History and the stories behind it have always been a love of Kate Stollenwerck’s and it has led to her releasing her second book called Don’t Let Me Down.
The book was published on Oct. 22, and it is a sequel to her first novel Hello, Goodbye, as it follows the latest adventures of a 16-year-old girl named Hailey.
Building off the first book, Hailey continues to find more family secrets, but this time it comes when she learns more about her mysterious great grandfather and his past that turns her present into a world wind adventure.
According to Stollenwerck, Hailey tries to forget the past but realizes sometimes it is too important to just let it be.
The tale dives into stories associated with World War II and Nazi Germany in a unique combination of historically accurate circumstances while using fictional characters.
“I did a tone of research on the Nurenburg Trials, and it really delves into the hunt for looted art and the cultural property and possessions that were taken by the Nazis,” Stollenwerck said. “I read a lot of memoirs of men who were in the 42nd Infantry Division, who liberated the Dachau concentration camp. I even have a personal witness statement in it.”
She wanted to make sure that even though it is historical fiction, that the history aspect of it was true and had the backing to support it.
“I think it’s interesting in the fact that it’s a contemporary novel with commentary themes relating to teenagers, but it really illuminates a part of World War II history that I think a lot of people are not as familiar with, and that is the cultural war that Hitler undertook,” Stollenwerck said. “He wanted to confiscate and destroy what he labeled modern art, which was also a lot of Jewish artists at the time, and he started by looting their properties before expanding to academic institutions, museums and churches.”
She believes it is important, especially for the younger generations to understand the history that came before them, and to realize that much of what was once stolen has still yet to be recovered.
“At the end of the war, 500,000 pieces of art had been taken from various countries and were in Germany, which was over half of the art on the European continent,” Stollenwerck said. “So that’s when the Allied Forces were tasked with finding and turning that art back to original owners. A lot of these families to this day are stilling fighting to get their possessions back.”
In fact, one of the comments printed on the back of the book is from Joanne Intrator, who wrote a memoir about how she tried to get back her family’s building that was in Berlin before being seized by the Nazis.
“It was a 60-year battle, and she finally got it back, but there are many more still searching,” Stollenwerck said.
According to Stollenwerck’s, there are still 30,000 pieces of stolen art that have yet to be found.
“There’s like 10 complete masterpieces that they know that are in the marketplace somewhere, but they’re sitting in a private collection somewhere, so these crimes are still ongoing,” Stollenwerck said.
For those looking to purchase a copy of Don’t Let Me Down can go to Amazon.com to find it.
The release of Don’t Let Me Down, coincides with the film rights to Hello, Goodbye, having been sold, and it is currently in screenplay development.
