My book club really enjoyed this book. It gives a rare look into life inside East Germany and contrasts it with life in the West. The personal account is moving while also giving great detail about the history of post WWII Germany and the Cold War years.

I absolutely LOVED this book. The author's writing is superb. She intersperses the story of her family and the events going on at the time in Germany and throughout the region. The book also contains several black and white photos and several pages of color photos in the middle. Ms. Willner kept me on edge all through the book as I rapidly read to learn the fate of the remainder of her family. I was horrified at what went on behind the Berlin Wall and amazed at how the people kept going day after day. It was so well written I often forgot I was reading about a real family.

Nina's mother was the oldest daughter and the only family member to escape from East Germany. Years would go by with an occasional letter arriving at its intended destination. East Berliners were totally shielded from news of the West. Anyone interested in history should definitely read this book.

Forty Autumns, Nina Willner, author; Cassandra Campbell, narrator
Nina Willner has done a masterful job of bringing, not only the plight of her own family to life, behind The Iron Curtain, but also the history of the decades of The Cold War. What could have been written drily, almost as a text, was instead written with so much compassion, as it presents the facts, that it reads smoothly, almost like a novel. From the moment I met Oma and Opa, I was captivated, but then, I am also called Oma.
After WWII ended, with her husband and son still not home from the front, Oma, pregnant with her seventh child as Russia invaded their space, replacing the Americans, feared for her daughter Hanna’s safety. Thus, Hanna’s first escape from East Germany was initiated by her mother, before the American soldiers left. Oma knew that the Russians had a reputation for looting and raping the women. She tried to save Hanna from such a fate, but Hanna did not want to leave her mother; although safe with American soldiers, she resisted and returned home, foiling her mother’s plan to save her. After that, it was impossible for the family to support Hanna’s effort to escape again, without facing punishment. They actually had to actively thwart her attempts.
As the Soviet Union’s stranglehold tightened, Hanna regretted her return home and renewed her own effort to escape. Just a teenager, she engaged the help of an uncle to try to escape from East Germany. Unsuccessful attempts led to the third, which was the charm. She escaped, but unfortunately, it caused repercussions for her family. They now had a mark against their name and were watched and prevented from rising from their low station in life. They were a risk to the Soviet Union’s efforts to brainwash the people. Hanna, however, found freedom, love, a family, and eventually a life in America, but the life of her family in East Germany was the opposite. It was one of deprivation and fear, as they were constantly under the watchful eye of someone. Defiance was impossible. Those who tried it suffered the consequences.
Boundaries were firm, rules were strict, threats against those who resisted proliferated. Although the Soviets said they came in peace, it was not their intention. They came to establish control over the population. Their food and property were confiscated. They were constantly harassed and observed to see if they broke any rules. Everyone was encouraged to turn in traitors who did not support the Communist regime. Schools indoctrinated the students with propaganda, making them think that the West was evil. They had no way to know otherwise, to see how the others lived, until decades later. One could not help feeling pain and concern for the plight of those trapped behind the iron curtain, but also relief that Hanna had the courage to run, and succeeded, so that this story could finally be told; the onion is peeled back, layer upon layer, so that the reader experiences the slow loss of their independence and rights, their imprisonment behind a wall that separated friends and families for decades. Slowly, though, the Germans acquiesced to Soviet rule. In order to survive, they began to support the Soviets, began to work for them and spout their doctrine, teaching it in their schools and supporting the government’s effort to make them good communists, in much the same way they supported Hitler. I had some conflicted feelings as I read about their humiliation and captivity. I am, as a Jew, perhaps more aware of the humiliation and worse, that the Germans had inflicted on so many millions of innocent victims, as many Germans proclaimed their ignorance of events, even though the vast majority supported Hitler.
As life goes on for the family, the reader sees two parallel lifelines, one in Germany as the family becomes involved in communist life, some of them more than others, as they grow more and more disappointed with their treatment, but find ways to thrive, as they support their government, enter their armed service, even one, Cordula, competing in the Olympics for East Germany, and then, miraculously for the once again unified Germany. The other is their counterpart in America, the author and her family who are doing the same. From captive to joining the armed forces, from freedom fighter to spy, Hanna, Eddie and Tina rise above and beyond their own expectations. I had always found it difficult to understand how so many people could willingly be trapped behind an invisible wall, which soon became a real one. I had found it hard to understand how anyone could possibly support such an autocratic regime without mounting a strong resistance, but then there surely was the fatigue of war to hold them back and the hope that things would get better. The author has made it clear that they had no choice because of the threats and punishments actually carried out when someone betrayed this new government’s rules. A generation of children were brainwashed to become Communists, yet still, some defied the government, risked their lives and rebelled. Some lucky ones escaped, some less lucky, did not. Many died trying to escape to free countries. This book enlightens the reader about how important freedom is, especially once you lose it. Opa, who had fought in both major wars for Germany, in typical Germanic fashion, demanded obedience and respect for their conquerors. He hoped in that way to keep his family safe. Instead he imprisoned them, only to realize too late, if at all.
It is important to have a print copy also, if you are listening to an audio of this book, because although the narrator is very good, the author has thoughtfully provided a map showing the area of the Iron Curtain, East and West Berlin and a family and historical chronology which is very helpful. It kept me on track and thoroughly engaged even with the extensive amount of information offered. The amount of work that the author put into this extraordinary memoir is outstanding. She has presented a coherent picture of what took place after WWII ended, right up to and beyond the fall of the wall, following her family’s current situation.
The agreement that gave the Soviet Union so much control. as part of the spoils of war, condemned millions to live under an autocratic government, the likes of which had just been defeated. After such a war, it was hard to believe that so little was learned about human rights by so many. Perhaps this book should be required reading. If we don’t learn from history, we will be doomed to repeat it. One can’t help but wonder how FDR gave so much to the Soviet Union, allowing them to unleash such an evil influence upon so many. One can’t help but be grateful for President Reagan’s effort to “tear down that wall”.