Voices of loss and courage

At the conclusion 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 (Volksdeutsche), whose ancestors had lived for many centuries in areas outside the German borders, in Czechoslovakia, the Baltic States and Memeland, Danzig, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Romania. This forced Vertreibung or expulsion represents the largest mass migration of modern times. Astoundingly, it has received minimal attention in history books, and has been relegated to a footnote of history. This book is a memorial to those millions of civilians, and especially to the women, who were stigmatized because they were German. The authors interviewed many women who were in the Vertreibung, and have included here some thirty of their interviews.