Flight of Remembrance by Marina Dutzmann Kirsch
Now an Award-Winning Finalist in the Non-Fiction: Narrative category of The 2012 USA Best Book Awards, sponsored by USA Book News. Obtain a free 40-page excerpt on www.kirschstonebooks.com. Against the backdrop of World War II tragedy and devastation in Latvia, Poland and Germany and three decades of European history, this true narrative provides a window…
Now an Award-Winning Finalist in the Non-Fiction: Narrative category of The 2012 USA Best Book Awards, sponsored by USA Book News. Obtain a free 40-page excerpt on www.kirschstonebooks.com. Against the backdrop of World War II tragedy and devastation in Latvia, Poland and Germany and three decades of European history, this true narrative provides a window into the palpitating heart of wartime upheaval through the lives of Rolf Dutzmann and Lilo Wassull—two people fatefully positioned “on the other side.” In December of 1939, swept along on a tide of dire necessity and circumstance due to the imminent Soviet takeover of his homeland, Rolf, a young Latvian aeronautical engineering student, flees with his family to Germany, a country fully under Hitler’s control and already engaged in a brutal war. While the account chronicles Rolf’s pursuit of his technical dream against daunting wartime odds, it is first and foremost a poignant love story that plays out against a panorama of worldwide chaos and destruction. It is also a story of the seen and unseen forces that coalesce to keep Rolf and Lilo alive after they meet in 1940 Berlin, leading them through a chain of cataclysmic events including Rolf’s draft into the Luftwaffe and his father’s assignment as chief inspector of V-2 rocket production; the bombing of Berlin; the destruction of their homes; their numerous desperate, cross-country escapes from the bombing, the advancing Soviet troops from the east, and other Allied forces from the west; the POW camp hardships; and the deprivation of the postwar years. Despite the immeasurable evil, suffering and desolation of World War II, a synchronistic chain of events provides an uplifting reminder that love and hope may take wing even out of the ashes of life’s most terrifying adversities.
“Inspiration for Others”
Five Star Review on Amazon By Martha J Pritchard
Working on my own mother’s memoir of war-torn Germany, I’ve spent the past two years reading everything I could get my hands on that might help me develop a solid historical perspective of the common folk who lived and loved through the nightmare that was Adolph Hitler’s legacy. Much has been written about the unforgivable fate of the Jewish populace. Soldiers have documented their personal sagas, historians have examined the mindset and decisions of leaders on both sides. It’s refreshing to hear from another who did not suffer the first-hand deprivations of war, but whose life is irrevocably linked to the experiences of her parents and grandparents. My own life reflects my mother’s courage, optimism, inginuity, music, and love. But most of all my brothers and sisters and I are the product of a mother who lived through starvation and who cried when we kids wasted food of any sort. (She ate the fat off our meat and felt herself blessed. One steak in our home fed eight of us.) Marina Dutsmann Kirsch presents the big picture of the development of the V2 rocket while not neglecting such childhood memories as the children’s book, “Der Struwwelpeter” which her parents, grandparents, and she had in common with mine and with me. EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS TIME IN WORLD HISTORY. THIS BOOK IS AN EXCELLENT PLACE TO BEGIN!
About the Author
Kirschstone Books is a small publisher dedicated to producing inspirational narrative non-fiction about people facing difficult, and even life-threatening circumstances, that propel them to make decisions with life-altering and potentially unexpected consequences. While firmly anchored in the geographic and historic settings that provide the general backdrop against which the stories unfold, the narratives also abound with emotional, psychological, spiritual and factual details of a profoundly personal nature. The challenging situations encountered in these true narratives provide sobering reminders of what life may have in store for people with an entirely different agenda in mind. Due to the protagonists’ ability to maintain a strong faith and a positive vision as well as other reasons that remain unfathomable, they manage to transcend the difficulties they face despite overwhelming odds. At Kirschstone Books, hope, faith, creativity and optimism are primary themes in the books that we are inspired to publish.