
Someday You Will Understand
My Father's Private World War II
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Nina Wolff Feld
-
By:
-
Nina Wolff Feld
About this listen
Walter Wolff was the son of a Jewish merchant family that fled their German home when the Nazis came to power and took refuge in Brussels, Belgium. On the eve of the German invasion, in May 1940, the family began its second escape. Their sixteen-month odyssey took them through the chaos of battle in France and the dangers of living clandestinely as Jews in occupied territory, before they finally boarded the notorious freighter SS Navemar in Cadiz, Spain, to be among the last Jewish refugees admitted to the United States before Pearl Harbor.
Within two years of his arrival in the States, Walter was ready to take the fight back to the Nazis as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Trained for the Intelligence Corps at Camp Ritchie, he was sent first to Italy and then to Germany and Austria, where he interrogated POWs for potential prosecution as war criminals at Nuremburg. At the same time, on his travels in Europe he returned to the confiscated properties of his extended family, throwing out the occupiers and reclaiming ownership. Telling the rousing story of a Jewish boy who fled persecution and returned to prosecute the Nazi oppressors, Walter Wolff's daughter Nina has reconstructed these events from family lore and her father’s own cache of more than 700 wartime letters and 200 photographs, which he revealed to her shortly before he died.
©2014 Nina Wolff Feld (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
My Dear Boy
- A World War II Story of Escape, Exile, and Revelation
- By: Joanie Holzer Schirm
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan, Traber Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this posthumous memoir, Joanie Holzer Schirm elegantly recreates her father's youthful voice as he comes of age as a Jew in interwar Prague, escapes from a Nazi-held army unit, practices medicine in China's war-ravaged interior, and settles in the United States to start a family. Introducing us to a diverse cast of characters ranging from the humorous to the menacing, Holzer's life story is an inspirational account of survival during wartime, a cinematic epic spanning multiple continents, and ultimately a tale with a twist-a book that will move listeners for generations to come.
-
-
The sides of WWII you might never have read
- By toni on 03-29-19
-
The Son
- By: Philipp Meyer
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Shepherd, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story, part unflinching examination of the bloody price of power, The Son is a gripping and utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American west with rare emotional acuity, even as it presents an intimate portrait of one family across two centuries. Eli McCullough is just twelve-years-old when a marauding band of Comanche storm his Texas homestead and brutally murder his mother and sister, taking him as a captive.
-
-
Five Stars for the Lone Star, The Son, & Meyer
- By Mel on 06-04-13
By: Philipp Meyer
-
All We Ever Wanted
- A Novel
- By: Emily Giffin
- Narrated by: Dorothy Dillingham Blue, Milton Bagby, Catherine Taber
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville's elite. More recently, her husband made a fortune selling his tech business, and their adored son has been accepted to Princeton. Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she's strayed from the person she once was. Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long, and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville's most prestigious private school.
-
-
Narrator choice for Tom is bizarre!
- By R. Cornelius on 06-28-18
By: Emily Giffin
-
Code Name: Lise
- The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy
- By: Larry Loftis
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1942: World War II is in full swing. Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and a plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer, Captain Peter Churchill. As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them.
-
-
SKIP THE PROLOGUE!
- By Erica J. Conway on 09-17-19
By: Larry Loftis
-
The Light of the Fireflies
- By: Paul Pen, Simon Bruni - translator
- Narrated by: Scott Merriman
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For his whole life, the boy has lived underground, in a basement with his parents, grandmother, sister, and brother. Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns. He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyone's been acting very strangely.
-
-
Worst parenting ever! Book NOT recommended!
- By Wayne on 04-27-16
By: Paul Pen, and others
-
P.A.W.S.
- By: Debbie Manber Kupfer
- Narrated by: Priscilla Finch
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Miri receives a silver cat charm from her omama on the night before she dies, she has no idea that the charm holds a secret, a powerful magic that saved her omama's life and is about to make Miri's a whole lot more interesting.
-
-
An interesting world building!
