Customer Reviews

Barefoot in the Rubble

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A family is awakened in the middle of the night as strangers with guns and knives burst into their home. The Father is not there to comfort them, he has been taken away and shipped off to Russia. The Mother is alone with her children. The strangers make demands in a foreign language and indicate they are forcibly taking the family away from their home. The family is terrified and they have no choice but to obey, leaving all of their possessions behind.

And so begins this shocking story of concentration camps, starvation and death - all taking place as World War II was ending - and when these atrocities were supposed to have ended. It's the story of the Expulsion, a period of time after WWII when Tito came to power in the then country of Yugoslavia, and proceeded to kill over half a million* Danube Swabians (ethnic Germans). Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans were killed by Tito's forces and thousands of others were locked in concentration camps and starved. Their only crime? They were German.

This story is told through the eyes of a child. The author, Elizabeth Walters, was only 4 years old when these events began. After 3 years, her family eventually escaped the camps and they walked by foot across Hungary and halfway across Austria. They scaled a mountain range to reach safety in the American Zone.

Most of the Western Media, and even our history books have neglected this horrific time in history, and some officials even deny that the action against Yugoslavian citizens of German nationality ever took place.

That's why the book, Barefoot in the Rubble, by Elizabeth Walters is so important. She dares to speak the truth about a period of history that remains largely unknown. Ethnic Cleansing is not limited to one country, or one time period in history. For centuries this has been going on and continues even to this day. This is a story that must be heard.

Source: *"Nemesis at Potsdam" - Alfred M. de Zayas

Ms. Walter's memoirs of growing up in post war Europe is an excellent addition to anyone's library that focuses on the incredible history of WWII. Written from a child's perspective, it serves to remind us that there are always many more who suffer from the actions of our leaders, and continue to live the trauma of memory and the difficulties in resolving the whys and hows of experience. For anyone who would like to dismiss the subject of this book based on the German ethnicity of the author, I would suggest some research into the history of Yugoslavia and the current events of this dismantled country and think again about our perpetual need to label others according to their religion, ethnicity, language and skin color. Ms. Walter offers an empathetic hand to all victims of group identity and particularly to the children who always suffer the retributions doled out to the adults.

Elizabeth Walter has done a great service to all Germans imprisoned...and often murdered...in Tito-era Yugoslavian concentration camps by writing this memoir. Too many Donauschwaben Germans still living today who experienced being evicted from their homes, their liberties taken from them during post-World War II Yugoslavia just because of their ethnic heritage, will come to tears when asked about what life was like at that time. Most of them understandably just do not have the willingness to recount in detail and at length what had happened to them during that part of their lifetime. For all those who doubt the accounts of their German relatives who lived in Yugoslavia (as well as Hungary) at that time, Elizabeth Walter is among the few who has finally offered a detailed, written memoir so that this part of history will not be completely forgotten. The content provided on the back cover of the hard cover version of this work grabbed me and did not let me go until I finished reading it: "This is not true!" reads the back cover. "The red words written across my essay burned into my heart. I had followed the assignment, I had written about a true life experience, but my high school English teacher, Miss Shay, didn't believe me. I put my essay in my notebook and wrote not another word until years later. As I grew older and watched my children grow up to young adulthood, I felt a need deep within me to let the world know how we were torn out of Yugoslavia as a people." Although the writing of this memoir is a bit amateurish, and not the page-turner that other similar-genred books are such as German Boy, this account of a young girl - whose ancestors, along with thousands of other Germans, were given free land in Yugoslavia along the Danube river during the seventeenth century to develop the area, only to be persecuted solely for their German blood during the mid-twentieth century (although against and not in any way affliated with the political structure of Germany at that time) - is a rare find.

My grandmother is the kindest lady as most of them are and she was also a German refugee taken into a concentration camp by the Russians during WWII. Growing up I never quite understood how my grandmother was in a concentration camp since she and we are not Jewish. Until I listened to her story a few weeks ago, at the age of 22 and about to graduate from college, I had no clue about Germans who had nothing to do with the war that were treated so horribly and punished for crimes they did not know existed let alone had any control over. How could one fight for the Jews to stop being persecuted and then persecute others! How hypocritical and inhumane. It makes me sick but I felt as though I needed to read this book because my grandmother said Elizabeth Walter's story is similar to her own and my grandmother does not want to have to tell the gruesome details to me and my family. I hope eyes are opened by this book but I hope that people are not too disgusted like I'm afraid I have been. It makes me extrememly appreciative of all that I have!

If you're exploring your family history - if you're interested in what really happened after the war - this book is a must read! It touched my heart and made me realize what my ancestors went through. . .

This book describes the atrocities ethnic Germans endured in Yugoslavia during the Marshall Tito regime from 1944 - 1948. Adults and children were put into concentration camps, just because of their ethnicity. Told through the eyes of Elizabeth Walter, who lived through the ordeal as a child, it tells of the courage and will to survive. This is a story that should be read by adults and children to learn about a part of history that has never been discussed. My prayers go out to those who died during the "ethnic cleansing" in Yugoslavia and my heart goes out to Elizabeth Walter for having the courage to share her story.

An excellent telling of a horrible thing. Ms. Walter, an excellent accounting. Thank you. You have helped me see what family members went through.

Elizabeth Walter has recalled her ordeals in Tito's concentration camps with a child's eye, but a woman's heart. She has been able to inform and yet tug at your heartstrings while she and her mother and brother hungered, fear for their life, endured illness and finally escaped into a safer place in Germany. The journey there was dangerous and hard, yet they made it and thankfully found her father who returned from a Russian labor camp. It's a must read, if you are interested in how the ethnic Germans lived and died during the 1940's.
It's history and it's a memoir of a special girl.

Katherine Flotz, Author
A Pebble in my Shoe

The book was really a story in survival and how the family made it through all the hardships. Very inspiring.

Ms Walter has written an uplifting and compelling book about ethnic Germans in WWII Yugoslavia. I bought the book because my father was a refugee to America from post WWII Germany. I wanted to support anyone who helped to tell the true story of the average German during the war. I did not expect to be so engrossed by a story written with such expert craftmanship that is also moving and compassionate of the human condition on several war fronts. Walter is a gifted story teller with just the right rhythm and emotional nuance.

The book is an inspirational account of the triumph of the human spirit during the final year of WWII and afterwards in the refugee/slave labor camps. Walter tells the story through the eyes of a child, but we are able to enter the lives of those close to her. The description of her mother collapsing as they reach Austria is very powerful. The book is compelling because it forces us to consider both sides of human nature, the good and evil in everyone. I recommend this book highly; I found it hard to put down and will lend it to many of my friends. I think a condensed version should be made available to all school children. My only criticism is that the forward by C. Barber should be removed. It is inappropriate and out of context.