The year 1938 is just ringing in, when Regina sees the
light of day. The readers of this book will experience the
war years from the perspective of the little girl. They
will participate in the life of a huge family, and share
their sorrows and joys.
Due to her mental illness, Rita, the elder sister, is pursued
by the Nazis. They want to hospitalize her in a "Sanatorium".
The family manages to get her through the war unharmed.
Nevertheless, everybody has to say goodbye to her.
The children live through bomb raids; they lose their play
mates, and have to witness how foreign workers are tortured.
The family - rooted in deep Christianity - never shuts out
the suffering of others. A Jesuit priest sacrifices his
life for his congregation. The children face the inferno
of whole nights of bombing, and they learn that in spite
of all the destruction, which surrounds them, "there
will always be another day". They risk their own and
their family's life by hiding an American pilot, whose plane
had been hit. The last fights are waging over Berlin, when
the family gets acquainted with the Russians.
You will experience the people of Berlin, who let not anything
get them down, how they endured the hunger and the cold,
how the rubble women cleared the city of debris and junk,
how rebuilding was started, coal theft, and the Blockade
of Berlin.
You will find out how Christmas and New Year's Eve were
celebrated in post war Berlin. You will witness what a care
package meant to the family, and the American clothes donation.
You will learn about the monetary union and the resistance
of the Allies against the Blockade by the Soviets.
You will encounter years that were brimming with happy and
sad personal experiences and stories by which that time
was marked. You will witness the adventures of those years
in a tortured, wounded city, which has now found her place
once again in world history.
