Eddie Hellmuth Willner (August 15, 1926 – March 30, 2008) was a German Jew, a US Army major, and a survivor of the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps whose World War II experiences are the subject of an upcoming book The Boys in the Light.

Willner, his mother and his father, a veteran of the German Army from World War I and recipient of the Iron Cross, fled Germany in 1939 due to the worsening situation for the Jews.

Following the German occupation of France, they were arrested and transported from Drancy internment camp near Paris to Auschwitz.

[6] After the war, Willner immigrated to the United States and dedicated his life to service to the country that liberated him.

Eddie's story will be told in an upcoming book titled, The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary WWII Story of Survival, Faith and Brotherhood, by Nina Willner, (his daughter and author of Forty Autumns) which will be published in July 2025 (Penguin Random House (Dutton)).