Displaced

A Family without a Country

Inspired by the life of Irena Golcvegaite

by Sue Stewart Ade

A family saga of resilience and hope in the midst of war.

In 1940 Soviet tanks roll into Lithuania. To avoid Communism, Irena and her family flee to Nazi Germany. In Hamburg, Irena and her sister attend a school and are taught to revere Hitler and hate the Jews.

The Allies’ plan is to annihilate Hamburg by bombing, code named Operation Gomorrah. Can Irena’s parents protect their daughters not only from the deadly war, but also from Hitler’s propaganda?

Inspired by the true story of a Lithuanian family who flees their country to protect their daughters, only to discover they might lose them.

Excerpt

Chapter One

July 27, 1943

Hamburg, Germany
(Operation Gomorrah)

Irena fisted her hands and raced through the crowded street to the bunker. Her bare feet slapped against the cobblestones as her pigtails flopped behind her.

Eeeoooeeeoooe.

The high-pitched screech of the air-raid siren sent chills slithering down her spine. She wasn’t going to make it. She wasn’t going to make it. She squinted through the fog of smoke. Her eyes burned. “Mama, Da, where are you?” The wind carried away her words.

Screams surrounded her and footsteps pounded against the pavement. She pumped her legs harder. She had to reach the bunker before the door closed. 

The sky rumbled. Her head jerked up. Airplanes. Lots of enemy planes, one after another, cut through the clouds. 

Why was Hamburg being attacked again? The smoke and soot hadn’t cleared from the bombing two hours ago. And what was the target? Didn’t the British know this was where the workers and their families lived?

The siren changed to the Fliegeralarm, fifteen four-second wails, warning only minutes until the attack. Sweat prickled on her brow. She was only eight years old. She didn’t want to die. She just wanted to go home to Lithuania.

Jutting out her chin, she fisted her hands and charged through the smoke and wind.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground rolled. In the distance a bomb exploded. A yellow ball of fire illuminated the night sky. Lying on the street were mounds of soot from the previous raid. Her foot hit something solid. Her arms shot out to break the fall. Her knees slammed against the jagged stones, ripping the skin as her hands landed in the black soot. Only it wasn’t soot. None of the black mounds lying lifeless in the street were soot.

She screamed.

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