35 words

Spellbinding, unforgettable true story of Lise Huebert Towes Gerig and the people of Tchongraw escaping Stalin's Russia. Epic told through the lives of individuals caught up in events of Russian history, 1800-W.W.II.

Synopsis

405 words

Spellbinding, unforgettable true story of a family who pioneers Russia's Ukraine in the 1800's and is trapped by the land as much as by its rulers. Over 200 relations of Huebert and Wiens families make their way to the southern Crimea and build the Village of Tchongraw. Lise Huebert Towes Gerig is born here in 1930, in a beautiful land of rolling hills under the spell of the ancient Krymskiye Gory Mountains of the Black Sea. This is an epic told through the actions of individuals caught up in events of Russian history that raise them to unbelievable heights and acts of courage. Secreted diaries out of Russia from 1917-1952 and Lise's words, refute the myth and propaganda that covers up what really happened to Lise and her family--to millions in the Soviet Union under Tsars, Lenin and Stalin. Lise escapes in 1942 with her Dutch-German people as they are being taken to exile in Siberia. Love of family, uplifting courage, bonds them into a spiritual force that empowers them to evade Stalin's forces and finally escape Nazi controlled Russia. Lise walks in the midst of 140 women and children and two uncles as they flee through Ukraine between opposing armies. Her twenty-two-year-old mother emerges from Revolutions, famine and civil wars to empower her people and teach her children to survive. This young mother's passion for freedom puts her in peril as she escapes with Lise and her other three children to Poland. Ahead of an advancing Red Army they are forced to flee toward Hitler's Germany in the dead of winter. The personalities and cultures that surround the people of Tchongraw bring home the reality of what Lise's people must overcome. Johann is a mystery, Nick Enns walks out of Siberia to hold Mariechen in his arms, seventeen year old Mary realizes war is too close as she clings to a train car, Justina defies Stalin's officers, heroic, pregnant Elizabeth Koop Huebert winds her way through a putrid Tatar prison to find her husband. Lise's childhood sweetheart walks over the Carpathian Mountains carrying his baby sister on his back. Walter finds Lise in post-war Germany. "Love is all we have," whispers Lise, "we have found each other, Walter and I, only long enough to say good-by." Publication of this book waited for the escape from Moscow of a cousin who was granted asylum in 1998.