Counting on America is the true story of two young Viennese lovers that attempted to flee Europe after the Nazis invaded Austria in 1938. The main story takes place during the early 1930s and 1940s and provides the reader with a vivid understanding of the obstacles Jews confronted attempting to emigrate to America or elsewhere. The Reiner couple's journey to freedom followed Kurt Reiner's imprisonment at the Dachau concentration camp, six months at a forced-labor farm, and eight month's internment in a French prison camp. The story provides profound evidence that a combination of luck, love, perseverance, and divine intervention was needed in order to survive the Holocaust. The memoir was written to provide a visceral and historical account of the Holocaust and the significance of America to refugees fleeing despot nations. The book is a powerful reminder of America's image as a nation of freedom to all seeking a better life. Kurt Reiner goes on to become a senior design engineer for Republic Aviation's F-105 "Thunder" jet and Grumman Corporation's "Lunar Excursion Module," the landing capsule that brought Neil Armstrong to the moon. Kurt Reiner's success as an aeronautical engineer provides ample evidence that refugees are important contributors to the United States and that Germany's loss was America's gain.
Edgy throughout, the story is educational, alternately funny, sad, chilling, and romantic. The story is told with dozens of supporting documents and pictures that provide historical perspective and authenticate the reported events. For leisure reading and/or high school and college Holocaust curriculums.
Recommended as leisurely reading for adults and as an educational tool for students at the high school and college level.
