Nina Willner

This book was a disappointment. It contains so much great material presented in such a dry piece of writing. There is an overall lack of focus, there is no sense of cohesion or progress. Throughout the book, there is this weird tone that seems to be in complete disconnect with the story it is trying to convey.

Clearly, the Cold War era was an incredibly difficult time for many German families that remained living in DDR. The entirety of the East German experience is fascinating, but it is show more not very well presented in this book. Many of the characters are overlooked and we never get to hear their point of view. This would've been solved by having another narrator, maybe to tell a parallel story from the other side of the Wall to juxtapose two different realities.

The perspective presented is Americanized and very politicized. At times this book reads as an anti-communist pamphlet, but not from the point of view of an East German, but with a distinct "Western flavour". There were also some statements such as the one about Americans unanimously supporting Reagan's doctrine that read as constructs to me. I won't even go into the overstated role of Americans in the events regarding the fall of communism, because this book was written with an American audience in mind.

At first, I didn't want to compare this with [b:Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall|226369|Stasiland Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall|Anna Funder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385280143l/226369._SY75_.jpg|219261], but I have to and could kick myself now for giving Stasiland only 3 stars, cause it is an infinitely more relevant and better-written book on the topic.

There was a famous survey by Berliner Zeitung in 2009 according to which more than half of former Eastern Germans miss DDR and their lives in communism. Surely, Wilner could've touched on the positives as well, but I guess it wouldn't fit well with her whole American spy working against the Evil Empire narrative.

Two stars. show less

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 show more 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”. show less

There are books that are great not because of how they are written, but because of the information they carry, the story they tell, or the truth they convey. Forty Autumns is just such a book, great because it tells a story that is heartbreaking and tragic, because it is true, and because it is a cautionary tale to those who have already forgotten the lessons of history.

Forty Autumns tells the story of a family divided when Hanna escapes to the west from East Germany just in time to escape show more the rise of the Berlin Wall. Over the next forty years, she and her family will have only scarce and limited contact, divided by the oppression of the East German communist government. Nina Willner is Hanna's daughter and becomes a US Army intelligence officer.

I was 12 when the wall came down, and the event was a landmark in my life. I grew up like many waiting for the day when the confrontation between superpowers, the United States and the USSR, would either lead to war or nuclear attack. Then, one day, it all ended, and I don't think anyone saw it coming. It's been over thirty years since the wall came down, and again autocratic forces are rising across the world, Europe is involved in a land war no one thought would ever happen again, and Germany has increased its military spending.

A whole generation has grown up not knowing what the Iron Curtain was, or how communist leaders oppressed their people, and how badly they wanted the freedom, prosperity, and rights that we seem to take for granted in the west. Willner's story--or stories, really, because it is two stories: one in the west and one in East Germany--shows that contrast in a way I've not seen quite so well demonstrated. Told with clarity and with a tension that kept me turning pages, I found it to be a stirring reminder of all that we have in America, and why liberty and freedom can be so fleeting when taken.

I will make my daughters read this book someday. Their generation will need this story more than mine, which is only being reminded of things we lived and saw in our own lifetime. My daughter's generation has never seen this, and if they are not careful history will repeat itself again. show less

This isn’t just another Holocaust book. The Boys in the Light is a story of horror in Nazi Germany and throughout Europe during WWII, but it’s also a human story about two teenage boys who heroically survived the Holocaust and escaped to freedom with the help of an American tanker company. A lifelong bond was formed the day the Americans found the emaciated boys, who were near death, along side the road. The boys, in turn saved the tank company soldiers’ lives by tipping them off to a show more certain ambush on that same road. Like all Holocaust books, The Boys in the Light is a tale of sadness, but it’s also a story of humanity at its best. Highly recommend. show less