Thursday afternoon, Pulitzer Prize nominated author Jack Sacco spoke at the Auburn Public Library. Sacco spoke to promote his book, "Where the Birds Never Sing."
Sacco, a native of Birmingham, has traveled around the world to endorse his book. He said he was invited to Vienna to speak in front of the royal family.
"Where the Birds Never Sing" tells the true story of an American liberator in World War II. The story told through the eyes of his father, Joe Sacco, who spent his time at the Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. Sacco served his country and is responsible for the freeing of Holocaust prisoners. Sacco said his friends encouraged him to write the book.
"I had some people over to dinner at my house one night, and on the way out one of them noticed a photograph of my father," Sacco said. "It was a photo of him from World War II."
Sacco's friends showed great curiosity in his father's story, which persuaded him to write the book.
"I had heard my father's stories and seen memoirs since I was young," Sacco said. "It was so normal to me; I just thought everyone's parents had experienced it."
It wasn't until Sacco's friends became interested that he realized how fascinating his father's story was.
Sacco said he wanted to make his story different from the other World War II stories. He wanted Holocaust museum visitors to be able to look at photographs and know the story behind the picture. So, he wrote a firsthand account, catching every emotion associated with the war.
"I wanted to show how my father changed while he was there," Sacco said.
To capture emotion for his readers, Sacco asked his father and his father's friends what it felt like to be in the war. He questioned what they thought, what it felt like to shoot people and when they ate and slept.
Sacco said when his father told stories about his experiences at Dachau, he would begin to tear up and cry.
"It was clear that what he saw there changed him," Sacco said.
Sacco's inspiration for the book title came from his father's stories at Dachau. Dachau was referred to as "a place where the birds never sing."
"My father told me, 'After what I saw there, I don't blame them,'" Sacco said.
Sacco's father died a few years ago, but his story will be carried on through the book.
"I felt greatness when I was in the room with my father and his friends," Sacco said. "They never bragged about what they did. They just said they did what they were asked to do."
Leslie Johnston, an Auburn resident, said she grew up in Birmingham and knew Sacco's family through her church. She said she read Sacco's book, "Where the Birds Never Sing" and enjoyed it.
"I liked that I got to know his family better," Johnston said. "My grandfather was in World War II, but he didn't talk about it. This was really my first time hearing stories."
Several attendees said they had not yet read Sacco's book, but plan to after listening to his speech.
"Where the Birds Never Sing" can be found in book stores and is available for online purchase.
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