Roman's Journey

Roman Halter (1927-2012) was a spirited, optimistic schoolboy in 1939 when he and his family gathered behind the curtains to watch the Volksdeutsche (German-Polish) neighbors of their small town in western Poland greet the arrival of Hitler's armies with kisses and swastika flags.

Within days, the family home had been seized, 12-year-old Roman had become a slave of the local SS chief, and, returning from an errand, he silently witnessed his Jewish classmates being bayoneted to death by sold...