Lizzi & Fredl: A Perilous Journey of Love and Faith: A Memoir

Dr. William B. Stanford
iUniverse (2008)
ISBN 9780595433117
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (1/09)

 

Dr. Stanford has written an incredible book about his parents who were living in Austria when Hitler began his tormentuous journey.

Having read many personal accounts of life with Hitler, this book really saddened me and made me really look at what was going on in the life in people who were caught up in this hell. As a psychologist who has studied torture victims for over two years, I can say it is nothing that anyone will ever understand; nor can one fully realize what these individuals and families went through.

Hitler is overrunning Austria in 1938. Lizzi and Fredl are happy where they are, have successful jobs and family members around them. The fear that they feel in being drawn into Hitler’s pathology only reinforces that they must leave. Scared, traumatized, at what they see, they leave every possession they have and their family to escape. Dodging spotlights, Hitler patrols, the couple along with friends and family seeks to leave to France where they think they will be safe. Little do they know that as the war increases they will never know whom to trust, even Fredl’s own brother. His brother and wife are separated, and the wife does not want to leave their homeland. It causes many problems within the family.

Fredl is arrested many times, the government thinking he is a Jew and a spy. Crawling on the ground, having neither food nor money, is a hard road to go. When Fredl is arrested, Lizzi doesn’t know where he is and he is in poor health. Luckily, she meets many who are in the same situation, and they help her find her husband and get jobs.

Hitler’s soldiers don’t care if you are dying or what your excuse is. They are out to control Europe. Many are sent to detention camps to work until they are dead- it almost happened to Fredl. Lizzi fared better in that she was a master seamstress and gained the trust of all she met.

As in war, each area has different rules and the author has given a great detailed account of the political nightmare that all go through. I can’t imagine what this couple went through, although the author did a great job of describing incidents and checking his references.  There are many who say this never happened- yet there are many who still suffer today. It is a harrowing experience that I have never experienced except through the words of survivors. I have met many and even though they tell you their story, you cannot imagine what it was like in their experience.

“Lizzi & Fredl: A Perilous Journey of Love and Faith: A Memoir” by Dr. William B. Stanford is a must-read.  As a psychologist I look at the resulting mental damage; these people will never be the same again. Can it happen to us? Is there life after their soul deaths?

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