Hi,
Dr de Zayas just told me about this newly printed book available at
http://www.pictonpress.com
It may be of interst to some of our English speaking readers about what happened
to German women in the period 1944-50 in their own voices. I've just ordered a
copy. It part of the untold story of allied ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of WWII.
So far historians have simply ignored it. It needs to come out.
.
Fred
PS a recap:
VOICES OF LOSS AND COURAGE: German Women Recount Their Expulsion
From East Central Europe, 1944-1950. Compiled and edited by Brigitte U. Neary
and Holle Schneider-Ricks. Foreword by Alfred de Zayas. 256 pp, illustrations. 2002
#1997 $24.50.
"emotionally gripping oral narratives and provocative sociological analysis...
Readers will be astonished that such a heart-rending event has gone almost
unnoticed for over 50 years." - Alice Henderson, Disguished Professor Emerita,
University of South Carolina-Spartanburg.
"The accounts often make grim reading, telling of great suffering, fear, terror, but
also of marked heroism. Their accounts...deserve to become part of the important
literature on World War II and its consequences." - John Zeender, Professor
Emeritus of History, the Catholic University of America.
"This volume of testimonies from 60 and 70-year old German women forced to
leave their homes by the advancing Russians presents for the first time the tragedy
of mass internal displacement in the heart of Europe. We know the saga of the
Armenians in Turkey, of the Rwandans in Central Africa, of the Bosnians in the
former Yogoslavia; this volume adds the Western European dimension. This is not
a faceless account of mass migration but a highly personalized look at the lives of a
few women traumatized until today, some still afraid to be identified." Miriam
Cooke, Professor of Arabic, Duke University.
"a celebration of a community of German women whose voices and acts of courage
have gone unheard and whose experiences have long been overlooked. Informative
and written in an approachable style, this book is of interest to the wide-ranging
popular audience and of relevance to readers concerned with the study of gender,
history, ciommunications, and language." - Tamara M. Valentine, Professor of
Linguistics and of English, University of South Carolina.
In a shameful episode of ethnic cleansing at the end of World War II, the Allies
expelled some 14.5 million German civilians from their homelands - both German
citizens (Reichsdeutsche) living within Germany in the areas of East Prussia,
Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Silesia and ethnic Germans (Volkesdeutsche) whose
ancestors had lived for many centuries in areas outside the German borders - in
Czechoslovakia, the Baltic States and Romania. Over 2.1 million civilians died as a
result, an horrific total which should stain the conscience of us all
This book is a memorial to htose millions of civilians, and especially to the women,
who were punished cruelly and stigmatized because they were German. The
authors interviewed many women who were in the Vertreibung, and have included
here some thirty of their riveting interviews. For the first time, their voices are
heard, their torment shared, their stories told.
26 Warren St.
Beverly, NJ 08010
FredRump@earthlink.net
609-386-6846