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On NO ESCAPE
- My Young Years Under Hitler's Shadow
Literary Review (London), April 2005
 "PRESSED HARD BY the press, television and books, we struggle these days to understand why American and British soldiers and - it is alleged - kill prisoners. Having finally been arrested, charged and faced with sentences for their acts at Abu Ghraib and Camp Bread Basket, the convicted men and women say they were following orders. That was also the plea of German soldiers who did terrible things on a far vaster scale during the Second World War. It turns out to have been misleading: in W. John Koch's sometimes overdetailed memoir - as in some other Holocaust studies - we learn that German soldiers could refuse to murder Jews. But, in the blood curdling scene that makes No Escape unforgettable, when Koch refused, another soldier was on hand to shoot the prisoners, and Koch was made to finish off those who did not die with his entrenching spade, or be executed himself. Wolfram (he hated his name) John Koch was born in 1925 in Silesia, to modestly well off parents. His grandparents were very well off, but his father had only a brief period of success as a furrier and then went drunkenly downhill, at one point so resentfully that he became to his later shame, a Nazi. The Kochs disliked Hitler, had Jewish friends and watched despairingly as the Jews were denounced, persecuted, and finally taken away. One of his uncles visited an elderly Jew who was almost the last in the town, and brought him food until he disappeared, and Koch's parents briefly had a Jewish girl who amazingly survived he war and married an American soldier. Those who were caught doing such things were executed. He describes vividly how the Jewish boys in his school were tormented by certain teachers, and how when he and his classmates passed Jews in the street 'they all looked frightenend, averted their eyes from us, and actually made a visible bow . . . I believe now that, in our minds and hearts, we were struggling with feelings of embarassment and shame.' Eventually drafted into the army, Koch had what he describes as a short but not an easy war. His unit was on the Eastern front, plagued by Polish partisans and constantly in danger from the Soviet army, which by then was rolling towards victory. Nowhere in Poland, where many of the towns had been mainly Jewish, did a single Jew survive, and everyone knew what had happened to them. The Russians came ever closer, their advances marked by frightening shouts (which Koch mistranscribes). The German soldiers rely on their corporals to keep them together and, terrified and knowing they are doomed, on their affection for each other. Finally, with the Americans minutes away, Koch's little unit is ordered by its lieutenant to shoot a small, bedraggled party of Jewish prisoners, to preserve 'the purity of the German race.' Koch and two other soldiers refuse, the rest fire into the air, and the officer mows the Jews down with his Sten. While the wounded Jews writhe in a ditch the officer orders Koch and the other two who declined to fire to finish the job with their spades. There follows one of the worst scenes I have ever read about, with the officer poised to shoot the soldiers if they refuse. Koch, who was wounded more than once, kept this epiisode to himself until in 1968 a psychiatrist advised him, guilt stricken as he was, to write it down. Now he publishes at last what he wrote in ghastly detail about the events of 10 April 1945. Significantly, in this chapter alone he refers to himself as 'he'. Koch has no literary pretensions at all, and what makes his book important is the stupendous nature of what he reveals. The first hundred pages, therefore, in which he records with minute care the lives of distant generations, details of the family business, and the names of streets where he lived in Germany for many years could easily have been cut. We need no distractions from his moving and enlightening story about what happened to one decent, terrified young German soldier and his family during the Hitler years. At the beginning of No Escape, W. John Koch notes that in Germany, 'What some people remember in horror, other people insist never happened . . . . [and] other people rationalise away with seemingly logical explanations.' That is one of the themes of Uwe Timm's atmospheric and eloquent book about his attempt to discover and perhaps understand what happened to his brother, a soldier in the SS Death Head Division, also on the Eastern front. He tries too to come to grips with what happened to decent Germans, like his relatives, who liked and hid Jews at great danger to themselves, but forced themselves not to think about what their soldier sons were being ordered to do. Two