A Pebble in My Shoe [Paperback]

Katherine Hoeger Flotz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 2005

A story of survival by two families in the turmoil of World War II in Yugoslavia. The author recalls her memoirs as a child of nine in a concentration camp, suffering serious illness, hunger and fear. Her husband's family travelled throughout Germany during the last months of WWII always one step ahead of the enemy. A holocaust of another faith in another country.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Crown Point woman tells a different kind of Holocaust story. She feels slighted and doesn't want to be forgotten. --Caroline Procter, Post Tribune Newspaper, May 5, 2005

About the Author

Arriving in Chicago in 1949 at age fourteen, the author attended High School and after graduation worked as a secretary. Her desire to write was always a top priority and she kept a journal of her experiences. Only after raising three children, working to educate them, and striving for a comfortable retirement, did she actually write her book. It is her life's hardest accomplishment.

Product Details

• Paperback: 173 pages
• Publisher: Pannonia Press (June 14, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 0965779335
• ISBN-13: 978-0965779333
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #732,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > History > Europe > Serbia
  • #63 in Books > History > Europe > Yugoslavia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The innocent always pay more than the guilty, July 3, 2005

By 

M. Pagano - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Pebble in My Shoe (Hardcover)

References to the Gulag and The Holocaust spark instant understanding in the western world. The suffering of the Armenians during World War I are lesser known than that of the Bosnians in the mid-1990's. However, the story of the Vertreibung, until now, has been obscured by the German war-guilt following the Second World War.
For centuries, ethnic Germans had migrated eastward in search of a better life. Hitler's corruption of this aspiration sounded their death knell. Upon the collapse of the Wehrmacht in the east, the resurgent governments of Eastern Europe took their revenge upon their German-speaking citizens, using methods and tactics no more civilized than their former Nazi masters. The ethnic Germans of Southeastern Europe, many of whom were innocent farming folk who had lived there for centuries, bore the brunt of this wrath.
"A Pebble in My Shoe," recounts the experiences of two such ethnic German families: the Hoegers and the Flotzes. This odyssey begins with a chronicle of the simple life they enjoyed as children growning up in the Batschka, the fertile basin of the Danube River in what was then Northern Yugoslavia and Hungary. It ends with salvation found in the promise of America. In between is a three-year tale of hardship, anguish and the ultimate victory of faith and perserverence over cruelty and vengeance.
From the horrors of the concentration camp in Gakowa, Yugoslavia, to the impressment of ethnic Germans who were deported to forced labor camps in the Soviet Union, "A Pebble in My Shoe" is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Katherine Flotz brings to life the untold story of those whose only sin was that they spoke the same language as the Nazi Regime.
At a time when it is only too easy to generalize about racial and religious groups, "A Pebble in My Shoe" is a poignant reminder that the innocent should never be made to pay for the sins of the guilty.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sad but true, July 13, 2005

By 

Richard L. Snider (Pentwater, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Pebble in My Shoe (Hardcover)

A great read for us who have tired of endless fiction. A Pebble in my Shoe made me cry and have a better understanding of the plight of all those who were suppressed by WWII only to be treated yet far worse by the communist Partisans after the axis fell. This is the story of the bravery and determination of a young girl who finally ends up in the USA after a long and arduous journey. I loved this book and will look for more like it.

Richard L. Snider, MD
Author of Delta Six, Soldier Surgeon

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book! A "Must Read" for every reading group., January 15, 2006

By 

Sharon Palmeri "Sharon Palmeri" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Pebble in My Shoe (Hardcover)

The Truth
This book is a must-read for every reading group. It is a book that every high school history teacher should suggest as independent reading for high school students. Every college professor should use it as a supplement to any course on WWII. In addition, the strength of Katherine's character would bring inspiration to any woman's study course. It could be the type of book Anne Frank could have written later in life, reflecting back on the war - had she survived. This book is so compelling that it could be the story of Anne Frank, or Maria Augusta Trapp's "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" (which later turned into The Sound of Music,) or Fiddler on the Roof (which was based on selected stories from "Tevye's Daughters by Sholom Akeichem."
Steven Spielberg: Here's your chance for another award winner. Read the book and alert your screenwriters....


The Background
Katherine Flotz attended my nonfiction writing class seven years ago. At that time she shared with the class her desire to finish a memoir that she had been working on.
"This story is something that has been trapped in my heart for many years; it's a story not only about me and my husband, but a story about history, war and endurance," she said to the class.
Throughout the course she read excerpts from the first draft of her book. We all traveled through Gakowa with young Katherine and the Hoeger family, and were drawn into the unusual circumstances which brought Katherine and George Flotz together after separately living through the hardships of concentration camp and the misery of WWII -- armed only with their faith in God, family, and humanity. Their strength, determination, love for family and each other, as well as their vivid recollections of a dark time in history is the "heart" in this book.
"The story has been there in my mind for 60 years, bothering me - much like when I get a pebble in my shoe. That's why I chose it as the title for the book," Katherine said.
After the course she attended two writer's groups in Northwest Indiana "Write-On Hoosiers," and "Writer's Expressions" to further hone the craft of writing.

The success
Katherine Flotz has realized the American dream in so many ways since she came to this country and "A Pebble in my Shoe" is just the topping on the cake. I applaud Katherine Flotz for her perseverance, hard work and the excellence of this memoir.