A Witness to a Century

About the Book

A Witness to a Century: A Memoir views a large swatch of the twentieth century through the spectacles of Dietrich A. Alsberg. Born in Germany during World War I and raised in a Lutheran home, he became a refugee from the Nazis in 1938 because of his Jewish heritage. Once he engineered his escape from the Third Reich, he emigrated to the United States and served in the U.S. Army. After the war, he began a long and successful career as an electrical engineer working for Bell Laboratories, making numerous contributions to technological developments in communications and defense and receiving multiple patents for his innovations. Organized as a chronological history, A Witness to a Century entwines the author’s recollections of his personal experiences, the recounting of the sweep of historical events, and explanations of the author’s technical achievements and their relationships to developments in the fields of communications and weapons systems. Chapters treat topics as varied as the author’s early childhood, the Third Reich, electromagnetic nuclear weapons effects, and his retirement years. In your reading of history, you may find yourself drawn into stories that personalize the great tidal movements of history and that present familiar narratives from distinct and fresh perspectives. If you do, then A Witness to a Century: A Memoir will satisfy your curiosity to learn both about one man’s life and about the give-and-take between an individual’s perseverance and history’s great challenges.

About the Author

Dietrich A. Alsberg, born in Germany in 1917 and raised a Christian, became a refugee from the Third Reich because of his Jewish ancestry. Escaping from the Nazis in 1938, he then served in the U.S. Army. He worked for Bell Laboratories, started a family, and contributed to America’s civic life.