Mutti is born February 2, 1922 and, along with her older sister Lisbeth, lives with her parents, Paul and Anna Zeh, in Neisse, Germany. Her grandmother, Grusla, lives with them also. During Mutti’s early growing up years, Germany suffers severe economic problems however Neisse lies in rich farm country so they never go hungry. In the 1930’s after Hitler becomes Chancellor the economy recovers dramatically. But life in Neisse remains pretty much unchanged except for an army garrison that is established there. Neisse is predominantly a Catholic town and Mutti is raised as a Catholic.

Mutti’s father, an electrician and general handyman, does odd jobs when he can find work. He is injured in a coal mine cave in, for which he receives a small compensation. This helps them afford the materials to build a new house. Mutti and Lisbeth help mix the sand, lime, cement and water to make the concrete blocks. They move into the new house in 1933. It is a modest two-story house near the edge of town. The family grows much of it’s own food. In addition to a large vegetable garden they raise chickens, geese, pigs and goats.

As a teenager, Mutti has the job of leading the female goats to be bred. She hates this because it takes her past the army garrison where the soldiers whistle and make fun of her. She laughs today as she tells how it was always easy to lead the female to the ram, and then how she had to drag the reluctant female home.

She goes to the army garrison twice a week to get the hard bread scraps to feed the geese, chickens and pigs. The soldier who saves the scraps for her teaches her to play chess.

Mutti and Lisbeth squabble a lot. One day Mutti takes Lisbeth’s bicycle and skips school with a girlfriend. When she comes home her mother wants to punish Mutti. But Anna’s arm is hurting so she hands the rug beater to Mutti’s father and tells him to do it. He says ”Why? She is already tired”. Lisbeth gets even by putting Mutti’s cat in a flower well and placing a flowerpot on top. When Mutti discovers this, she and Lisbeth squabble again.

In 1936 Lisbeth marries a soldier named Alois Leja and they have four children over the next few years. When Sudetenland is annexed by Germany, Alois is stationed in Sternberg, Czechoslovakia. He is assigned the house of a German, who has been evicted because he refused to divorce his Czech wife. Lisbeth moves there with her four children.

In October 1938 the Neisse River overflows and the downtown area is flooded under one and a half meters of water. The Zeh house is not affected because it is on higher ground. Mutti goes down to the riverbank and watches the flood water wash cows, pigs and debris over the top of the bridge.

On the morning of November 10, 1938, Mutti walks to the downtown area, even though her father has forbidden her to, to see what all the excitement is about. She sees the broken store windows and the goods dumped along side the bridge and doesn’t understand why perfectly good merchandise is being destroyed.

A neighbor woman is Mutti’s friend and frequently she walks with Mutti. The woman is a Jew and must wear a yellow star on her coat. She keeps the star turned under out of sight until they get downtown and then she uncovers it. She takes Mutti with her to the synagogue on one occasion. One day she comes to say good-bye. She says she is being taken to a camp in Poland and is only allowed to take one blanket and a small bag with her.

Mutti meets Franz Daniel in 1938. She is walking around the ring in the center of town with her girl friend. Two soldiers approach them and strike up a conversation. They meet more times and a friendship develops. Franz is very handsome and eight years older than Mutti. Franz comes to her house to meet her parents. He takes Mutti to meet his parents. They end up getting married.

Paul, Anna and Grusla move to the second floor of the house and give Mutti and Franz the first floor. Mutti is 17 years old when Marianne is born in May 1939. Franz is a doting father when he is home. When Marianne is christened into the Catholic Church the horse used to transport them to the ceremony is brushed in a checkerboard pattern by Franz’s comrades. One of Marianne’s earliest memories is of a man making a garland of wild flowers and placing it on her head. She thinks it was her father.

Mutti never really has a life with Franz. Germany invades Poland in September 1939. England and France honor their agreement with Poland and declare war against Germany. Franz is assigned to the western front as part of the defense against an attack from France. While stationed in the west he gets some leave time and Mutti meets him in Cologne. It is February 1940 and carnival time in Cologne. The offensive in the west starts in May 1940 and is over in six weeks. Heiner is born in November. While his unit is in France, Franz buys dresses for Marianne and Mutti. Franz stops in Neisse in November 1940 on his way to the eastern front, where his unit has now been assigned. In June 1941 Germany invades Russia. In September of that year Mutti receives word that Franz has been killed near Smolensk, Russia. He was in the artillery and had been at a forward observation post when he died.

After Franz is killed Mutti continues to live with her parents. She now is a 19-year-old widow with two children. But all is not hardship. She and a girlfriend Bärbel, whose husband is away in the war, occasionally go to the movies together.

During this period Mutti and Bärbel have contact with some British prisoners of war. The prisoners are quartered in an old fort a short distance behind Mutti’s house. Mutti and Bärbel provide them with some water and even allow one of them to listen to the BBC on the radio. Mutti comments today on how stupid this was because had they been caught there could have been very serious consequences. This was wartime and any contact with prisoners was strictly forbidden. One of the prisoners gives them some chocolate and tells them it is a gift. The word, gift, means poison in German so they are afraid to eat it. But somebody explains to them that it is okay.

Paul is sent to Berlin to work as an electrician. Anna, Mutti and Marianne go there by train to visit him. The curbs are painted with a phosphorescent paint to help drivers see their way during blackouts, for the Allies had been bombing Berlin, off and on, since August 1940. Mutti and Marianne remember Anna stumbling on one of the painted curbs.

In 1942, Lisbeth’s husband, Alois, is reported as missing in action. While stationed in Sternberg, Alois had been a Quartermaster and consequently had access to many hard to get materials. Lisbeth is arrested by the Gestapo, when she is caught selling soap illegally. She is sent to a prison in Liegnitz, Poland about 200 kilometers to the north.