July 15, 1942
Although I immediately recognized the old German competitor Sutterlin, I could not read it. In the first paragraph I noticed a date: July 15, 1942. Could this be a diary? An account of my father’s war years?
A mysterious notebook
That another mysterious notebook turns up alongside his memoirs in which Günther wrote down his war experiences is totally unexpected to everyone. Gabi hesitantly begins the job of organizing her father’s papers. Gradually she is drawn into her penetrating family history, connected to that of Europe, from after World War I.
War memories and historical background
Günther described them with precision and irony, knowing how to interpret his times well. He also provides an amusing glimpse into the lives of his quirky German relatives. The Nazis come to power during Günther’s childhood, and opinions at home and at school increasingly diverge.
Prepared for war
In 1942, now eighteen years old, he was prepared as a soldier in Bergen op Zoom and ended up on a minesweeper in St. Malo. A naïve young man with a head full of adventures, he soon experiences the raw reality of war.
Survival and Return
Narrowly surviving D-day and the Ardennes Offensive, he comes home from American captivity disillusioned. But his resilience is not broken. On the contrary. Thanks to his enterprise and survival instinct, he begins a future for himself and his offspring in the Netherlands.
A family that defied two dictatorships
This book shows a history of a German family, which defied two dictatorships, working its way through them with firm inner convictions.
Gabi de Ridder-Rose
Gabi de Ridder-Rose previously wrote three novels and a novella under the name Gabi de Ridder.
