Amitai Etzioni was born Werner Falk in Cologne, Germany in 1929 to a Jewish family. In January 1933, Etzioni was only four years old when the car he was riding in made a sharp turn and, in response, he grabbed a handle that opened the door. Etzioni was pulled back into the car at the last moment by his father, but, as noted in his memoir, "My Brother’s Keeper", this memory foreshadowed the upcoming doom that would overtake his homeland during the Nazi rule. Later in 1933, Etzioni and his grandparents were walking through the forest next to Frankfurt when they came upon a forest fire. Suddenly, Hitler Youth ventured into the forest, riding in two trucks. Etzioni's grandparents reacted by grabbing Amitai and rushing down the hill, without explaining what happened in this close encounter with the Nazis — feeding into his sense of fear and foreboding.