Can it really be true?’ Wolfram knew nothing about the capture of Pforzheim by Allied forces. Nor, indeed, was he aware that the town of his childhood lay in ruins. It was not until May 1945, fully three months after the bombing raid (and a week after Hitler’s suicide), that he first learned of the devastation. He was glancing through one of the German-language newspapers published in America when his eye lit upon an article about the February bombardment. It contained a graphic description of the destruction, written by a businessman who had been staying in the suburbs on the night of the raid. Wolfram was greatly alarmed by what he read. His father travelled into Pforzheim almost every day in order to work at the School of Decorative Arts. His mother also made regular shopping trips into town. It was quite possible that they, and perhaps his sister, had been caught in the firestorm. It was not until October, eight months after the bombing, that he finally received the news that his parents had survived when a card came from an uncle in Switzerland, saying that they were alive and well.
What do You think about The Boy Who Went To War (2011)?
