Euan McAllen

The Intimidation of Franz Helmer Euan McAllen

It is 1964 and the Third Reich rules the Ukraine. Franz, a handsome blond Aryan, aged 17, is told he is to meet the Fuehrer on the day they share as their birthday. Change is coming, but not in a way he could possibly foresee. The trip to Berlin prompts his friend Lev, a Ukrainian, to leave home. He wants to start a new life with his brother in Prague, but while there makes an enemy of the local Gestapo. Meanwhile, Isaak, a Jew born and raised in the local Ghetto, also has to escape. For him, freedom of the mind is an illusion, a luxury. Franz, Lev and Isaak each undertakes a journey to the edge of madness, and futility, then retreats. Franz is stuck in a prison of the mind. Lev and Isaak escape theirs.