A Thousand Shall Fall

A couple years ago, while Laura was at Homespun General Store, she found the book A Thousand Shall Fall, read the back of the book, and told us girls about it. That Christmas, I had Phil's name, and Laura told me that he would love this book. After I bought it, I was reading the back and it mentioned that Franz Hazel, the main character in the book, was a pacifist, a lot like Sergent Alvin York. I told Laura about that and she said Phil probably wouldn't like the book. So I settled with some other gift for Phil and all of us girls read the book and LOVED it. I thought I'd write a review about it, even though I haven't read the book in a couple months.




A Thousand Shall Fall - The electrifying story of a soldier and his family who dared to practice their faith in Hitler's Germany by Susi Hasel Mundy with Maylan Schurch takes place in 1939. Franz Hasel, a 40-year-old pacifist, was drafted and assigned to Pioneer Company 699, Hitler's elite troops who built bridges at the front lines. His religious scruples did not endear him to his superiors. Sarcastically dubbed "carrot eater" [because he did not eat meat] and "Bible reader", he finally gained the respect of his unit. Just before he was sent deep into Russia-where all but seven of his 1,200 unit would die-he secretly discarded his gun, fearing that, as the company sharpshooter, he might be tempted to kill. In Russia, he was faced with a different problem: how to warn the local Jews before the SS got to them.

Meanwhile, back at home, Franz's wife, Helane, and their four children, Kurt, Lotte, Gerhard, and Susi [the author], were fighting their own battles. Pressured to join the Nazi Party, she announced, "I belong to the party of Jesus Christ."

"Tomorrow night your children will be taken from you unless you join the party," Herr Doering screamed.

And she had another secret. One day the getspo knocked at her door. "Are you hiding a Jew?" They demanded.

Their chance of survival? Dim. Their only ally? God.

In a few short years they lived several lifetimes of danger. As thousands around them fell victim to the horrors of war, they were borne up on angels' wings-sometime quite literally. This is the true, sol-soaring story of one desperate family who chose to be faithful whatever the cost, and found refuge in the shadow of the Almighty.

The lieutenant's face turned beet-red. "You must be mad, Private!" he bellowed. "This is the German Army! This battalion's going to way, and you want Saturday off?" Under his breath he spat out, "It's just my luck to be saddled with a religious nut!"