- By RACHEL REED on 11-25-20
-
My Dear Boy
- A World War II Story of Escape, Exile, and Revelation
- By: Joanie Holzer Schirm
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan, Traber Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this posthumous memoir, Joanie Holzer Schirm elegantly recreates her father's youthful voice as he comes of age as a Jew in interwar Prague, escapes from a Nazi-held army unit, practices medicine in China's war-ravaged interior, and settles in the United States to start a family. Introducing us to a diverse cast of characters ranging from the humorous to the menacing, Holzer's life story is an inspirational account of survival during wartime, a cinematic epic spanning multiple continents, and ultimately a tale with a twist-a book that will move listeners for generations to come.
-
-
The sides of WWII you might never have read
- By toni on 03-29-19
-
The Son
- By: Philipp Meyer
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Shepherd, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story, part unflinching examination of the bloody price of power, The Son is a gripping and utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American west with rare emotional acuity, even as it presents an intimate portrait of one family across two centuries. Eli McCullough is just twelve-years-old when a marauding band of Comanche storm his Texas homestead and brutally murder his mother and sister, taking him as a captive.
-
-
Five Stars for the Lone Star, The Son, & Meyer
- By Mel on 06-04-13
By: Philipp Meyer
-
All We Ever Wanted
- A Novel
- By: Emily Giffin
- Narrated by: Dorothy Dillingham Blue, Milton Bagby, Catherine Taber
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville's elite. More recently, her husband made a fortune selling his tech business, and their adored son has been accepted to Princeton. Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she's strayed from the person she once was. Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long, and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville's most prestigious private school.
-
-
Narrator choice for Tom is bizarre!
- By R. Cornelius on 06-28-18
By: Emily Giffin
-
Code Name: Lise
- The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy
- By: Larry Loftis
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1942: World War II is in full swing. Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and a plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer, Captain Peter Churchill. As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them.
-
-
SKIP THE PROLOGUE!
- By Erica J. Conway on 09-17-19
By: Larry Loftis
-
The Light of the Fireflies
- By: Paul Pen, Simon Bruni - translator
- Narrated by: Scott Merriman
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For his whole life, the boy has lived underground, in a basement with his parents, grandmother, sister, and brother. Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns. He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyone's been acting very strangely.
-
-
Worst parenting ever! Book NOT recommended!
- By Wayne on 04-27-16
By: Paul Pen, and others
-
P.A.W.S.
- By: Debbie Manber Kupfer
- Narrated by: Priscilla Finch
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Miri receives a silver cat charm from her omama on the night before she dies, she has no idea that the charm holds a secret, a powerful magic that saved her omama's life and is about to make Miri's a whole lot more interesting.
-
-
An interesting world building!
- By RACHEL REED on 11-25-20
-
American Spy
- A Novel
- By: Lauren Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young Black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled out, she’s overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes.
-
-
A Spy Novel for Black folk.
- By AJ Walker on 10-07-19
By: Lauren Wilkinson
-
Dancing with the Enemy
- My Family's Holocaust Secret
- By: Paul Glaser
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster, Christa Lewis
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The gripping story of the author's aunt, a Jewish dance instructor who was betrayed to the Nazis by the two men she loved, yet managed to survive WWII by teaching dance lessons to the SS at Auschwitz. Her epic life becomes a window into the author's own past and the key to discovering his Jewish roots.
-
-
Amazing Unique
- By Nordic Artisan on 05-11-19
By: Paul Glaser
-
Schindler's List
- By: Thomas Keneally
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An “extraordinary” (New York Review of Books) novel based on the true story of how German war profiteer and factory director Oskar Schindler came to save more Jews from the gas chambers than any other single person during World War II. In this milestone of Holocaust literature, Thomas Keneally, author of The Book of Science and Antiquities and The Daughter of Mars, uses the actual testimony of the Schindlerjuden — Schindler’s Jews — to brilliantly portray the courage and cunning of a good man in the midst of unspeakable evil.
-
-
really well done
- By Neil H. Greenberg on 03-09-19
By: Thomas Keneally
-
The Good Man of Nanking
- The Diaries of John Rabe
- By: Edwin Wickert
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This unique and gripping document contains the recently discovered diaries of a German businessman, John Rabe, who saved so many lives in the infamous siege of Nanking in 1937 that he is now being honored as the Oskar Schindler of China. As the Japanese army closed in and all foreigners were ordered to evacuate, Rabe mobilized the remaining Westerners in Nanking and organized an "International Safety Zone" which guaranteed safety to all unarmed Chinese by virtue of Germany's pact.
