Horst Christian Books In Order

Publication Order of Growing Up Under The Third Reich Books

Publication Order of Journey To America Books

Publication Order of The Kellner Chronicles Books

Horst Christian
Horst Christian was born in Berlin, German in the year 1930. His dad, a banker and a mathematician, taught him to write and read before the age of five. By the age of ten, he had discovered his love for writing and would write vacation reports and several articles for the German school periodical “Hilf Mit”.

At the age of ten, he entered a subdivision of the Hitler Youth, called “Jungvolk”, which was mandatory in the Berlin school system. Then he entered the Hitler Youth at the age of fourteen, which was also mandatory, and continued to write for the Hitler Youth periodicals “Die Deutsche Jugend Burg” and “Der Pimpf”.

Horst’s favorite pastime was playing the U-Bahn (subway) tunnels. While other kids would play soccer, Horst, with some other like minded kids, explored Berlin by riding around on the subway trains.

At the age of fourteen, he was drafted to help defend Berlin against the Soviets due to his unique knowledge of the subway, he served as a guide for different SS demolition commandos.

His books are based on his own experiences as a young boy in Germany during the Second World War and the days leading up to and after Berlin’s fall. There have been several books written about the war, however none of them were written from a fourteen year old boy’s perspective that was forced to fight for a cause that he did not understand.

Horst immigrated to the United States in the early fifties and became a United States citizen after the mandatory five year waiting period. He loves traveling and has visited all of the fifty states in America, been to most of Europe, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and some Central American countries. He lives with his wife Jennifer.

Horst’s debut novel, called “Children to a Degree”, was released in the year 2013. His work is from the historical fiction.

“Children to a Degree” is the first novel in the “Growing Up Under the Third Reich” series and was released in the year 2013. Karl Veth, the oldest of three kids, was born in 1930 in Berlin, Germany. By the time he became old enough to begin school and start on his education, Hitler had already established his firm death-grip on the country. Kids were being fed a steady diet of Nazi propaganda and were often times encouraged to turn on their friends and family however contrary to popular belief, not all of them bought into it.

Karl’s an intelligent young boy that strives to excel in his studies, however he questions all of it. Dangerous questions during a time when people are being monitored closely. Karl’s grandfather and father aren’t just blind followers and have opinions about Hitler and his regime. The lessons they are teaching Karl usually contradict what gets taught in school, but they also inspire him to think for himself and make his own opinions.

German law mandates state that all kids have to become members of the Hitler Youth and Karl, at the age of ten, enters the Jungvolk, the junior branch of the Hitler Youth. He has to wade through all of the propaganda and all that he gets taught to figure out for himself what’s right and wrong. Little does he realize at the time, but many of his grandpa’s predictions about the future of the Third Reich are eventually going to come to pass. The lessons that he learns now and the opinions that he forms are going to determine his fate in the dangerous times to come.

Horst does a great job of transporting you off to another time and place. His simple storytelling feels very genuine, it is incredibly effective and proves to be a journey worth taking. He provides some interesting insight into children’s indoctrination in Germany during the war years. It was an eye opening read and made some think about how they view things today.

“Trust to a Degree” is the third novel in the “Growing Up Under the Third Reich” series and was released in the year 2013. May 3, 1945. Karl Vet gets kicked awake by some Soviet soldiers and is arrested. He and Harold, his friend, had escaped death narrowly during Berlin’s fall by taking refuge in the subway tunnels located underneath the city. Being members of the Hitler Youth, these two fourteen year old boys were ordered to fight to the death, but they defied orders and decided to live.

Hearing the announcement one day earlier about Berlin surrendering, they left from their subway shelter to look for friends where they believed they’d be safe. The Soviets somehow discovered them. However what did they want with them?

After getting transported to the interrogation center and brought in front of a Russian political Kommissar, Karl quickly finds answers to his questions. Once more, he’s going to be used by some high ranking official because of his unique knowledge of the Berlin subway systems. He has to agree to help this Kommissar or risk getting shipped to the Russian labor camps with the rest of the German prisoners. Karl discovers that Harold’s been arrested too and given the same choice to make, the pair agree to help the Kommissar.

The kids work with the Kommissar and once the final mission is finished, Karl hopes to be released so he can go looking for his family. The last mission ends with a twist, unfortunately, and Karl has to yet again make a life or death choice. This time, though, the life that hangs in the balance isn’t his own, however that of somebody rather close to him. To save the life of this person he holds quite dear, he has to decide if he will or won’t follow orders and do the one thing he’s never done before: take another person’s life.

The stories about Karl and Harold are compelling, and the thing that elevates these books is the astonishing richness of detail. In Horst’s capable hands he is able to make the most mundane details of life during and after the fall of Berlin much more vivid and rich.