Otto Mueller: A Life Between Stalin and Hitler

By Otto Mueller and Yvonne Schmidhauser

Nanaimo, British Columbia, Loonbook by Island Art Creations, 1999, 164 pages, hardcover, English language.

German

The Germans from Russia Heritage collection is pleased to present the book, Otto Mueller: A Life between Stalin and Hitler. The book was first published in German, Otto Mueller: ein Leben zwischen Stalin und Hitler.

In the Author's Preface, Yvonne Schmidhauser writes: "Over the course of many hours and many months, Otto Mueller told me the story of his life. Often he paused, overwhelmed by gruesome pictures of the past. I recorded the sessions and from these tales I wrote this book, trying to stay true to his personal narrative style."

In the Dedication, Otto Mueller writes: "For many years I felt homeless and betrayed by the world, so I'm very grateful to have found a new homeland in Canada, and hope my children will have the chance to be happy here. I wish that our Father in Heaven will guard and protect all of them."

Otto Mueller shares: "The history of the Second World War has influenced my life with such tremendous force, that my mind continually occupies itself with the questions of `What?' and `Why?' The search for the truth has, therefore, become something of an obsession with me. Much was written or shown in movies about this historic period. I tried to consume it all, but was overwhelmed and irritated by conflicting information and contradictions. In the end, my search for the truth left me with one big unanswered question: `Whose truth?'"

Mueller shares chapters on "Historical Background", "Childhood (1921-1933)", "Burden of Collectivization', "Escape to Siberia", "Adolescence (1933-1939)", "War and Captivity (1938-1946)", "As a German between Russian and Germans", "Escape to the West", "Waiting in West Germany (1946-1951)", "Emigration to Canada and a New Beginning in Winnipeg (1951-1966), and "Vancouver Island - Finally in the Sun".

Otto Mueller was born of German-Russian in Ukraine in 1921. His childhood was fraught with the atrocities of the Red Army terrorism. His wit, keen mind and faith in God helped him outlive many life-threatening situations. Through his skill as an interpreter, first for the Russians, later for the Germans, he made his way to the East as one of two survivors of a flight in which 1,500 men left the city of Posen to escape from being slaughtered by the surrounding Russian troops. The end of World War II was not the end of Otto's trials. The Allied Forces, in complying with Russia's request, extradited Russian-Germans back to Russia. This was equivalent to a death sentence, so once again Otto Mueller became a fugitive on the run.

Co-Author, Yvonne Schmidhauser:

"Over the course of many hours and many months, Otto Müller told me the story of his life. Often he paused, overwhelmed by gruesome pictures of the past. I recorded these sessions and from these tales I wrote this book, trying to stay true to his personal narrative style."

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