My Father had this Luger... A true story of Hitler's Greece: A true story of Hitler's Greece

My Father Had This Luger is an engaging, vivid, by turns moving and amusing account of what it was like to grow up in Hitler-occupied Athens. Because Louizos provides a child's eye view of the events as they unfurl, he is able to present a lot of helpful contextual material to readers who are uninformed about this aspect of the war, discussing Mussolini's sinking of the Greek ship Elli as a border incident (or casus belli) designed to instigate war, the Italian ambassador's ultimatum to Prime Minister Metaxas, and the Great Famine of 1941-1943. Few people probably realize that the group Oxfam got its start serving malnourished Greek women and children during Hitler-occupied Greece. Few people might realize that 60,000 Greek Jews living in Thessaloniki were killed during the war.The author also discusses fascinating aspects of Greek social history such as the importance of the radio during WWII and how ownership of a radio, with access to the BBC (i.e. not Nazi propaganda), was quite dangerous, leading not just to the confiscation of the radio but to the owner's death, if the radio was discovered. During the famine, Louizos was forced to search the streets for tin cans and other containers usable as plant pots, then scrounge up any donkey or horse dung he could find (for fertilizer), so that his family could grow tomatoes and eggplants on the terrace roof of their home.Given that most American high school classes do not typically teach the Greco-Italian part of WWII, due to time constraints, this book would be an excellent supplement to any high school or college curriculum. (In fact, I currently teach it alongside "Corelli's Mandolin," as they are set during the same time period, and my students love it.) For World War II buffs, readers who don't think they like reading history, educators, and Greeks or Greek-Americans with grandparents or great-grandparents who lived through the war, this book is highly recommended.

This book, about a young boy growing up in Athens during WWII, and the suffering, death, and destruction at the hands of the Germans is depicted in this book. It is a VERY interesting read. Of special interest to me was the author's account of the Greeks fighting the Italians starting in late October 1940. I always knew the Greeks successfully drove the Italians out of northern Greece and back into Albania, but I didn't realize what a struggle it was. The fighting was in the mountains, in very cold, snowy weather. The Greeks were out-numbered, and had limited and out dated weapons. But the country rose up as one, determined to oust the invaders, and they succeeded, but it wasn't easy.One has to wonder about the outcome of WWII if Mussolini had been successful in the Greek invasion, and Hitler had not found it necessary to send in thousands of German troops to Greece to save face. Certainly he could have used more troops in Russia or Africa. It is also curious why so many German troops were kept in mainland Greece. I understand that Crete was a strategic island geographically and the Nazi desire to occupy the island, but to have so many troops in mainland Greece is hard to figure.Anyway I highly recommend this book. Unlike Inside Hitler's Greece, which is very informative, this book makes the German occupation very very personal and touching.

I believe it is very important for all of us to learn about the impact of war in hopes that as a society, we won't repeat those same mistakes. War is a terrible thing and we all need to be aware of that. This book was unique in that the story is told from the memories of an innocent young boy, bringing a very different perspective to the atrocities of war.

The author tells the compelling personal and historical account of how his life changed from a carefree childhood to one of privation, fear and struggle during WW11 first with the Italian invasion, then the German invasion. Throughout, most of his family and friends were able survive by mutual support, though there were many close calls. The story is thoroughly engrossing as most of his family and friends managed to evade or sidetrack the invaders with the help of the Greek resistance which also helped to indirectly weaken the German attack of Russia. In vivid, moving descriptions, the author relates the physical and psychological effects of the war and of his family and community's efforts to maintain their humanity while resisting the invaders.

My Father had this Luger is a remarkable book, a child’s eye view of the tragic impact of WWII and the occupation of Greece on a country, a family, and a precocious young boy. Evangelos Louizos is an especially gifted writer who can turn a non-fiction memoir into a story that reads like a can’t-put-it-down novel. His eye for illustrative detail is stunning, recreating a full range of emotions and images that last long after finishing. Thinking about his sister’s fate still brings tears to my eyes. I know of no better book of its type in English that does as well transporting the reader to this special place and time. I highly recommend it.

