Once We Were Family: In Nazi Germany

(Paperback)

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ONCE WE WERE FAMILY

(In Nazi Germany)

NOVEL

Berlin, 1935.
Thirteen-year-old Annalise belongs to a middle-class family of six children. Unaware of the evils of Nazism until it is too late, her parents struggle to keep the family together while facing daily threats of betrayal.
The father is a professor at the University of Berlin who watches all his Jewish comrades fired. Annalise loses her best friend and childhood crush. Her brother Hans is forced to join the Nazi Youth and prepare for combat. He will be destroyed by his actions in the war.
Annalise will be an assault victim of the Russian invasion of Berlin as she tries to save the children of her cousin who is raped and murdered by Russian soldiers. The two youngest children, twins, will be indoctrinated (from the age six to twelve) in the Nazi program. Father and Annalise will try to teach these children not to hate Jews, but the risk of being turned in is very high. The oldest son lands a job as a journeyman architect under a man close to Hitler, Albert Speer. The oldest daughter flirts with young men of the Gestapo exposing the family to further scrutiny. Mother, a dressmaker, is forced to sew for the wives of Nazi officers.
The atmosphere is thick with mistrust and loss. At the end of the war, the family is hopeful for a new beginning. Annalise will leave her childhood home to start over.
More tragedy will follow. Will she find love Will she find resolution from the sins of her past and start a new life

This is a story of hope in the face of evil, that asks the question of how people can function in a society that turns so barbaric. How does a society embrace a monster and then, cannot, or is unwilling to, fight for decency For Annalise, is there redemption after all

Author Bio

Nancy Graham graduated with a Political Science degree and a minor in Eastern European Studies from Portland State College. She received a Certificate of Completion in Fiction Writing from the University of California, Riverside. Once retired and her children raised, she pursued her love of writing and realpolitik to produce her first historical novel --- Once We Were Family. In her spare time, she raises Lhasa Apso puppies.