Book Review: The Blood Tattoos by Jana Petken
Book of the Week After years of living in America, two Germans return to Berlin and enlist in the Waffen-SS. Bonded by duty, conscience, and their love for the United States, they struggle to separate soldiering from Nazi ideology. An American at heart, Uwe Polkaehn finds that in the SS, loyalty to Adolf Hitler is more important than being a good soldier. From Berlin to Belgium, France, Holland and the Eastern Front, he and the SS-Das Reich Division spearhead the Führer’s drive across Western and Eastern Europe. Lukas Querner, the son of an admiral in the German Kriegsmarine, returns reluctantly to Hamburg after six years at Harvard University. After refusing to follow his father into the Kriegsmarine, he volunteers for the SS, believing the armed wing is the elite fighting force that will battle the enemy with honour.. During training, Uwe and Lukas meet Otto Skorzeny, an enigmatic SS officer. After impressing the Führer, Otto transfers the two men to a new Special Formation com...