-
-
why is it narrated by a woman?
- By Anonymous User on 11-10-20
By: Edwin Wickert
-
Destined to Witness
- Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany
- By: Hans Massaquoi
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would life be like for a Black boy growing up in Nazi Germany? This unprecedented autobiography answers that question with the spellbinding true story of Hans J. Massaquoi’s life in Hamburg during the height of Hitler’s regime. Hans is the son of a Black Liberian diplomat father and a white German mother. His father returns to Africa at the beginning of the war, leaving them behind in poverty without the means to flee. Within this tense atmosphere, increasingly violent Nazi policies and Allied bombing raids make Hans and his mother’s lives a day-to-day survival struggle.
-
-
An important story, marred by lackluster writing.
- By Christopher on 03-04-15
By: Hans Massaquoi
-
The Latehomecomer
- A Hmong Family Memoir
- By: Kao Kalia Yang
- Narrated by: Kao Kalia Yang
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 70s and 80s, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to the United States, all in search of a new place to call home. Decades later, their experiences remain largely unknown. Kao Kalia Yang was driven to tell her own family's story after her grandmother’s death. The Latehomecomer is a tribute to that grandmother, a remarkable woman whose spirit held her family together.
-
-
Great Hmong history, lousy literature
- By Isadore Ducasse on 10-12-18
By: Kao Kalia Yang
-
We the Animals
- By: Justin Torres
- Narrated by: Frankie J. Alvarez
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three brothers tear their way through childhood—smashing tomatoes all over each other, building kites from trash, hiding out when their parents do battle, tiptoeing around the house as their mother sleeps off her graveyard shift. Paps and Ma are from Brooklyn—he’s Puerto Rican, she’s white—and their love is a serious, dangerous thing that makes and unmakes a family many times.
-
-
I want my credit back!
- By Van Gilder on 09-02-11
By: Justin Torres
-
Rotters
- By: Daniel Kraus
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grave-robbing. What kind of monster would do such a thing? It's true that Leonardo da Vinci did it, Shakespeare wrote about it, and the resurrection men of 19th-century Scotland practically made it an art. But none of this matters to Joey Crouch, a 16-year-old straight-A student living in Chicago with his single mom. For the most part, Joey's life is about playing the trumpet and avoiding the daily humiliations of high school. Everything changes when Joey's mother dies in a tragic accident and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with the father he has never known....
-
-
Meh
- By B. Provencher on 12-02-11
By: Daniel Kraus
-
Anti-Hero
- The Spy Who Masterminded the Largest Espionage Ring in USA History
- By: Ethan Quinn
- Narrated by: Michael C. Gwynne
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many terms were bestowed upon the mysterious Fritz Duquesne throughout his colorful life, but perhaps the most fitting ever attributed to him was: "the most dangerous prisoner to have ever lived." But before this Boer warrior-turned-spy reached the heights of infamy that awarded him such acclaim, Fritz Joubert Duquesne lived a life of adventure that many people wouldn’t experience in a hundred lifetimes. From a young age, Fritz harboured a burning resentment toward the British army, stemming from the brutal treatment suffered by his family during the Anglo-Boer wars.
-
-
Fritz Duquesne The Anti-Hero
- By Teresa on 01-28-19
By: Ethan Quinn
-
A Lucky Child
- A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy
- By: Thomas Buergenthal
- Narrated by: Thomas Buergenthal, Don Hagen
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas Buergenthal, now a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir, A Lucky Child. He arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp. Separated first from his mother and then his father, Buergenthal managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.
-
-
Compelling Account
- By Simone on 04-23-15
-
Mistress Grim
- By: Jane Redd, Heather B. Moore
- Narrated by: Steve West, Katharine McEwan
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cora Grim, daughter of the Grim Reaper, is suddenly thrust into her father’s role. Leaving the Underworld on her own to bring back the dead souls, she discovers that the Master of Death neglected to tell her one thing. She can still fall in love.
