{"product_id":"my-thirty-third-year","title":"My Thirty-Third Year","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBy Gerhard A. Fittkau\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinter 1945:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ethe Soviet army sweeps through the village of Suess­enberg. After desecrating the church, pillaging the homes, raping and killing women and children, the Soviets deport the remaining people and their pastor, Fr. Fittkau, to the gulag in Siberia. The burden of \u003ci\u003eMy Thirty-Third Year\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of their unbounded suffering: the starvation and cold, the brutal toil, the specter of death, and the persistent temptation to despair. Throughout the ordeal, Fr. Fittkau maintains his priestly vocation, tending to the needs of his fellow prisoners, aided by his friends—the Protestant minister Theo, Fr. Kolfenbach, and Sr. Imelda. The ultimate source of sustenance, however, and source of the book’s enduring power, is “the fruits of God’s victorious grace…grown in the garden of Christ’s agony.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eI was not different in my wretched appearance, in my physical misery, in my struggle to stay alive, in my material helplessness than any prisoner in the camp. Yet my priesthood gave purpose to every day of my life and saved me from the pit of futility and despair… \u003c\/i\u003e(G\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eerhard A. Fittkau)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003eAs intense as it is inspiring, \u003ci\u003eMy Thirty-Third Year\u003c\/i\u003e is both an indictment of the human capacity for evil and a celebration of the human capacity to overcome evil with good and fear with faith. It is, without a doubt, a book that must endure.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\" class=\"p1\" data-mce-style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGerhard A. Fittkau\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e (1912–2004) was a German Catholic priest, theologian, and author. Ordained in 1937, he was exiled by the Nazis at the outset of World War II and then captured by the victorious Soviets at the end of the war and sent to the gulag in Siberia. After his release, he served the Church in a variety of positions, including pastor, professor, and director of the American St. Boniface Society. In 1982, Pope John Paul II awarded Fittkau with the title and privileges of a protonotary apostolic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback:\u003c\/strong\u003e 282pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 978-1952826948\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cluny Media","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53100032819567,"sku":"978-1952826948","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0970\/5337\/6879\/files\/ProductImages_5.5x8.5--531.jpg?v=1781124687","url":"https:\/\/www.heavenlychristiangifts.com\/products\/my-thirty-third-year","provider":"Heavenly Christian Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}