Hour of the Women: A Young Mother's Fight to Survive at the Close of World War II

This oral memoir, written by the narrator's brother, offers a young woman's view of life in eastern Germany from 1944 to 1947. Libussa von Krockow, a member of the old German aristocracy, had to fight not only to save her family and newborn child from the invading Soviets and later the Poles but also against traditional Prussian male domination. When she and her parents abandoned their ancestral home to escape the invading Soviets, her stepfather's initial reaction was to kill himself and his family. Libussa refused to submit to his will, and her course changed her role as a traditional woman. She kept the family alive by stealing, by rescuing her stepfather from a Polish jail, and by leading the family on a harrowing trip to the West. With her husband dead, she defied her stepfather and sought employment with the Allies.