by Heiner Karow (Author)
Heiner Karow spent many years avoiding memories of his childhood. He had heard so many retellings of his family's life during World War II that it was difficult to separate his own recollections from those of his relatives. Then, one day, he sat down to tell his children about his childhood, and the memories all came back like a series of snapshots. Karow mentally viewed these snapshots of a challenging coming of age under Hitler's regime. He knew exactly when it was time to tell his story.
Karow was only two and a half years old when his parents moved to the German city of Wilhelmshaven. Less than two months later, it was bombed in one of the first operations of World War II. This was the climate Karow spent his formative years surviving.
As a child, Karow grew up thinking that the events of the war were normal occurrences. Karow recalls his evacuation from Wilhelmshaven and the eventual Allied occupation. He accepted the turmoil and upheaval because he had never lived with the concept of peace. His memoir shows his gradual understanding of the fragility of life and the destruction war brings to both sides.
Author Biography
Heiner Karow was a child in Germany during Hitler's regime and the subsequent Allied occupation. He is now presenting his memoir of that pivotal time.
Karow studied optical technology in Germany and first came to the United States on an H1-B visa. He spent seven years working in New York on lenses and laser systems. Karow's career then took him across the United States. He worked in holography in Michigan, classified surveillance in Massachusetts, and acoustic optics in Connecticut. In 1972, he moved out to California to work on aerospace projects.
Karow spent nearly fifty years in optics. He taught classes at Yuba College and published Fabrication Methods for Precision Optics. Karow retired in 2002 and discovered a new passion for writing nontechnical books.