sentences rivet this book, short as it is, into a seamless whole. The first is a line from Timm's brother's diary: 'I close my diary here, because I don't see any point in recording the cruel things that sometimes happen.' This is such an important sentence that Mr. Timm not only repeats it several times, he closes the book with it. He wonders throughout what these cruel things were, although he has a pretty good idea. Naming them exactly is what Koch does, from the gassing and shooting of Jews to his own terrible deeds with his spade. Timm's other repeated phrase is 'the latecomer, the afterthought'. This is himself, sixteen years younger than his older brother Karl Heinz, the golden boy, the hero, dead in 1943 of wounds received on the Eastern Front which led to the amputation of both legs. Timm feels that he was just a weak "mummy's boy", never the hearty youth who became Karl Heinz the soldier. His mother explains why his brother joined the SS: 'Out of idealism. He didn't want to be left out. He didn't want to shirk his duty.' Timm is a marvellous writer, well served here by his translator Anthea Bell. His first memory of his father is of a stranger, just back from the war, dressed in a leather coat and lying on his mother's bed. 'I sniff my watch strap, I can once again catch that smell of sweaty leather, and he, my father, is closer to me than in any of my pictorial memories.' Later, Timm recalls a moment in in April 1945. Down the street, shoving aside rubble from the bombing, trundles an American tank. The doorbell rings. 'Three GIs stood outside, one of them black. So ended the Third Reich in Coburg.' Here is the dilemma which transfixes Timm. 'The boy couldn't remember ever being encouraged by his parents, not even by his mother, to show nonconformity - to keep out of it, to be careful, yes, but not to say no, to resist, to be disobedient. Being brought up to be brave --- but preferably collectively brave "led to timidity in civil life.' This led to numbing doublethink. Hamburg is reduced to rubble by Allied bombers. Hearing of this, Timm's brother writes home: 'It's not war, it's the murder of women and children, it's inhumane.' As far as Karl Heinz and and many other Germans are concerned, 'In Russia, the killing of civilians is normal, everyday work, not even worth mentioning, at home it is murder.' There is nothing in Karl Heinz's diary about the ideological justification for murdering Russians or Jews. 'It is just a normal view of daily life in war.' Burrowing into all this is the task Timm has set for himself. Beneath that is another, which has its relevance today. His father and his father's friends, once the war is lost, sit gloomily together, smoking and drinking and discussing Germany's defeat as something that need not have happened, as someone's fault very likely (now that he is dead) Hitler's, Timm writes, 'It is scarcely imaginable today that, after the war, and in full knowledge of the systematic murder - the elimination - of the Jews, there could have been any serious public discussion about how the war might after all have been won."
- Jonathan Mirsky
 John Koch grew up in an anti-Hitler family and watched with increasing horror as Jews were demonized by the growing and eventually overwhelming power of the Nazis. Those Germans who were not pro-Nazi faced ever increasing and onerous restrictions on their movements, their possessions, the friends, the courses of study as theit nation edged ever closer to war. No Escape: My Young Year's Under Hitler's Shadow is a personal memoir that provides contemporary readers with a perspective of an ordinary German trapped by events and philosophies he despised. Conscripted into the German military, Koch saw combat on the Easter Front in what is now Belarus. He was taken prisoner by the U.S. Army in April 1945 and, 13 months later, escaped from a French POW camp. A deeply personal and candid recording of an extraordinary time, No Escape provides a vivid portrait of how normal, intelligent people reacted to Hitler's propaganda, daily life under the German dictator, escape from a war-ravaged Europe, and an inspiring renewal of life and freedom as an emigree to Canada. Deftly written, No Escape is a welcome and valued contribution to the growing library of World War II era biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs from a generation that is now passing all to rapidly from our midst. February 2005 James A. Cox, The Midwest Book Review
ForeWord Magazine - January/February 2005
History will repeat itself. Koch wonders what it will it take for this not to be so. How, he asks, will the majority learn from the experience and hard-earned wisdom of the minority? Books and songs attempt to share worthy messages, yet meager handfuls try to understand the heart of it.
