You Won’t Want to Put This Book Down
For anyone interested in German history and how Latter-day Saints fared before and after the fall of Berlin, Darryl Harris’ Hearts of the Fathers is a fascinating read. This drama, part fact, part fiction, records one of the greatest record salvage efforts in modern history.
Gerda Brendler and Levi Zuckerman are the main characters. Both are fictional, but wrestle with the heart-breaking atrocities committed by Adolph Hitler, the Nazi party, and Russian soldiers during and following the end of World War II. Gerda is a young married mother, whose five-year-old son, Marko, is kidnapped from a German hospital and adopted out to another German family. The blond, blue-eyed Aryan youth eventually becomes a member of the Hitler Youth Movement. He is to become part of a human breeding program to produce a master race that would rule the world. Gerda’s husband, Oscar, is killed during the war.
Before the outbreak of the war, Levi, a German-born Jew, flees to Russia at the insistence of his parents, who opt to remain behind. He is later drafted into the Russian Army and becomes part of the force that storms Berlin and, with the help of Allied forces, brings an end to the war.
Knowing Levi is a Jew and speaks fluent German, two Russian officers use him as an interpreter to force Gerda and her friend, Agatha Schiller, into a sexual encounter, blunted in the nick of time when Levi clubs both men in their bedrooms and rescues the frightened women. Eventually, Gerda, a member of the Church, and Levi, a devote Jew, develop feelings for each other. Both have taken refuge in a local LDS branch, where Levi soon sees a common link between the Jewish religion and LDS doctrine.
Together, Levi and Gerta learn from sources that Levi’s parents are dead, gassed and burned at Auschwitz concentration camp. On the brighter side, the two also learn that Gerda’s son, Marko, now living under his adopted name, Klaus Breuer, is alive and well. A sweet reunion takes place and the outlook for Levi’s conversion and a temple marriage seems headed in the right direction.
The book is filled with intriguing subplots, that while fictional, are typical of the heartbreaking challenges many faced while living in Nazi Germany during World War II.
The most important part of the book focuses on the discovery of precious books and documents from various churches hidden away in salt mines, castles and other places. This part of Hearts of the Fathers is based on several published books citing the discovery of millions of documented births, marriages and deaths recorded by various clergymen over a period of hundreds of years. In their efforts to slaughter everyone with even a trace of Jewish blood, Hitler and other Nazi leaders had confiscated all Church records to verify the linage of everyone living in Germany. As the war neared its end, where these sacred records and other treasures and artifacts were hidden remained a mystery that had to be solved.
Erick Ranke, another fictional character, presides over the East German Mission, and heads up the record search. With the help of other German Saints and LDS military personnel from the United States, the priceless documents and records are tracked down, one by one. It soon becomes obvious that the hand of the Lord has played a major part in the success of the rescue effort.
After the war’s end in 1945, Elder Ezra Taft Benson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, was named president of the European Mission. He headed a vital rescue effort to provide needed food and clothing for starving and destitute members of the Church.
In the novel, Elder Benson greeted and encouraged the Saints and the records were microfilmed before being returned to their rightful owners. The microfilmed material was forwarded to Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. These records have since become a priceless source of genealogical information for those tracing their German heritage.
Hearts of the Fathers is a great read for anyone interested in World War II history and learning more about the most successful sacred records rescue in modern history. There is no doubt that without the rescue effort, virtually all of the missing books and documents would have been destroyed -- some as a heat source for freezing Germans and others recycled by paper factories short on material for restocking needed paper supplies.
D. Brent Clement, retired Columbia Publishing, Yakima, Washington