By the time Herman Neuman was eighteen years old, he had endured war, killer illnesses, starvation, homelessness, floggings, school failure, exile and slavery. Then he worked his way through college and became a world traveler.
Professional Reviews
Writer's Digest contest judge:
This almost unbelievable saga ...has all the ingredients of a page turner: starvation, extreme poverty, dysfunctional parents, complete lack of creature comforts, enslavement, grave illnesses. It’s hard to believe this is a contemporary memoir, that people have had to live that way. It’s harder to believe Neuman has lived to tell this story, and has risen above all these hardships and even remained sane. But very intelligent, determined, entrepreneurial and adventurous, the author and his brother have both succeeded in leading fully successful lives, devoid of bitterness. “Heroes” and “Triumph” indeed!
A most memorable story.
A powerfully written and uniquely recommended Memoir, Midwest Book Review
Although written under a pseudonym, Herman Neuman's "Heroes From The Attic: A Gripping True Story Of Triumph" is the true and autobiographical story of a childhood experienced under the soul-crushing forces of a world at war -- and on both sides of the Atlantic. Born in Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II, the author and his brother Siggi struggled to survive with dysfunctional parents mired in poverty. Eventually, Herman and Siggi were shipped to relatives in America and there found themselves forced to a life of constant labor in a kind of virtual slavery on separate farms.
Their courage, and all-out drive to put themselves through college, earn their freedom, and establish a decent living characterizes this powerfully written and uniquely recommended memoir.
Book Review by Debbie Schoeningh, Record-Courier
Heroes inspire and help us to reach inside for that uncommon strength to overcome obstacles in our lives. Herman Neuman and his brother will touch your hearts in unimaginable ways and give you renewed belief in the power of human fortitude in Herman’s new book “Heroes from the Attic: A Gripping True Story of Triumph.”
Born in Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II, “Heroes from the Attic” tells the true story of their journey through war, killer illnesses, starvation, homelessness, floggings, judicial injustices, exile and slavery, and eventually their triumph over their unfortunate circumstances.
In their early years finding enough food for the Neuman family was a constant concern. At one point pig’s entrails and spoiled bread became their staples. Herman wrote, “One of the delicacies that we truly enjoyed was black, whole-grain rye bread. The kind that people throw at each other…One time Ma recovered half a loaf from a secret place. I recognized its shape, a block of furry fungus that Ma sliced, moistened and garnished with sugar. The pain in the gut. The pain in the butt.”
The boys eventually made it to America where their dreams of the promised land were dashed with years of slavery on separate farms. Herman wrote, “at the ages of fifteen and seventeen, Siggi and I left behind everything: shame, cold and hunger, parental love and affection, homeland, culture, orchestra, friends, relatives and the world’s best educational system. And our judicial umbrella, the excitement of our Progenitor War, the war of our silent torture, which amazingly would continue another seven or eight years. But by visiting America, like Pa, we did not know that it was better to be with the devils that you knew, than to run to the devil’s that you didn’t know.”
In spite of life’s cruel blows, the brothers did overcome their hardships though and both made it through college and became Americans. Herman and his wife, who live in Hagerman, Idaho, have traveled around the world and some of their travels are included in this autobiography.
In the preface of the book Herman wrote, “although I have overcome many incredible adversities, I never wanted to write this memoir, mainly because I felt that I would that I would not have the emotional stamina to think about our past. I thought that I would short out my keyboard with my tears. But it was not that way because something changed in me. I could do it now because something changed in me. I could do it now because I learned a lot about other people and about myself, have banished most of the ghosts from my soul, and together with my wife, have built a fantastic life.”
Herman writes with an offbeat sense of humor and a touch of irony that will at times make you laugh and at times make you cry, but “Heroes from the Attic” is a journey of both heartaches and triumphs that you won’t soon forget.
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