I have always found that stories told about life experiences in other countries during wartime make the most interesting reads. This book is no exception and relates the story of a young boy growing up in German-occupied Greece during WWII. You will be able to relate to the number of foolish things Evangelos did as a kid (we've all done them). The difference is that his experiences could have easily become fatal. There are a lot of life lessons to be learned in this book.

"My Father Had This Luger" by Evangelos Louizos is a profoundly moving and beautifully written memoir of the author's life in Greece as a boy living under the Nazi occupation during the Second World War.Descriptions are vivid and the reader is transported back in time to this painful and sorrowful time in history. In my opinion, it is a must read.

I have just finished reading My Father Had This Luger ... and must say how much I enjoyed it. I was expecting something rather different, but then found myself gripped by the personal angle of the book. It is colourful, in places very moving, has the unique perspective of a child in a close knit, loving family and packed with well told anecdotes... I am the same age as the author and I was soon blessing my good fortune for never having lived in an occupied country, let alone felt starvation and terror. My own personal experience of the 1939-46 war as a young child was confined to reading war correspondents accounts, ghastly pictures of concentration camps and other atrocities, images which have lived with me ever since; But living aged 9-12 in a village on Salisbury Plain occupied by US soldiers (over sexed, overpaid, over here) had rather different hazards.So I can only try to imagine how Van Louizos must have been permanently scarred by his experiences: from his mother's death, sisters' illnesses, multiple deprivation, huddled evenings round the forbidden Er-Ce-Ah radio and the all pervasive fear to the suppressed anger and bitterness he must carry with him. It is such a well told, fascinating account by a born anecdotalist.

It was the title of the book which arose my attention. I had never heard of a "Luger". Being German, I was somewhat ashamed about my lack of knowledge, when I found out that a "Luger" is a handgun used by German WWII soldiers.As I am very interested in personal memories from WWII, I bought the book and found that the author's father got hold of a "Luger" from a German prisoner in Athens.The "Luger" symbolically stands for all the misery the Germans afflicted upon the Greek people during WWII. But there is no hatred towards Germans, as little Louizos somehow even manages to make friends with some of the German soldiers on a military compound in his neighbourhood. The author describes in a very personal and detailed way what life under the German occupation was like for him as an 8-to 12-year-old boy, his parents and his three sisters. He paints such an interesting and vivid picture of what life in his hometown of Kallithea was like from 1941 to 1944.Curfews, food rationing, suffering from hunger and fear of American and British bombers chasing German military compounds shaped Greek life at that time.The only access to the outside world for the author's family was a radio which his father and his "war cabinet of dining room generals" (his father's neighbourhood friends) were furtively listening to (mostly BBC news), as the Germans occupants confiscated almost all radios (with above mentioned exception).The book is all the more trustworthy and authentic as its stories are told from a boy's perspective with all his fear, inquisitiveness and love for his family.Once you start reading the book, you don't want to lay it aside until you have finished the last page. It is more than a book on history.....it is much better.

I liked this book a lot. I have a Greek background so maybe it made it more personal but it is so well written I think everybody will enjoy reading it. Of course it describes a very dark period in history, but it is one people should be aware of, not only through history books, but also through personal accounts.

This has all you could wish for in a good bookFrom the first page the clarity and fluidity of the narrative immerses you in the authors early lifeOnly when you reach the last page will you come up for air

The subject of this moving and powerful personal reminiscence relates to a very underappreciated episode in recent European history,the tribulations experienced by Greece in WW2, under German occupation, and all its aftermath.AS a fellow author, I was very forcibly struck by the evocative power of the writing, and the gentle, insistent manner in which the narrative carried the reader along. For those with a knowledge of Greek culture, it is a masterly rendition and recreation.The ethos of Greece is captured powerfully and movingly. I recommend this book strongly.