JANUARY 1944: In the newspaper there are pictures of the bomb attacks on Berlin, where my father has been transferred to. I have just learned to read and try to decipher the headlines.

FEBRUARY 1944: I experience a low-level British air attack on our train travelling from Berlin to Goslar. I see dead and badly wounded children. I pray: "Dear God, let us live!"

MARCH 1944: Three heavy air attacks destroy Frankfurt and with it our home. My parents lose everything for a second time. They both only survive the war by a few years.

SEPTEMBER 1944: I start primary school. My teacher seems like the Archangel Gabriel to me. Even so I don't understand the connection between words and pictures in our first reading book and when I try to add up in my head I have my first blackout.