Koch takes readers into the world under one of history's most brutal fiends, Hitler. He offers an incredible account, one that we haven't read about before and perhaps will not again. No Escape is not a dry history book, but an exciting life or death thriller where good is truly pitted against evil. The reader can almost hear the bombs going off.
Koch describes history as it happened all around him. He gives his account through the eyes of a boy, then through the horrors of a young man drafted into the German Army, later held as a prisoner, and finally, filters the entire experience through his own older and wiser perspective.
With the crash of the stock market, Hitler rose to power just as fear in the hearts of its citizens rose in Germany. Battle lines between Left and Right were drawn, and even good people were forced to choose.
Koch first saw Hitler in Waldenburg, in 1932. "His rasping, excited voice and hysterical screams and applause of the masses could be heard from my grandparent's apartment.?
A new power took possession of Germany. Hitler disregarded, abolished, broke, and destroyed every rule in the book of humankind. He misused Christianity and the name of God as a means to legitimize himself in the eyes of the common man. He decided there needed to be a cleansing, a concentration on the enemies of the people.? The brainwashing began, and few could see through it or resist.
On April 10th, 1945, as a young soldier Koch was ordered to bury twenty-three concentration camp victims who had been shot right in front of him. Some were still breathing and squirming. This unimaginable horror gives a deeper meaning to the title of the book, and Koch writes with poignancy that he struggled with his guilt for years until seeking therapy.
In 1952, Koch prepared for his emigration to Canada. Once there, his life finally became normal. He says he chose Canada because it is America's neighbor but has British traditions, something he felt comfortable with. He writes of his loyalty and committment to Canada and to the United States. It is their humanness, people, literature, music, art, and way of life that first gave me my appreciation and exposure.
Koch provides a realistic, behind the scenes sense of what really happened during this oppressive time in history. Teachers could show students more than mere facts with this book. It is a testament to one man's will and strength to persevere. Insightful, humbling, and sobering. Highly recommended.
-Christina Whitcher
QMAGAZINE, London, Ontario, November 2004
NO ESCAPE is an autobiographical tale written by John Koch who grew up in in the German province of Silesia through the Great Depression and during the rise and fall of Hitler. His middle class family did not support the dictator, and he points out, there were no alternatives for people who lived under the heavy hand of the regime which was intent on world domination. In his narrative he describes how completely the lives of people in his situation were consumed and destroyed by the Nazi regime, as he and other young men were forced into military service to be killed or captured in the name of the state.
The book puts a human voice to the story which is not often told - how people were used as tools by Hitler in his vehement and relentless push for power. It is a volume which is dense with historical facts and citings which seem intimidating at first, but which gradually blend to form a picture of how disturbingly fragile is the state of human freedom, and how quickly the "efficient" state can become a devouring monster quite out off control of citizens.
-Kevin Dunklee
This brief introduction was followed by Kevin Dunklee's interview of the author over the internet. Copies of the interview can be obtained from BOOKS by W. JOHN KOCH PUBLISHING.
EXCERPTS FROM FIRST REVIEW OF NO ESCAPE
Edmonton author W. John Koch doesn’t flinch from the reality of his life
No Escape from Koch’s honesty
John Koch begins his autobiography by comparing two New Year’s days: the one in 2000 and then an earlier one in 1929, when his grandfather forecast that the little boy would live to see the new millenium.
On the eve of the Great Depression, Grandfather Koch could never have guessed the troubled times his grandson would see – years growing up under the rule of Hitler, serving as a soldier in the Second World War, near starvation in prisoner of war camps and immigration to Canada.
What’s compelling about No Escape is the brutal honesty [with which] Koch, now a retired social worker, tells his story. . . .
