American Wolf: From Nazi Refugee to American Spy

• Author: Audrey Birnbaum
• Genre: Biography
• Publication Date: October 23, 2023
• Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers
• Series: Holocaust Survivor True Stories 

Thank you to Amsterdam Publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In the summer of 1941, 11-year-old Wolf is growing up amidst the rubble and antisemitism of war-torn Nazi Berlin. Destitute and facing deportation, he must leave behind his sister and travel with his family across a continent entrenched in war. With nothing in hand but expired visas to the US, Wolf and his family must figure out how to sneak aboard the Spanish freighter the Navemar , a ship that would gain its reputation as the “Hell Ship of Death.” But this is only the beginning of Wolf’s saga.

American Wolf is a heart-stopping true story full of last-minute rescues, near-death encounters, and survival against untold odds. It is also a story about coming of age, family dysfunction and national identity, and is a resounding testament to the triumph of the human spirit.

Using the notes compiled by her father, Audrey Birnbaum vividly retells a poignant account of Wolf’s childhood in Berlin, his riveting escape from Nazi Germany, and the continued challenges he faced even as he reached freedom.

I always try my best to read ARCs before the publishing date, but I was a bit nervous to start this one with the current state of world events (the Israel-Hamas war, increasing levels of antisemitism around the world). My father was a Holocaust survivor who freely spoke about his experiences at home, and as he got older, he spoke publicly as often as possible to share his story and his message with others. As the child of a survivor, I struggle with intergenerational trauma that presents strongly at times of increased antisemitism, which made me leery about starting this book. But I decided to give it a try, and started a lighthearted audiobook to offset the heavy nature that I knew this book was going to address.

The story is written by Wolf’s daughter from his own notes, and starts out with Wolf’s earliest memories, beginning around age 3. His love for his city of Berlin and all the enjoyable times that he had there with his father is evident is so much of the story. He describes a bit about his parents and their marriage, which was a highly dysfunctional one. There’s a lot of foreshadowing, and I was curious to see how Wolf’s feelings for Berlin and his home country would change when Germany and its people turned on him and the other Jews. 

All of the changes were made slowly, but increasingly made it clear that the Jewish people were not welcome in Germany. Some chose to leave, but Wolf’s family, like many others, thought that the situation would pass and couldn’t get much worse. Unlike many other memoirs, this is told through the eyes of a child, and it’s done beautifully. It takes away some of the heavy nature of the story, since Wolf doesn’t understand much of what is happening, particularly the greater consequences of these changes. 

After many false starts, his family finally manages to get out of Germany, but that doesn’t mean their struggles end there. The boat isn’t the luxury ones that we imagine, and the trip overseas was a notoriously difficult one. And their life in America isn’t any easier. Going from business owners in Germany to menial laborers in America, a country where they barely speak the language and have no opportunities, Wolf sees his best chance at survival and success as learning to assimilate quickly. 

Watching Wolf grow up, and seeing how immensely his experiences impacted his adult life was incredibly interesting. Struggling to find his way in adulthood, not feeling quite at home in America but not feeling welcome in Germany, and still figuring out who he is, Wolf abruptly finds himself drafted and tapped as a spy. His story only gets more interesting as his native fluency in German is utilized as a talent during the Cold War. 

I found myself glued to the story, and flew through it faster than I’ve read most books recently. Ultimately, I was so glad that I read this book. Fast-paced, exciting, and full of relatable, real-life people, there is a section of photographs so that we can match a face with the names we are reading about, making this feel even more real than it already does. It’s an incredible story of survival, adaptation, and self-acceptance amidst hatred, persecution, loss, family dysfunction, and ongoing challenges.