Brockton, Massachusetts

b. 1923

 
The Good German

Other former POWs have said to him, “How can you be so nice to a German?”  Louis Tarantino understands their anger, their hurt, but he also knows what he knows and from that there's no backing down. 

“That guy was good to me,” he says. “He made me feel comfortable, his kindness helped.”  Christian Moritz, age 17, former Hitler Youth and prison guard at a work kommando in the cruel winter of 1945, treated American POW Louis Tarantino like a human being. 

It was the little things, which were everything.  Now and then Christian gave Louis an extra half-slice of bread or a little more barley soup.  In the frostbiting cold, he let Louis pause and stuff his bare hands into his pockets during ditch digging.  Christian knew some English; Louis had picked up a little German.  So they talked about sports and movies and their families.  Never shy, Louis told stories about his job at a shoe store in Brockton, about the secrets of selling to women, and Christian announced that he would become a schoolteacher, some day.     

And wouldn't you know it, he was crazy for all things American.  Christian wanted to sail into New York Harbor, behold the Statue of Liberty, and climb the Empire State Building.  He wanted to watch American baseball players hit stupendous home runs and see the movies made in Hollywood. 

The kid was “a peach,” says Louis, a nice, family boy.  It was almost like he was doing time, too. 

Christian survived the final months of the war, the conflagration that consumed German boys, only to be trapped in the Soviet occupation zone of his country.  From the States, Louis and his wife sent him care packages with food and cigarettes.  Then the Iron Curtain slammed down and there was nothing but silence from his end. 

In 1990, when the Berlin Wall fell, a box arrived at the Tarantinos' house.  It was covered with funny-looking airmail stamps.  Inside were a set of silver espresso spoons and a thank you letter, from Christian Moritz, for supplies sent over 40 years ago. Since then, Christian and Louis have stayed in touch by telephone and letters.

“They weren't all Nazis,” Louis says.  “Some Germans were good.”