FORTY AUTUMNS by Nina Willner

Forty Autumns is a family memoir tying together the members that lived in the east, how they managed in a changed communist totalitarian environment for forty years, with a daughter in the west.  Willner uses this family history as a lens to retell the story of the Cold War and the communist takeover in east Germany.  Many in the group felt it was a relevant read for the story of our lives but also a jumping off point for what is going on in the world today.  

The group was held at Annie's home even though the book was chosen by Libby.  Libby's house is being dismantled by two 18 month old twin toddlers, so Annie graciously offered her home.  It was a lovely calm afternoon, the beginnings of a snowstorm, with Joanie, Annie, Paige, Saran, Lucie, and Libby in attendance, and Marylib on FaceTime which worked out well, as she had some good things to say.  

Libby was mostly interested in how the members of the family coped in those times.  Oma used her garden to feed the family and keep her occupied in loving the earth.  Opa had the worst time conforming first to Nazism and then abruptly changing to the communist doctrine as a teacher.  And eventually he could not hold it inside and for his talking out, he and Oma were sent to a smaller village, and eventually he was sent away to an asylum.  The youngest Heidi held on to her five year old memory of meeting Hanna in Heidelberg to use as a light through the communist regime. Heidi and her husband Reinhard made their tiny plot of land their "freedom" with building the Paradise Bungalow.  And they never joined the communist party.

Joan mentioned that fear is a major way suppression can exist.  Opa later in life just lost his fear and was thus a threat to the regime.  Paige also mentioned that these type of regimes certainly tap into fear to do what they want with the people.  Annie felt that the people in East Germany lost trust in neighbors and even in family members, and to live that way, all must be paranoid.  

Marylib and Paige and Libby all had some experience being behind the Iron Curtain, Libby in the 60's and Paige in the 70's, and Marylib had family members that were effected by the Iron Curtain, but who were in so much disbelief when the "wall" fell and everyone was free to leave or travel!  Libby brought some old album pictures of East Berlin, including a notebook from a crumbling building that might have once been a school.

Saran marveled that without this book how would we have known what the people went through in East Germany, and to some in the eastern system it was a fine way of life.  Everything was taken care of, there were some opportunities.  And if you were a world class athlete such a Cordula, the world was easy.  All of the athletes could not believe it when the wall fell, and some had already defected in overseas competitions.

At the end we did talk roaming all over the world problems, which made us leave on a slightly depressing note. But I look back on Oma's quote:  "We have survived East Germany with our dignity intact.  This life has not always been easy, but it has not made us bend.  It has actually made us stronger.  And we are strong because our souls are free".  I am leaving now on a positive note!