Gunter Nitsch

I am the author of three books: Weeds Like Us (which was published in German translation in Hamburg as Eine lange Flucht aus Ostpreussen), STRETCH: Coming of Age in Post-War Germany, and A Singular Education: A German Bachelor in New York (1964-1974).

My first book, Weeds Like Us, vividly describes my strange childhood in Russian-occupied East Prussia following World War II.

STRETCH: Coming of Age in Post-War Germany brings my story forward over the next thirteen eventful years. Coming from a refugee camp to my new home in West Germany, with less than four years of formal education, I, like millions of my fellow refugees, had to make up for lost time in order to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings and customs while living in the shadow of Germany's recent Nazi past.

My latest book, A Singular Education: A German Bachelor in New York (1964-1974), picks up my story from the moment I stepped off the boat in New York City in 1964 with just $400 to my name and no prospects. What I experienced and learned over the next ten years on my way to making myself at home in the Big Apple was, in its own way, as challenging as anything I had experienced before.

My wife and I live in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA