This is the account of a young man who grew up in Germany during the period of the Third Reich. Under the doctrine of the Nazi regime and the influence it had especially for the young, the author nevertheless kept his sense of right and wrong. In vivid detail Peter Haase describes the war years and how they affected him and his family. He records Nazi propaganda, shortages, air raids and the descent toward final defeat, as seen by an adolescent between the ages of eleven and seventeen. Ten years of post war restlessness and struggle follow in the wake of the destruction of the German economy. The rebirth of his homeland does not give Peter the opportunity to build a prosperous future for himself. He decides to seek his fortune in a far-away land.