This is the story of how two young Austrians met and fell in love at the start of the World War II. During the next five years they somehow managed to get married and even have children, despite the fact that the war was raging all around them.

My father was enlisted by the Nazis but never fought because his skills as a metal worker made him a valuable asset behind the lines, where he spent the war repairing damaged equipment. Although he was far from enemy fire, he soon discovered that the real danger to his life came from the people wearing the same uniform as him. Throughout the war he witnessed the Nazis’ extreme cruelty to both minorities, and even to their own people. On a number of occasions, he barely escaped being killed by them himself.

The story of how my parents managed to survive the many calamities that befell them is a tale that I’ve been carrying with me for over five decades. I finally felt that I had to share it so that their descendants would understand how brave and resourceful they had been, and how determined they were to give their children a better life.