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Author's Synopsis
A World War II memoir unlike any other, built from the original writings of a prisoner of war.
Henry Eugene Maul was a 20-year-old B-17 waist gunner when his aircraft was shot down over Europe during World War II. He would spend the next year as a German prisoner of war, enduring the uncertainty, hardship, and isolation of life as a POW.
During that time, he wrote.
On scraps of paper, on the backs of flattened cigarette packs, and in whatever space he could find, he created poems, drawings, and personal reflections that captured the reality of life behind barbed wire. These writings were never meant for publication. They were his way to endure.
Almost 80 years later, his daughter brings these preserved materials together for the first time.
Writings from the Barbed Wire Hotel is more than a memoir. It is a rare and intimate collection of firsthand accounts created in the moment, not reconstructed from memory. Alongside these writings are reflections from family and those who knew him, offering a deeper understanding of the man behind the words and the lasting impact of his experience.
This is a story of survival, resilience, and the quiet strength that carried him through one of the darkest chapters of the twentieth century.
Format(s) for review: Paper or Kindle
Review genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Pages/Word count: 302 / 25,000