About the Author, Liesel Appel

Sixty years have gone by and the Holocaust is still a bitter memory for survivors, their children and people like Liesel Appel, a perpetrator’s daughter, who was conceived in 1941 as a gift to Adolf Hitler. Her life has been extremely eventful.
Born in Klingenberg, she graduated from Teachers Training College, Limburg, at 17 to become a nursery school teacher. Then she fled her past and left her native Germany. Her quest for new identity took her to three continents and since 1980 Liesel has lived in the United States. During her unique journey through life she overcame many obstacles; she involved herself with rebel forces in post-colonial Africa and made a stand against bigotry in Palm Beach, Florida. Rabbi Freehling of Los Angeles said of Liesel: "She gives us reason to believe that we can overcome anything in our path."
Liesel has touched the lives of many people through her talks and lectures. Her mission is to get a small measure of justice for her former Jewish neighbors. Her point of view as to German redemption and at what point exoneration for past criminal behavior has been earned is: no blanket forgiveness can be achieved between Man and Man. The evil committed by the German people--her people--is a bottomless pit that no amount of good deeds and recent attempts to sanitize mass murder can fill. Forgiveness has to be asked for from the specific person who was wronged.
Thus Liesel is desperate to find her Neighbor’s Son, Edgar August Meyer of Bottrop, Germany.
Liesel is a philanthropist who has raised several million dollars for charities, mostly Jewish causes. She has presented her story at educational seminars, the Steven Spielberg Library, and countless Holocaust Memorial Services, and she has appeared on radio and television. She travels the USA, Canada, and the world. Liesel was published in the Los Angeles Times, the Palm Beach Post, in Professor Alan L. Berger’s Second Generation Voices, and in Professor Charles Patterson's book, Eternal Treblinka. Large features about her have appeared in Mareev in Israel, Aufbau, the Jewish Times and the Asheville Citizen-Times. If you are interested in having Liesel speak for your group or event, contact:

Dr. Jessica J. Jahnke,

Speaking Representative

PO Box 704, Fletcher, NC 28732

(828) 681-1732

jacandjess@earthlink.net

Liesel converted to Judaism in 1990. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, Don Appel, and their adopted non-human family. Her youth book, Wunschkind--Child Without a Country, will be published in October 2008. Several schools have already shown interest in using the material as a teaching tool.
Liesel's latest thriller, Third Generation, (90,000 words) takes the theme of The Neighbor's Son to the next generation. A young woman, third generation daughter of perpretators, joins a sinister international cult. To read an abstract, click here.