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

After more than sixty years, the nightmarish sufferings of the many victims of Germany's Nazi regime have been documented extensively. Rarely, however, does one hear about the experiences of German children during World War II.

This haunting memoir tells the riveting story of one such German child who, like so many others, had no understanding of the chaos, brutality, and destruction of the war that wreaked havoc on a country and its people. Born in Berlin in 1941, Sabina de Werth Neu knew little during her earliest years except the hardships and fear of a war refugee. She and her two sisters and mother were often on the run and sometimes homeless in the bombed-out cities of wartime Germany.

After the war, Sabina wrapped herself in a cloak of deafening silence about her recent national and personal history, determined to forget the past. As a result, she spent much of her life wrestling with shame and bouts of crippling depression. Finally, after decades of silence she could no longer suppress the memories and began reconstructing her young life by writing down what had previously seemed unspeakable.

Sabina De Werth Neu, now an American citizen, is a freelance writer and retired therapist