Charlotte’s daughter, Kristina Brandner, who was born in 1943, during the war, knew her mother’s upbringing had been difficult emotionally. “I grew up with my grandparents in Germany after the war,” said Kristina. “There was so much jealousy and bad feelings in that house. Frederick and my mother did not have a happy childhood.”

As the war intensified, Frederick made one last, determined effort to bond with Karl. He knew his pursuit of art alienated him from his father, and although he wasn’t going to give it up, he decided that he could also be a strong German man if that was what it took to have a relationship with his dad. He would fight just like everyone else and make the same sacrifices that every young soldier was making. Nationalism wasn’t in his heart, but he loved his father and wanted him in his life, and so he knew he’d have to do something drastic that exhibited boldness, courage, and strength in order to change Karl’s low opinion of him. When he was drafted, Frederick made a decision so uncharacteristic that it was hard to believe: he announced he was joining the Luftwaffe to be a paratrooper. What better way to impress his uncommunicative father than to sign up for an extremely dangerous division of the military?

Frederick wanted his father to see that he was a real man capable of taking risks and confronting danger and death. His desire to join one of the most suicidal sectors of the German air force didn’t change one aspect of his strained relationship with Karl, however. To think he could suddenly reinvent himself in his father’s eyes turned out to be wishful thinking. Karl’s lack of acknowledgment must have been a devastating blow to Frederick. He was willing to risk his life not for Hitler or Germany but for his father’s elusive approval. And it meant absolutely nothing to Karl.

Margarete, on the other hand, was proud of Frederick. She, more than any other member of the family, was the most vocal nationalist who believed strongly in Germany’s empire. That her son was fighting for their country was an honorable thing.

Yet being in Hitler’s army was the last thing Frederick wanted for himself, especially knowing his father didn’t care. He had no choice but to fight, of course, as imprisonment or death would be the only option if he refused to participate in Germany’s military pursuit of world dominance. His heart would never embrace Hitler’s carnage, which meant he would never identify as a Nazi. He was simply doing his mandatory duty.