Koch hated Nazism. He rebelled against it and he paid the price. . . .
Some parts of this history are difficult to revisit and Koch is merciless about laying out his own feelings. His chapter Searching, was written in 1968 [about] his part in 1945, in the aftermath of the Second World War, when he was just 20 years old. Searching stands alone as one of the most moving pieces of literary confessions I have ever read.
Koch’s story about the German side of the war – about his side of the war – is bravely and fairly told. His side lost the war. His countrymen did abhorrent things. So did he. So, probably do most soldiers.
Koch does not ask for forgiveness. He simply tells it the way it was.
Susan Jones, Staff Writer
, The St. Alberta Gazette
, May 8, 2004
REVIEW EXCERPTS FROM UNBOUND PAGES
"Once in a while one comes across an intricate story of survival of the human spirit. Mr. Koch's tale of life under Germany's dictator, escape from a Soviet-ravaged Europe and renewal in Canada is truly inspiring. As an expert on European history, I have not but praise for this jewel of a book. Kudos to Mr. Koch's spirit of survival!"
Arturo Beéche, Publisher, Oakland CA, USA
"It is the most amazing book . . . . an overwhelming book: a masterpiece. In its conception John Koch has walked a bridge that all of our generations have feared to cross. His own story of his induction into the army of Adolf Hitler and his family life in Germany and the events those realities brought to a young innocent are more powerful than any history book can be. The torture of creating this wonderful and profound work is deep in every paragraph. He is a brilliant writer and we are wiser for his success."
Tim Coates, writer, London
W. John Koch provides a rare look at growing up and daily life in Nazi Germany. Through Koch's observations of its impact on him and his extended family in Silesia, it's insightfully clear how Adolf Hitler was able to mould a nation for his evil purposes. That Koch resisted and survived the Nazi brutality, flourished in its aftermath and now recalls those oppressive years so others might reflect on them is a testament to his strength of character and will.
Ray Djuff, Calgary author, journalist, historian
"I have read John Koch's extraordinary book. I feel that the picture projected of the eastern borders of Germany and of Silesia is something quite out of the ordinary. Not only does it give a detailed account of life in these areas during the crucial period immediately prior to the Second World War, it also gives an exceptionally vivid picture of how normal, intelligent people reacted to Hitler's propaganda. Its skilful blend of historical background and everyday observation must now be very difficult to duplicate from living memory. In particular, the assessment of how much was known about the gassing of the Jews in Eastern Europe as early as 1942 is damning and gives the lie to most German apologists even at this late period. "Mr. Koch is to be congratulated in getting his story down on paper while still hale and hearty. I would judge that in years to come it will form an essential source for those studying one of the most traumatic periods of recent Central European history."
Paul Minet, Bookseller and Publisher, UK
NO ESCAPE - My Young Years under Hitler's Shadow is not another book of memories from the most horrific era in German history where the author's obvious purpose is to show that "he had always been against them." W. John Koch has written an autobiographical historical narrative that describes how a Silesian boy's - and later, a young man's - world changed under the brutal force of National Socialism. The book conveys to the reader a gripping sense of what Nazi ideology and concrete political events meant to the average person in everyday life as Germany slid gradually into tyranny.
This book is a frank personal statement with remarkably detailed, vivid and sensitive descriptions of events, persons and feelings by a very articulate man. Each chapter is introduced and contextualized by brief but helpful summaries of the political events occurring in a given time period; they point to a parallelism between the ups and downs in the author's life and German society under Hitler at large. Koch examines his relationships with his parents and other relatives tenderly, but with open eyes, and looks at himself with sober self-awareness. There are touching, sometimes brutally honest, recollections and self-revelations, and the self-aware account of a nightmarish yet heart-rending event will leave the reader deeply moved.
