MWSA Review
Writings from the Barbed Wire Hotel by Diana Maul Halstead is akin to hearing a voice from the past. The author takes up the mantle that her father, Henry Eugene Maul, started as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III and IV during WWII.
Gene was a twenty-year-old waist gunner on a B-17. After flying eight missions, the aircraft dubbed Laura Jane was shot down on May 8, 1944, over war-torn Germany. Nine crew members were taken prisoner, serving time as POWs in brutal, unpleasant conditions.
For the next year, Gene passed the time by writing in his camp diary, drawing cartoons of camp life, and penning poems, even one titled, “Dear Draft Dodgers.” In the absence of a tablet, he used scraps of paper, including cigarette wrappers, to record daily life as a POW.
Maul writes, “Humor,” as shown in the cartoons he drew, “was one of the few ways prisoners coped with the anxiety and helplessness of having every possession subject to seizure.” The Germans would often confiscate the contents of packages sent by the American Red Cross.
Gene never talked about that period of his service. His daughter, author Diana Halstead, put together the puzzle pieces of Gene’s life, including the time he served his country. Writings from the Barbed Wire Hotel is a tribute from a daughter to the first man she ever loved, her father.
Review by Nancy Panko
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
