Eleanor's story : an American girl in Hitler's Germany

This dramatic autobiography of Eleanor Ramrath Garner reveals the daily struggles of growing up as a young American caught in World War II Berlin.
During the Great Depression, when she is nine, Eleanor's family moves from her beloved America to Germany, where her father has been offered a good job. But war breaks out as her family is crossing the Atlantic, and they cannot return to the United States.
Eleanor tries to maintain her American identity as she feels herself pulled into the turbulent life roiling around her. She fervently hopes for an Allied victory, yet for years she must try to survive the Allied bombs shattering her neighborhood. Her family faces separations, bombings, hunger, the final fierce battle for Berlin, the Russian invasion, and the terrors of Soviet occupancy.
This compelling story immerses readers in the first-hand account of surviving World War II as a civilian. It's a story of trying to maintain stability, hope, and identity in a world of terror and contrasts, and it puts a very human face on the horrors of war, helping readers understand that each casualty of war is a person, not a number.

• Acknowledgments p. vii
• Prologue p. ix
• Maps p. xii
• 1 Stratford, September 1938-August 1939 p. 1
• 2 Changes, August 1939-September 1939 p. 17
• 3 Early Days in Berlin, Fall 1939-Spring 1940 p. 25
• 4 Hitler Youth and a Visit to Stolp, Spring 1940-Summer 1941 p. 40
• 5 Entrance into High School, Summer 1941-Winter 1941/42 p. 56
• 6 First Communion and Evacuation to Bansin, January 1942-Fall 1942 p. 71
• A Family Album, Part 1 p. 91
• 7 Childhood Lost, January 1943-March 1943 p. 95
• 8 A Special Birthday Present and Back to Stolp, Spring 1943-Fall 1943 p. 112
• 9 Move to Waldenburg, Winter 1943-Summer 1944 p. 129
• 10 Waldenburg, Late Summer 1944-Winter 1944/45 p. 145
• 11 A Dying Berlin and the Last Battle, January 1945-April 1945 p. 162
• 12 Life under the Russians, April 1945-May 1945 p. 178
• 13 Fifteen and I'm Going to Live, May 1945-Summer 1945 p. 192
• 14 Occupied Berlin, Summer 1945-Spring 1946 p. 209
• A Family Album, Part 2 p. 225
• 15 Return to America, Spring 1946-July 1946 p. 231
• 16 Home Is the Stranger, July 1946-December 1946 p. 248
• Epilogue p. 263
• Author's Note p. 265