A Snake on the Heart: History, Mystery, and Truth: The Entangled Journeys of a Biographer and His Nazi Subject

The fact-is-stranger-than-fiction true story of Jan Jürgen Petersen.A spiritual guru.A Dutch SS-man.A supporter of anti-Nazi resistance.A Holocaust collaborator.Patrick Shane Wolfe is a dedicated historian and biographer who served as the custodian of this complex narrative for over forty-five years.

Drawing on extensive primary research at the Dutch National Archives and years of being Jan's spiritual mentee, Wolfe crafted Petersen's biography - a cautionary tale, one that is bizarre and compelling and ultimately stark and mysterious.

In this biography you will find amazing -- but true! -- moments like:

• • The "Miracle" in the Dark Cell: Why a traumatic fire-hose drenching became the defining moment of spiritual awakening for a man in despair.
  • Dachau's Impossible Choice: The four specific options Heinrich Himmler gave to recruits-and the secret reason one man chose the path of a "Dutch" SS volunteer.
  • The "Snake on the Heart" How playing a reckless "double game" between warring German authorities allowed a man to hide his true nationality for years.
  • Borneo Outrigger Escape: The harrowing reality-and the "whopper" lies-behind a family's three-week flight across the sea in an open canoe.
  • The Fictional Mentor: Why the man who supposedly taught the "fallacy of society's ethics" was actually a phantom of the biographer's imagination.
  • Hans the Child Warrior: The specific father-son training that turned a schoolboy into a saboteur of German communications trucks.
  • Saved by a Rogue Stamp: The dangerous mission of a clerk who illegally exempted hundreds of Dutch veterans from Nazi forced labor.
  • Silhouette of Shrapnel: The physics-defying munitions explosion that left a man covered in blood but somehow miraculously alive.

Pick up your copy today and immerse yourself in this startlingly unusual World War II story of divided loyalty, deceit and manipulation and its life-long consequences for Petersen.

And, at the same time, discover how the pursuit of truth can lead to deep healing and a profound understanding of what it means to be human.

Patrick Wolfe graduated from the University of Victoria's Honours History Program in 1973 and completed an M.A. in history at York University in 1974. He taught history part-time at Malaspina and North Island Colleges on Vancouver Island prior to starting a 33-year career with the British Columbia Public Service in 1977. A Snake on the Heart is his first book. More of his writing can be found on his website: patrickswolfe.com.