My mother, Elfriede, wrote down her memories of growing up in Germany during the Second World War. Her parents were just getting back on their feet after losing their savings and two brothers in the First World War. Then came the rise of Adolf Hitler, the end of free speech and the beginning of an adolescence marked by hunger, air raid sirens, quiet rebellion, and occupation by American and then Russian troops. After gaining permission to leave the Russian zone, Elfriede's family gradually rebuilt their lives in West Germany. A chance encounter on a bus tour in Bavaria changed the course of my mother's life. In 1953 she emigrated to the U.S. to marry my father.
Elfriede's story begins with a happy childhood in Nuremberg. Her mother came from a large family, and Elfriede enjoyed spending time with her maternal grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She adored her little sister, Edel, who was 6 years younger. During long walks on Sundays, Elfriede made up fairy tales to entertain her sister and pass the time. When my mother was 7 years old, her father was promoted in the Customs Service, which required them to move to northern Germany. The weather there was often foggy and damp, conditions that caused her mother's health to decline. After her father requested a medical transfer, the family moved to Thuringia.
My mother was 11 years old when World War II began in 1939. In her memoirs, my mother describes some of the horrors of war that she experienced first-hand. But rather than dwelling on the negative, her stories reveal things that any young girl would be concerned about: adjusting to new schools, hanging out with friends, dealing with bullies, her first love, how her family's love and support helped them survive, and giving up dreams without giving up on life. Beyond providing the unique historical experience of a German adolescent during World War II, the underlying message of this book is that you can't always change your circumstances, but you can choose to make the best of challenging situations.
In addition to my mother's narrative, which is largely factual and objective, this book contains poems that she wrote during this turbulent time, giving us insight into her emotions and her enduring connection with nature. Even when she was lonely and discouraged, she believed deep down that things would get better.
To orient the reader, I've created a timeline that juxtaposes events in Elfriede's life with political events. Each figure is both a preview of what is to come in the next chapters and a way to show how my mother's life events fit into the big picture.