The Shirtmaker

In 1919, Hans Kretchmer loses his father to a tragic accident and immediately inherits his tailoring business, as well as one of his clients-Adolf Hitler. Hitler needs Hans Kretchmer-Hans has no hidden agendas and can be trusted with Nazi secrets. This becomes a blessing and a curse for Hans, as he needs the income to support his growing family and pull them through Germany's hard times. Hans struggles to distance himself from the Nazi regime, but gets pulled deeper into the inner circle of Hitler's henchmen and becomes his personal shirtmaker. Constantly plagued with the nightmare that he won't accomplish anything in his life, Hans struggles with living up to his father's expectations. He worries that his moral upbringing will keep him from addressing the ultimate question of faith and sacrifice-should he kill one man to save many? At the age of one hundred and two, Hans recounts his life and intimate secrets to his nurse and confidante, Charnelle, in a Baltimore, Maryland, convalescent home. Through diary entries and Hans's vivid storytelling, we get a real and graphic depiction of what life is like for one man and his family as they try to survive under the watchful eye of a madman.