A FROME man is raising money to help him research and publish a book about his great-grandfather – a German communist who fled Nazi Germany with his family in World War II.
Cole Henley plans to document the life of his great-grandfather, Albert Schreiner, who he says was “a German communist who was at the forefront of massive changes in Germany and across Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.
“In December 2016 my uncle Michel died after a short struggle with cancer. The day before he died I visited him at his home in London and that evening he told me the story of how he had visited his grandfather, Albert, shortly before his death in East Germany.
“On his visit he had promised Albert to write the story of his life. Sadly, this he never did and the baton was passed on to me. So to honour both my uncle and great-grandfather I would like to research and publish a book chronicling Albert’s story alongside the story of the dramatic social and political changes of Germany and Europe during his early life.
“This year, 2018, marks the centenary of the November Revolution in Germany; a socialist uprising he played a major part in; and I thought this the perfect opportunity to commemorate his life.
“This research provides the opportunity to tell a rarely told – and poorly understood – part of German history, as well as the story of a man who fought for what he believed in at a time where protectionism, nationalism and xenophobia were looming large on the horizon.
“In 2018 it feels like the lessons learned almost a hundred years ago are being forgotten. So now is a timely reminder and opportunity to see how these fears and dangers were faced in the past.”
Cole intends to produce a graphic novel about his great-grandfather and the money raised from his Kickstarter campaign will help fund a research expedition to the former German Democratic Republic archives in Berlin.
For more information about Cole’s Kickstarter campaign, visit: www.kick starter.com/projects/cole007/finding-albert-illustrating-a-family-story
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