Escaping Hitler: A Jewish Boy's Quest for Freedom and His Future

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During an emotional ‘foot-stepping’ journey in September 2013 the author visited Günter’s birthplace, met with a school friend, discovered the apartment in Koblenz where he fled following Kristallnacht in 1938, drove the route of Günter’s walk through Europe and retraced the final steps of his parents prior to their deportation to a Nazi death camp in Poland during 1942. It tells the true story of Joe Stirling who, as a young boy, faced horrors and heartbreak and who determined to enrich his life and the lives of people around him through his endeavour, courage and generosity of spirit. It is a fascinating, heartening story, shot through with adventure, love, loss and some of the bleakest and most terrifying events of human history.

Escaping Hitler: A Jewish Boy's Quest for Freedom and his Future BIOGRAPHY OF JOE STIRLING by PHYLLIDA SCRIVENS published by Pen and Sword Books on 5th January 2016.Joe Stirling’s life, from his childhood escape to Britain to life as a refugee in a strange country with a kindly family he had never met before; his education in unfamiliar schools and his ability to adapt to working as a professional in the politics of his adopted country; all have echoes with my own experience.

The author embarked on a 'foot stepping' journey in September 2013 visiting the key places in Joe's early life in Germany and Northern Europe.

The young Jewish boy, Günter Stern, was well treated by his teachers, his parents inviting his school friends to play with him. Refusing to let the tragedy of the Holocaust embitter him and ruin the rest of his life, he brought energy and drive to community and charity projects, becoming Sheriff of Norwich, and built a successful and respected business in the city. There's also Australian Ralph Churches who orchestrated the mass escape of 100 POWs from Slovenia - the largest successful Allied escape of the entire war. Many also went to Eastern Europe, particularly families who had moved to Germany from there previously.