Gisela Mahler wrote this account of her life so that her grandchildren could know something about their family.



Born in Vienna when it was the capital of Austria-Hungary, Gisela grew up during the 1st World War and married just before the threat of Nazism started to darken Europe. Gisela and her husband came from Jewish families but were connected with Quakers.



Gisela's husband, Hilo, was a prisoner of war in '14-'18 and was briefly imprisoned by the Nazis too. Gisela tells the reader of her escape, with her husband and children, from Austria after the Nazi take-over, then the ups and downs of setting up home in an entirely new country.



Quietly told, this little book is a story of great courage and tells us about times which are beginning to fade from living memory.