The Right Side of Wrong: Renegades Against the Reich

In a world full of wrong, one family did all they could to survive and stay on the right side of humanity.

Amid the chaos of the first World War, a young German soldier, Adolf “Adi” Dindinger, stationed in Berlin and head of the Kaisergarde, falls in love with Tatjana Wiczewski, a Russian Jew living in Bialowieza. As the Bolsheviks burn Tatjana’s village, Adi and Tatjana flee to Poland, with forged German citizenship papers for Tatjana that disguise her Jewish heritage. Adi and Tatjana make a life in Poland, raising four children, while aware of the dangers for them both as tensions build between Germany and Poland.

When World War II breaks out, the children—now young adults and teenagers—have talents of value to the Reich. The young men are conscripted, the oldest daughter is a proficient chemical engineering student in Berlin, and the youngest daughter is a talented figure skater and pianist. As the war tightens its grip, the Dindingers face impossible choices: protect themselves or protect others; remain silent or risk everything. In a world where morality is distorted by power, even small acts of conscience carry deadly consequences.

Author Dr. Ruth Hillelson is the daughter of the youngest Dindinger sibling. In The Right Side of Wrong, Dr. Hillelson draws from inherited letters, official documents, and family testimony to reconstruct the story of her mother’s family and weaves a beautiful story of trials and triumphs that is both poignant and extremely relevant today.