An Artist as Soldier ─ Seeking Refuge in Love and Art

"This book is about a collection of one hundred letters written by German artist Bernhard Epple to his wife Gudrun between 1940 and 1945. Unlike many war letters, Epple's letters tell us little about the war, about battles won or lost. Although they are deeply personal, they provide insights into how a particular young man dealt with the war. They reveal Epple's struggles as an involuntary conscripted soldier and his attempts to remain a civilian in uniform. As an artist and art teacher, he tried to distance himself mentally from the war, finding some refuge in art, purchasing art books and visiting local museums and churches whenever possible and most important, in drawing the sketches that decorate the letters to his wife, herself an artist"--Introduction.

Barbara Schmitter Heisler is Professor Emerita at Gettysburg College. She received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1979. Dr. Heisler has published numerous articles and book chapters on immigration, citizenship, poverty and housing in Europe and America. Her book, From German Prisoner of War to American Citizen: A Social History with 35 Interviews, was published in 2013. Her research has been supported by several fellowships and grants. In 1999 she was among the first class of residential fellows at the American Academy in Berlin. She lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon, with her husband, Martin O. Heisler.