Hubert Keuter and his new book, "My Tainted Blood." SOLON — For many Sugarloaf regulars who skied between 1965 and 1975 the name Hubert Kueter should ring a familiar bell. During this time, Kueter was a ski instructor at Sugarloaf/USA. What fellow ski enthusiasts may not know about the man they raced down the sloops together with is that Kueter is a Holocaust survivor. Now they can read about his plight in his compelling book, "My Tainted Blood."

Too many people generally think that being a Holocaust survivor means surviving a death camp. One reason Kueter wrote the book is to broaden people's perspective. "It's important to me that people have an awareness of the fact that the Holocaust was not necessarily death in a gas chamber. Racial persecution had invaded every aspect of civilian life, we lived in the Holocaust," said Kueter. "We survived by finding a strength —the necessary resilience. And despite all of it, a joie de vivre was possible, if not imperative."

Kueter retired from Colby College as a professor of German in 2003 and set upon the task of writing his witty, humorous and serious account of survival. The insecure world of not knowing if one would live from one day to the next never overtook Kueter's resilience.

"Hubert Kueter's account of surviving WWII and its immediate aftermath in Germany as a half-Jewish youth is remarkable in its illustration of several elements of what some resilience scholars are calling 'ordinary magic.' In a style that at times reads like an adventure story, he is a precocious and unusually sensitive observer of himself and the people around him," wrote Ferdidnand Jones, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Brown University about the book.

"Hubert Kueter's accomplishment in this memoir is a unique literary triumph, but it is as well a vivid account of the strength of the human spirit."

Kueter said having a good sense of humor was essential and helped him survive the Holocaust. His humorous wit is still going strong.

"When I was shopping around for a permanent position in a college German department, I proceeded as any rational young man would: I took out a map of the eastern United States and circled all major ski areas. Then I circled colleges and universities near these. I remember visiting Whiteface, Jay Peak, Stowe and Sugarloaf. The German departments that I approached were New York State College at Plattsburgh, Middlebury, UMO, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby and a few others," he said. "When I went for interviews, it was March, so I naturally I took my skis. After I had skied the Sluce and Upper Winter's Way several times, there was no question in my mind that Sugarloaf was the mountain for me. Luckily for me, Colby thought that I was the man for them."

Kueter learned to ski before WWII and skied with a major character, which he fell in love with in his book, after the war. In My Tainted Blood he saves her life and others with him on a mountain in Switzerland with survival techniques that he employed during the war.

Kueter's love for skiing has only strengthened over time, with his love for Sugarloaf.

"In 1965 I came to Sugarloaf with some instructing experience and an associate instructor's certification from Colorado behind me and was thrilled to be positively greeted by Werner Rothbacher, director of the Sugarloaf Ski School. I did this for a number of years, loving every minute. During that time I was fully certified. I also had the opportunity to ski in the Alps a few times. I always proudly wore my Sugarloaf Ski School parka, so I would get free lift tickets in Germany, Austria and Germany," Kueter said.

Sugarloaf proved special to Kueter for a number of reasons. "What I missed in the Alps, compared to Sugarloaf, were not the howling winds, the 30-below temperatures, frequent frost-bitten cheeks, and icy trails, but the long, very steep runs of Sugarloaf. Even world cup areas like Kitzbühel and Sankt Anton were disappointing in this respect," said the author.

Having skied for 10 years for Sugarloaf, Kueter saw many friends come and go. "After a few years Werner retired and was replaced by Harry Baxter. I missed the Austrian dialect conversations and the yodeling, but I enjoyed the company of Harry and his wife, Martha, and spent many nights in their home on the mountain," he said. "Those were good times."

Then Colby lost its ski coach and Kueter was asked to step in. "They thought I was the ideal person to fill the gap, not that I had any experience in ski racing. I discovered that setting courses and keeping times and records at zero temperatures was not my thing," he said shivering at the memory. "After two seasons I called it quits. By that time I had reached an age where I felt kind of out of place lining up at the ski school meeting place."

But Sugarloaf had gotten into his blood and he couldn't stay away from the slopes.

"I still came up a lot, waiting anxiously for the day when, at age 65, I would be able to ski for free. But when that day came they had changed the age limit to merely certain reduction. 'No, not yet, but at 70 you'll ski for free,' I was told. Recently, at 77, I was told, 'At 80 you'll ski for free.' All I could say in response was to ask if I could have that in writing."

Being at home in nature saw Kueter through life and death situations described in his book. He continues to be at home at Sugarloaf and he'll never give up a chance to be on the slopes.

"One day, near the end of my ski school career, we instructors were lined up at the ski school meeting place, and a young apprentice instructor kept on staring at me, looking me over, rather critically. I finally turned to him and asked him 'what?' somewhat louder than necessary. 'Well,' he said, and I could tell that he had just been waiting to be asked, 'aren't you getting a bit old for being a ski bum?'"

"My Tainted Blood," is Kueter's story, compelling, emotional and surprising. It's a lesson in how the human spirit endures. It's a historic document of a time and society that shared similarities to America. Above all it's a real account of a period in history we never should forget for as Kueter said, "It must never happen again."

Kueter is available for book signings or school talks. The book is available at all major booksellers, or from Polar Bear and Company, the Solon publisher, directly for $16.95. www.polarbearandco.com.