A Long Silence: Memories of a German Refugee Child, 1941-1958

In her first book, De Werth Neu, a retired therapist born in "Berlin, Nazi Germany" at the start of WWII, recounts her nightmarish experiences as a refugee child from her native land. Forced from home as part of Hitler’s efforts to strengthen the Eastern front, de Werth Neu, along with her mother and two sisters, endured countless relocations, assault and rape by Russian soldiers, never-ending hunger, and a horrific train ride during which babies died and toilet buckets overflowed into the crammed cars; "we were the lucky ones," she points out, "no one was trying to exterminate us." Such a sobering perspective is indicative of the author’s amazing sense of gratitude, which resurfaces each time she recalls moments of great happiness: receiving an unforgettably delicious apple from a farmer’s wife, having a tube of toothpaste all to herself, watching her mother dance. The constant back-and-forth between thrills such as these and the unimaginable suffering she endured has a bit of a wearying effect, but creates an engrossing account of the consequences of war and diplomacy for a single child. (Feb.)