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    Damned Strong Love: The True Story Of Willi G. And Stefan K.
    Unavailable
    Damned Strong Love: The True Story Of Willi G. And Stefan K.
    Unavailable
    Damned Strong Love: The True Story Of Willi G. And Stefan K.
    Ebook139 pages2 hours

    Damned Strong Love: The True Story Of Willi G. And Stefan K.

    By Lutz Van Dijk

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    When the Nazis overran Poland in the fall of 1939, fifteen-year-old Stefan K.'s father was sent off to a German labor camp. Now, in the tense days of occupation, Stefan scrambles to help take care of his family. Yet when his brother, Mikolai, takes him out after curfew to celebrate his sixteenth birthday, Stefan makes a life-changing discovery: he yearns for men the way his brother does for women. As he juggles his time between his day job at a bakery and his evening work in the theater, Stefan becomes more aware of his desires. And then he meets Willi, his one true love.

    Everything about Stefan's love affair with Willi is damned. They are both men. Willi is an Austrian airman, a Nazi soldier. Stefan's brother is actively fighting the Germans in the Polish Resistance. Yet Stefan and Willi's love sees no boundaries of nation, race, or gender. It is too strong to deny. And too passionate to survive. When the Gestapo discovers their affair, not only their love but their lives are in great danger.

    Based on the true story of Stefan K., who has written a letter to readers at the end of the book Damned Strong Love is a novel that shows the power and importance of love even as it describes the terrible price of intolerance and hatred. Stefan and Willi's love was damned, but it was strong; Lutz van Dijk's powerful and humane novel is their legacy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateOct 21, 2014
    ISBN9781466883840
    Unavailable
    Damned Strong Love: The True Story Of Willi G. And Stefan K.
    Author

    Lutz Van Dijk

    Lutz Van Dijk was born in Berlin. A writer and teacher in Hamburg, he is a member of the Educators for Peace Movement and the Anne Frank Institute in Amersterdam. She is the author of Damned Strong Love.

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    Reviews for Damned Strong Love

    4/5

    5 ratings2 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Stefan K., a Polish teenager, falls in love with Willi, an Austrian airman, during the German occupation of Poland. Their romance is very tender and romantic. Despite being a Nazi soldier, Willi is a good, sympathetic young man who does not agree with the Nazi's policies. It's impossible not to love them. Stefan's subsequent experiences - being imprisoned and tortured by the Nazis - are heartbreaking to read. This is a devastatingly sad true story of life for a gay person during World War II. It's made even more depressing by the fact that, even after the Nazis lost, gay men and women still faced extreme prejudice and intolerance. Stefan K.'s letter to readers at the end had me in tears.
    • 4/5
      As you can imagine with all non-fictional (or fictional I suppose) accounts of the Nazi occupation in Poland, this story was a hard read, although somewhat tempered by being primarily directed at young adults. This is the story of Stefan K., a Polish man whose teenage years lasted during the Nazi invasion of Poland into the beginning of the Russian invasion. Although the story covers a lot more ground than just the relationship between Stefen and his Austrian Nazi lover, Willie, it is the relationship between these two young man that shaped Stefen's future that gave the story its heart.I don't really study history and have never really had an interest but, I think it is necessary that these stories be told so history doesn't repeat itself in the present day. I always find it so hard to believe that people are capable of such great cruelty to each other. The only part of the story that I was somewhat disappointed in is that Stefan, who really has had no personal resolution in his life, didn't really share what had happened with his family and his friend, Jaap. I feel as though he must have had some connection with them all after the war. Overall I was very impressed with the translation of the story and despite how truly horrifying it was, I am glad to have read it.Stefen's descriptions of what occurred after his arrest for homosexuality are harrowing and I would suggest this story for older teens and up.