“This compelling memoir of a German girl's bitter, frightening life reveals the horrors visited upon an average family caught between two of the cruelest dictators in history…. The small, poignant touches are riveting.” —Kirkus Discoveries
I think about what I want and what makes me happy, But orderly and quietly to myself. Because my thoughts tear down fortresses and walls, My thoughts are free. —German folk song, author unknown
“This compelling memoir of a German girl's bitter, frightening life reveals the horrors visited upon an average family caught between two of the cruelest dictators in history…. The small, poignant touches are riveting.” —Kirkus Discoveries
I think about what I want and what makes me happy,
But orderly and quietly to myself.
Because my thoughts tear down fortresses and walls,
My thoughts are free.
—German folk song, author unknown
The beautiful, safe, joyful places in young Tilli’s imagination were her only refuge from the bombing that tore through the sky above her during World War II. Her thoughts were her only freedom from Hitler’s Nazi tyranny, and they were her strength to survive after the war ended, when Russians invaded her tiny farming village in eastern Germany; forced her into months of hiding in a dark attic crawlspace; and took her innocence, her childhood, and nearly her life.
Tilli’s dreams—of a time when she could think and act freely, and travel, work, write, worship, and live however she wished—were what fueled the sixteen-year-old to courageously and single-handedly escape the terror of Stalin’s harsh Communist rule and create her own happy ending in a free America.
This true tale of sorrow and terror, hope and triumph, is Tilli’s story—but it’s also the story of the unthinkable suffering and untold bravery of countless innocent children who have lived through a war and its aftermath.
This compelling memoir of a German girl’s bitter, frightening life reveals the horrors visited upon an average family caught between two of the most cruel dictators in history.
Amidst the copious histories of Hitler and Stalin, historians have often neglected the horrific tales of innocent girls like Schulze, who early in World War II survived Nazi occupation, then was forced to hide in a secret attic for months at war’s end to escape sexual attacks from the invading rampa
Product Details
BN ID: 2940012664075
Publisher: Collier-Schulze
Publication date: 3/21/2011
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 287
Sales rank: 107,413
File size: 5 MB
Meet the Author
Tilli Schulze lives in northern Illinois with her family. She now is a proud U.S. citizen and hopes Americans never take their freedom for granted.
Lorna Collier is an award-winning journalist who has published widely in newspapers, magazines and websites.
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Overview
“This compelling memoir of a German girl's bitter, frightening life reveals the horrors visited upon an average family caught between two of the cruelest dictators in history…. The small, poignant touches are riveting.” —Kirkus DiscoveriesI think about what I want and what makes me happy,
But orderly and quietly to myself.
Because my thoughts tear down fortresses and walls,
My thoughts are free.
—German folk song, author unknown
The beautiful, ...