Born In the Shadow of the Third Reich

By Frederick O. Bley

As Fritz grew up in pre-World War II Germany, he thrived as his father’s opera career took them from city to city. In 1940 when his father obtained work in Czechoslovakia, Fritz had no idea of what his destiny held—only that when the air raid sirens sounded he knew he must head for shelter.

In his compelling memoir, Fritz details how his peaceful childhood was interrupted by the chaos of World War II as bombs exploded, searchlights scanned the skies, and at age ten, he was expected to sign up for the Hitler Youth. As he moved from playing in the Youth’s marching band to designing airplanes to transporting refugees, Fritz eventually became an officer who had to escape numerous Russian POW camps and never could have imagined that one day, he would immigrate to America and create a new life.

Born in the Shadow of the Third Reich shares a fascinating glimpse into World War II through the eyes of a boy determined to survive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Sep 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483414942

Book preview

Born in the Shadow

of the Third Reich

Fritz

Frederick O. Bley

Copyright © 2014 Frederick O. Bley, Fritz

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1493-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1495-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1494-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014912761

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 09/11/2014

Contents

Talisman

Frederick O. Bley Highlights of My Life

1931

1935

1937

1937–1938

1939

1940

1943

1944

1944–1945

1945

1945–1946

1946

Appendix 1

Appendix 2: Vlasov

Pictures

As the boy who grew up with a fascination for studying World War II, who went to German language summer camp, and who grew up in St. Paul, MN, home to cartoonist Charles Schultz and his Peanuts Comic strip, it was my honor and pleasure when I like Charlie Brown fell for the little red headed girl, to come to know her expatriate German-born father. A concerned citizen and caretaker of his adopted nation, Fritz is among the most patriotic and responsible American citizens that I, a retired Officer of Marines, have had the good fortune to come to know; I have met none more honorable and kind. Over the years I’ve found fascinating, as I hope his readers do, Fritz’s remembrances of his extended family, his days growing up in Germany in the 1930’s and 40’s, being drafted as a young teenager at the very end of the war, he and his brother’s postwar careers, Fritz’s brushes with Cold War intrigue, his time as an engineer in Latin America, and his arrival in the United Sates as the Berlin Wall went up. In closing, Fritz as a small business owner, and he won’t say this but it’s true, is rightfully a proud American who with the help of few along the way made his luck and as the expression goes, paid it forward, by providing employment and means to dozens of his fellow Americans. By the time of its closing several years ago, his company, Optical & Electronic Research (OER), was the longest running family owned business in Reston, VA.

LtCol. Scott McDonald, USMC, Retired

Fritz has lived the American dream – an immigrant from war torn Germany and World War II, a loving husband and father, a successful product of the free enterprise system, and a contributing member of the community and society.   He has truly experienced what our county’s founders enabled -  Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.   I had the opportunity to participate in NASA’s human spaceflight programs from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Shuttle and Space Station, and in so doing have been associated with many fine engineers.  I know no others who are better down to earth, hands-on engineers than Fritz.  The success of his optical design and manufacturing company was because he knew every detail of the operations and could, and would, do anything that any employee could do from accounting, to computer aided design, to operating computer and numerically controlled (CNC) machines.

Fritz also knew how to have a good time.  We (Fritz, Carole, Nelwyn and I) enjoyed many glasses of wine and spontaneous dinners while being neighbors on Lake Audubon in Reston, Virginia.  Our times together also included a vacation to the Greek Islands, where we stayed in a remote motel owned by (you guessed it) a German couple.  Fritz also demonstrated his down to earth, hands-on creative capabilities by building deer blinds and making Prickly Pear Cactus jelly at our ranch in the Texas Hill Country.

It is my honor and good fortune to have had Fritz as a neighbor and friend for 25 years.

Tom Moser

NASA Senior Executive and Aerospace Corporate Executive

My good friend Fritz Bley is many things - a true gentleman, family man, a respected business owner and caring community leader. As an early Reston resident (1968), Fritz was involved deeply with music and the arts and served as president of the Northern Virginia Music festival; he continues to use his many skills as a long term volunteer with the Bargain Loft. The Bargain Loft is a wonderful local thrift shop geared to helping those in need. Fritz also donated many hours to the Committee for Dulles and served as the first Vice President of the Reston Chamber of Commerce – two great organizations that continue to thrive today. A true sign of his intuition and caring ways was his innovative idea to have his employees work a four day work week, vs. the standard five, and also offering jobs to women along with flex time so they could be home when children returned from school - in the 70s! While these ideas may seem more commonplace today, in the 70s it was unheard of. He has led and continues to lead an involved and inspiring life to many.

Jon Querolo

Early Reston resident, community leader and business person

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Talisman

Towards the end of 1944 my parents must have come to the conclusion that things were going to fall apart. They gave Reinhard and me each some Talismans. Reinhard received my father’s watch he had worn in WWI and a very old silver coin and I received Grandfather Bley’s watch and a coin from the Coronation of the last German King.

My father’s watch had quite a story attached.

He had volunteered with his class of 16 year olds and was assigned to a communication group. He and a buddy were sent one day through the shell craters with a spool of telephone wire. Part way there, shelling started and they took shelter in a shell crater. When they arrived at their bunker, my father noticed that his watch was missing. When the shelling stopped he went back the way they had come to look for the crater where he had checked his watch the last time. He remembered seeing a bird nest in the crater and because of this, he found his watch. Both watches ended up in Russian soldier’s pockets! My coin survived.

I had placed it in my right sock and walked for weeks on it. At one point I thought I had lost it, but it reappeared sometime later in the laundry.

One day my son in law came to the house and he told me that he was going to be deployed with the Marines. I told him the story of my coin Talisman and showed the coin to him. He thought I would give him the coin, but I told him there was too much attached.

After he went home I went in to e-bay and to my great surprise, found the identical coin owned by a family in Switzerland for a very reasonable price.

I gave this coin to him and he returned safely.

Frederick O. Bley

Highlights of My Life

Little did I know when I was trying to escape from the sixth Russian prisoner-of-war camp how my life would turn out. All I was trying to do was to stay in contact with my family and return to my hometown, Darmstadt. It was a journey that was successful but extremely challenging. The year was 1945, and I was not even fourteen years old; I was also an officer and soldier in the Hitler Jungend.

Places I have lived:

Employment:

1931

Where should one start one’s life story? We basically all start out the same way. No questions are asked about which country, nationality, religion, or family you are born into. You just arrive!

I think this is where I should start telling you about my life.

I was born on 21 August 1931 in Darmstadt, Germany at the house of my Grandfather Sussner.

I was named Friedrich Otto Bley but changed my name when I became a citizen of the United States to Frederick Otto Bley. My great-grandparents on my mother’s side had come from France. They had to leave their country because they were Huguenots, and they settled in a suburb of Frankfurt/Main, Neu Isenburg. This town was founded in 1699 for and by Huguenots. My Grandfather Gustav still used many French words. My Grandmother Frieda Sussner was born in Lahr, in Baden, Germany. She went to a French cooking school and was an excellent cook. And could she bake.

I think her recipes for a cake had to include a pound of butter and a dozen eggs.

I had a good time as a baby, and, as the pictures attest, I did not starve! But my first real hiccup came when I was three. Without detection, my appendix gave out. It could have been the end of the road, but instead it corrected my weight problem.

My father and his brother, Arthur, were orphaned by the time they were three and four years old. Both of their parents, who