More News

Armand Lakner could have written a compelling autobiography, but chose instead to make "From Mauthausen to the Moon" a work of fiction. The Holocaust survivor and former NASA scientist thought readers might not be interested in another personal account of the Holocaust.

In his first foray into fiction, the Potomac resident, who was 23 when American soldiers liberated him from the Mauthausen concentration camp, weaves a multifaceted tale of intrigue and survival. His protagonist Alfred Hammer is a Jewish scientist who is forced to help the Nazis develop the deadly VI and V2 rockets, which were used against the Allies. At the same time, he serves as a spy for the Allies. Like the author, he survives Mauthausen, then comes to the U.S. and works at NASA.

"There is very little fiction in the narrative of the book," admits Lakner, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1954. Still, he is careful to point out that he never actually spied for the Allies.

Hammer falls in love with Gertrud and unknowingly fathers a child.

"I feel that the love story is touching and emotional," Lakner says, citing it as an aspect of the book of which he is particularly proud.

The couple's son is born while Gertrud is a prisoner at Dachau and a female Nazi guard takes and raises him. Once Hammer makes it to the States, his mission is to find his son.

Hammer's life mirrors his creator's.

"It wasn't too difficult to write because it's based on actual stories and events that I have experienced in my life," he says.

In his long career as a space and nuclear scientist, Lakner did a good deal of technical writing, but this is his first work of fiction. He worked on the book for more than three years, and decided to self-publish with Xlibris. As such, he could have final say on content, cover design and marketing, he explains.

"I wanted to be the master of my work," he says.

At NASA, where Lakner worked for more than a decade, he assisted with the lunar landing program, designing a safer hatch for the Apollo command module after three astronauts burned to death during a 1967 training exercise.

Lakner sees his work as a scientist as a way to repay the American people for liberating him. He later went on to work for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and eventually started his own business.

Among his goals in writing the book was to shed light on the contributions so many people could have made to better mankind had they not perished in the Holocaust.

"I felt some of these people should be written up and mentioned so that their memories will not be forgotten," Lakner says.

"From Mauthausen to the Moon" can be purchased online at www.politics-prose.com or at www.xlibris.com. The author will read and sign copies of his books at 7 p.m. March 9 at the Potomac Library, 10101 Glenolden Drive. For a full list of reading events, visit www.armandlakner.com.