Written by Steffie Steinke
306 pages
Published by Inkwater Press
Review by Brenda M. Marsh
The subtitle of this book is “A Memoir of Growing Up in Wartime Germany,” and that is what makes Steinke’s book fascinating. Though she had a difficult upbringing with her mother, Steinke became close with her foster mother, Frau Pech, and that unconditional love guided her through her life. Born in 1936, a time of great change in Germany, Steinke witnessed many wartime atrocities, primarily at the hands of the Russian occupiers. This is a part of the World War II story that is not often shared. Another part of the story that Steinke shares, having witnessed it first hand, is the violence taken out on innocent German civilians as revenge for the actions of the Nazis. It is a good thing that Steinke decided to tell her story. The more people who bear witness to such acts, the more we can ensure they will not happen again.
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Brenda M. Marsh lives in San Francisco, California where she is working on publishing her first short story collection. She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs.
