My Tainted Blood

By Hubert C. Kueter

My Tainted Blood follows the author, Hubert C. Kueter, as a boy and teenager in wartime Breslau and postwar Germany. People’s names have been changed but the circumstances are all too real. Hubert turned surviving in WWII’s Germany, as a half Jewish youth, into an adventure and writes about his exploits with wit and humor. Perhaps that’s how he managed to stay alive, and keep his family and friends healthy, during the most horrific circumstances.

The incorporation of the author’s love of cooking, at a time when he had to forage for food under the Nazi regime, helps him in part survive and adds a unique dimension to the chronicle. Kueter also imparts insights into German Jews and their unrequited love of Germany and his friendship with a African American soldier. The 400 page novel keeps the reader involved at every stage as one wonders how Kueter will outwit so many adults, and how he can help the love of his life.

Reviews:

“This is what novel of magic realism and Hubert Kueter’s My Tainted Blood do to a high degree. They take their readers on wondrous journeys driven by myth and memory.”

–Peter Arnds, PhD, professor of German and Italian, Kansas State University

“Hubert Kueter’s accomplishment in this memoir is a unique literary triumph, but it is as well a vivid account of the strength of the human spirit.”

– Ferdinand Jones, PhD, professor emeritus of Psychology, Brown University

“With a large dose of humor, Hubert Kueter has written a fascinating book that is hard to put down. The experience of people with mixed background in Nazi Germany is an area of great interest to historians, and this account will contribute to it. But the book offers much more. It is written with a wit and elegance that reveal a remarkable talent. Kueter relishes in his schemes to outwit the Nazis, and he takes every opportunity to reveal his passion for culinary intricacies, which he describes in vivid prose. The book is often so downright funny that it almost lets the reader forget the very serious context of persecution, war, and other direct threats.”

–Raffael Scheck, PhD, Chair, Department of History, Colby College

About the Author:

Hubert. C. Kueter, author of My Tainted Blood

Hubert C. Kueter, born 1930 in Breslau, Germany, received his PhD in Germanic languages and literature at the University of Michigan. He taught German language and literature at Colby College from 1965 to 1997. During the first ten years at Colby, he enjoyed working part time as a certified ski instructor at Sugarloaf USA.

Following a lifelong interest in good cuisine, he opened the Johann Sebastian B Restaurant in Oakland, Maine, of which he was the owner/manager/chef from 1975 to 2003.

To order:
My Tainted Blood by Hubert C. Kueter,
53 black and white photos & illustrations, 400 pp
Quality Paperback, ISBN 978-1-882190-88-1
Published by Polar Bear & Company
US $16.95 add $4 for shipping and handling.

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Please send check or money order to Polar Bear & Company, PO Box 311, Solon, Maine, 04979