This is a love story, an adventure and a memoir. The events take place in the early 60's, at the height of the Cold War in a Germany divided by the Iron Curtain into East and West. Berlin, situated behind the Iron Curtain, divided into 4 sectors: American, British, French and Russian is the listening post for the political and ideological powers of both West and East. The relentless struggle for power culminates in the construction of the Berlin Wall. The Wall is down. It is time to tell stories that could not be told till now. Stories about children from behind the Iron Curtain separated from their parents to keep those parents from fleeing to freedom in the West. Stories about parents who did flee and the young people who risked their lives to go behind the Iron Curtain and bring their children home. A story about a young man and a young woman who met; fell in love; and never knew each other's real names. The story of a girl barely out of her teens who brought 400 children from behind the Iron Curtain to the West. Some of these journeys took a few days. Some took weeks of shepherding the children from one safe house to another along a 20th Century Underground Railroad . . . scrounging for food and supplies---avoiding discovery along the way. This is also the story of a woman going back to her homeland for the first time after 45 years to revisit the places where all this happened. Maria brings it to life for us . . . the history, the danger, the deep caring. We get to see how these events shaped her life's work with children at risk.
This is a love story, an adventure and a memoir. The events take place in the early 60's, at the height of the Cold War in a Germany divided by the Iron Curtain into East and West. Berlin, situated behind the Iron Curtain, divided into 4 sectors: American, British, French and Russian is the listening post for the political and ideological powers of both West and East. The relentless struggle for power culminates in the construction of the Berlin Wall. The Wall is down. It is time to tell stories that could not be told till now. Stories about children from behind the Iron Curtain separated from their parents to keep those parents from fleeing to freedom in the West. Stories about parents who did flee and the young people who risked their lives to go behind the Iron Curtain and bring their children home. A story about a young man and a young woman who met; fell in love; and never knew each other's real names. The story of a girl barely out of her teens who brought 400 children from behind the Iron Curtain to the West. Some of these journeys took a few days. Some took weeks of shepherding the children from one safe house to another along a 20th Century Underground Railroad . . . scrounging for food and supplies---avoiding discovery along the way. This is also the story of a woman going back to her homeland for the first time after 45 years to revisit the places where all this happened. Maria brings it to life for us . . . the history, the danger, the deep caring. We get to see how these events shaped her life's work with children at risk.
