The Will to Live

About the Book

This book is a true story of a German family, a mother, grand mother and four daughters, fleeing from the approaching Russian Red Army and from Polish men who took over their home, land and property during World War II. Having lost all their rights, the women tell of their sudden homelessness, hunger, torture, and forced labor, long after the war was over. Their strong will and invincible courage to live under treacherous conditions renews faith in the human spirit to overcome inhumanity. This book contains only one of the stories of fifteen million German civilians who were dispossessed and expelled from their homes during one of the largest forced mass migrations of the twentieth century.

About the Author

Dr. Erika Vora is Professor Emeritus of Intercultural Communication at Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota. Her previous book, “The Will to Live: A German Family’s Flight from Soviet Rule” depicts the traumatic flight of her own family trying to escape the approaching Russian Red Army during World War II. Professor Vora has been a Fulbright Scholar to Taiwan, Republic of China and Director of numerous international study programs in Germany. She has been a visiting scholar and intercultural communication consultant to universities and companies around the world. She is well published in the areas of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence movement to free India, managing interracial conflict in the United States, and listening across religious and cultural divides.