And yet, in spite of all the pain, hunger, fear, sorrow, and the many moments of despair experienced by the writer, Koch displays an essentially optimistic, up-beat sense of living throughout the book. Life does go on, as it must, and in the end everything does turn out all right - be it sometimes by pure luck, but most of the time because of dedication, integrity and strength of character. Culture, in particular music and the theatre, plays a central role in the author's life, revitalizing and strengthening him, and bringing joy into a otherwise dark periods of his life.
W. John Koch's insightful, sensitive portrayal of the life of a young German growing up, living and fighting, during the Third Reich and its immediate aftermath make reading NO ESCAPE an educational, moving, and up-lifting experience.
Manfred Prokop, Professor (emeritus)
, University of Alberta
On Daisy Princess of Pless
- A Discovery
". . . . sometimes a gem catches a sparkle in the public eye, even it is decades too late. Such is the case with Edmonton author John Koch who, after years of diligent research overseas, unearthed the compelling story of Daisy Princess of Pless. . . . Glamorous royal hostess, social reformer, a cheerful, generous woman, Princess Daisy of Pless deserves a place in history."
Bev Rudolfson
, St. Albert Gazette
, St Albert, AB. May 22, 2002
"Daisy of Pless somehow managed to survive a life that was caught in the middle of European history. She has a great story, but was no storybook princess."
Marc Horton
, Edmonton Journal
, September 15, 2002
"This book is incredibly well researched. . . . Although the official history books do not look as favourably on Daisy as this biography, I feel the author probably captured the true picture of this wonderful woman.
...this biography will elevate her to a status in history that she richly deserves. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of strong women who have made a difference in the world. . . ."
Karen Wesko
, Lethbridge Herald
, June 29, 2002
"It is certainly about time that someone wrote a biography about Daisy. John Koch has not failed his subject. This is a superb book. Read it! . . . It should have been published in hardback".
Marlene Koenig
, Royal Book News
, March-April 2002
". . . the first serious life to be published of one of the most fascinating Edwardian figures, for which we must all be grateful. . . . Daisy . . . remains one of the most fascinating women."
Paul Minet
, Royalty Digest
, October 2002
"Once celebrated as one of the brightest jewels of Edwardian Society, her political and humanitarian accomplishments . . . have long undeservedly been forgotten. . . . This constituted the ultimate tragedy of her life. John Koch is determined to highlight the lifetime accomplishments of Daisy's life."
Penny Fray
, Liverpool Daily Post
, August 19, 2002
On Martin Nordegg
- The Uncommon Immigrant
"Koch, a retired Edmonton-area social worker, has delved deep into archives throughout Europe to reveal a great deal about Nordegg, his family and life. . . . Nordegg's was not a tale of continuous successes; he succeeded at almost everything he did in life but fate created challenges for him. Be prepared for a long read - Koch is thorough and academic in his approach. In all, Nordegg offers great insights into an otherwise little known Alberta pioneer."
Ray Djuff
, Calgary Sun
"By the time he was done Koch had enough material for a 400-page tome. But it's anything but boring. While so many historical writings tend to be dry recitations of fact, Nordegg's story is fascinating . . ."
Carl Hahn
, Red Deer Life
"In short, this is a very intriguing story - and as history, impeccably professional."
Virginia Byfield
, Alberta Report
, September 29, 1997
"We highly recommend this book."
Ed & Joy-Ruth Mickelson
, Heritage
, Winter 97/98
On To the Town that Bears Your Name
". . . . both a love story - of sorts - and a history book. . . . It's Martin Nordegg's tribute to his daughter Marcelle coming of age. . . . Maria Koch and her husband John discovered the previously unpublished text. . . a vivid picture of fading ways. . . . an engaging trip to another time and into our Alberta heritage."
Ray Djuff
, Calgary Sun
"Mr. Koch in a foreword and epilogue supplies necessary background; his wife Maria has deftly translated Nordegg's story into smoothly flowing English which also evokes both the original German and the era."
Virginia Byfield
, Alberta Report
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