My Great-Grandfather, Heinz Matthai, was born in Germany in 1922. When he was a child, his parents emigrated from Germany, fearful of Hitler's rise to power. In 1943 Heinz decided to enlist in the U.S. infantry. Heinz was a native German and thus he had a heavy German accent, but he spoke enough English to be admitted to the U.S. infantry, serving his country. Throughout World War II the German Military committed countless war crimes towards Germans who took up arms or undermined their war effort. Heinz was captured during the early stages of the famed Battle of the Bulge, on December 19 1944. He was taken to the prison of Stalag 12a, his first POW-camp of many. He eventually was held in a total of 4 camps, the final one being Stalag 11b in Braunschweig Germany. While a prisoner, my great-grandfather did all he could to cover up his German identity for fear of death. In his journals he wrote of the common happenings of prisoner life, he talks of trading food and junk for cigarettes and more food, and he also writes of the people he befriended and survived with. For 4 months he kept up the facade of a born American, even writing his journal in english. He risked exposure often, translating what the german guards said to his fellow American servicemen, until finally he was rescued by allied forces on April 5 towards the end of the war.