selling photographs to combatants on both the Axis and All= ied sides. He complemented the pictures by compiling a diary which offers a= graphic and explicit view of the war’s carnage as well as its rare a= nd simple delights. Mrs. Miller, along with others, translated the diary in= to English.

&= nbsp; Born in Mering near Augsburg, Germany in 1909, Postenrie= der studied theology and apprenticed as an optician before being drafted in= 1939. Following his imprisonment, he was befriended by a Russian physician= who secured his release from the POW camp. He set up an optician’s o= ffice in the pulverized inner city of Pforzheim in southwest Germany, which= had been almost completely destroyed by a Royal Air Force bombing in Febru= ary, 1945.

&= nbsp; Dedicated to maintaining the highest quality in his prof= ession Postenrieder founded the Neues Optikerjournal in 1959, a scholarly p= ublication for opticians and optometrists and later established in 1974 the= Optika, presently Opti, which grew into and remains a well-recognized and = popular global optician’s/optometrist’s trade show in Germany. = Postenrieder died in 1979.