CMU alumnus discusses his new book
Central Michigan University alumnus Kevin Hall hosted a book talk and Q&A about his new book "Terror Flyers: The Lynching of American airmen in Nazi Germany" on April 16.
Hall graduated from CMU with his Ph.D. in 2018, and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Ruhr-Universität-Bochum, located in Bochum, Germany.
"Terror Flyers," published in January 2021 through the University of Indiana, discusses the "lynch justice" (lynchjustiz) committed against American airmen in Nazi Germany during World War II.
To begin the presentation, Hall gave an example of the violence that occurred against American airmen.
"The most infamous act of violence committed against American airmen occurred in Russlsheim on August 26, 1944, when German civilians and political officials beat eight flyers, resulting in the death of six men," Hall said.
Hall's research suggests that at least 3,000 cases of lynchjstuiz occurred over the course of World War II against allied, mostly British and American, airmen.
During his presentation, Hall said he was proud to find pictures of allied airmen, which are rare because citizens were banned from taking pictures of enemy soldiers, and rarely seen propaganda images against airmen, like the one used for the cover of the book.
Nine times out of 10, when ally airmen, specifically pilots, were portrayed in propaganda, they were portrayed as being African-American, Hall said.
Hall also mentioned that he was able to meet with a woman who said she captured an airman by herself at age 16.
"According to her, she captured him all by herself, because she wanted to practice her English," Hall said. "She said that she turned him over to the local police after capturing him, and didn't know what happened afterward."
Hall said that after some investigation, he learned the man had died shortly after.
Terror Flyers is available for purchase on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble.