-
-
amazing audio book
- By Nickie.long.al on 10-29-19
By: Jane Redd, and others
-
The Women Who Wrote the War
- The Riveting Saga of World War II's Daredevil Women Correspondents
- By: Nancy Caldwell Sorel
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nancy Sorel’s portrait pays homage to these unsung heroes. They came from Boston, New York, Milwaukee, and St. Louis; from Yakima, Washington; Austin, Texas; and Sioux City, Iowa; from San Francisco and all points east. They left comfortable homes and safe surroundings for combat-zone duty. As women war correspondents, they brought to the battlefields of World War II a fresh optic, and reported back home what they witnessed with a new sensibility.
-
-
Nonfiction Account of WW2 Female News Reporters
- By DHackney on 08-30-13
What listeners say about Someday You Will Understand
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kristin Boyer
- 05-16-21
Excellent listen, however...
The word “Requisition” was far over used in this story, however this was well worth the listen and I feel honored to have experienced it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rod
- 12-27-22
Great true narrative
The contents of the book were both interesting and entertaining but my biggest compliment is for the authors own reading for the audiobook. No one can narrate a story as well as the person who wrote it and she did a fantastic job of narrating this one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Teri Viduna
- 11-20-23
interesting story
I have read many books from WWII and many of the horrible treatment of Jews. This story gave me a new perspective on a Jew who was able to out maneuver and successfully avoid most of the tragedies during WWII.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ZacharyKindle Customer
- 01-17-18
LETTERS FROM MY FATHER DURING WW2
I have always loved stories fiction or nonfiction about WW2. However, it took all I had to complete this book. If the author didn't "understand" by the time she finished this book, well? I really don't know what to say. This book seemed to have every minute detail of her father's life over there, and hardly anything about the war. I'm all for recollections, that's why I bought the book, however, I was looking for a piece of history/anything, and sadly learned about how her grandmother was going to be so mad that her father wasn't eating she was going to "have a fit!" I have the Kindle edition
also, and there are pictures in there 😶 that's why I gave it a 4 star review. I do want to say she did a great job narrating! 😁
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- GTeich
- 05-01-21
Fascinating
A Jewish boy escapes to America to return to Germany to interview Nazis and send them to trial in Nuremberg
I read several one star reviews and after finishing this book I realized that those people did not get the point...these are letters that a 21 year old wrote to his parents and sister. I thought him to be very intelligent, very clever and very brave long before joining the army. Occasionally the book runs into the weeds but overall I found it to be interesting and have a feeling the rest of Walter's life is also book worthy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- mary S. Arnold Wells
- 04-27-22
conflicted
I get it.. many in WWll were just out for what they could get out of it, but hearing this over and over with a guy for whom we should feel empathy is conflicting.. painful.. why don't I cheer for his cleverness and abilities, his superiority.? maybe just a young entitled guy of his time.. we certainly have a society filled with them maybe me just a victim of too many incomplete stories of the WWll genre
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Claire
- 03-09-25
Too much unnecessary detail.
The detail killed it. I couldn’t stick with it. It’s an Account of private letters; so can’t be written with any plots or mystery or much emotion. The narrators voice got monotonous. There seemed to be no point. Difficult to feel anything about the people of the family.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Everitt
- 04-19-21
Boring
What should be a gripping story is rendered mind numbing because of the soporific narration. It’s obvious that the author idolizes the protagonist, her father, but this book does not do him justice. I couldn’t finish it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dorian D
- 02-25-21
I wanted to like him...
I really wanted to like this book and the main character. As much as I tried I could not get past his self promotion and absorption. Perhaps, in life he wasn't but, he comes across as an pompous, egotistical, self important man. He doesn't seem like someone I would have wanted to meet unlike most of the true heros about whom I've read and researched, including those who served in my own family.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Leanna Hunter
- 02-13-23
Not What I expected
I was eager to read of her father's experiences during WW2. What I wasn't prepared for was a story of of an entitled immigrant who spent the majority if the war avoiding direct conflict and exploiting any opportunity for his advantage. Having 2 uncles born in the US who served selflessly and were wounded in WW2, her father's behavior sickened and angered me. I'm sorry I read this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!