Prinz David's Castle

Book excerpt: Germany, 1939. While Europe braces for the inevitable advancement of the Nazi war machine, Hitler turns his hate-filled agenda on his own people, specifically the portion of the German population least able to defend itself—the mentally and physically disabled. Aktion T4 is enacted to disinfect mainstream Germany of this undesirable portion of its population by creating killing centres both in Germany and the surrounding annexed countries, most notably, at Hartheim Castle in Alkoven, Austria. Here the Nazis, headed by Karl Brandt and Phillip Bouhler, perfect their art of mass murder, using fake shower rooms as gas chambers nearly two full years before they are ever used in a death camp. Felix Schmidt is a Jewish former medical doctor who was stripped of his station and rights by the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935. Since that time, Felix and his wife, Claudia, have struggled to raise their family amid the growing popularity of Aryan supremacy, a challenge further complicated by their realization that their youngest son, David, has cerebral palsy. Now, Felix must not only deal with the brutal racism that is inflicted upon him, but he must also hide David from view, lest he be swallowed up by the Aktion T4 machinery. When an unthinkable betrayal finds Felix alone and desperate, he must race against time to find, and save, David from the inevitable end that has claimed so many abandoned souls.