There is a difference between emigrating and fleeing, but it is difficult to define the dividing line exactly. The book is much more informative, the accounts from survivors and family although on times hard to hear are something that we should all hear least we forget. What begins with a harrowing journey culminates in an inspiring portrayal of one man's determination to succeed through hard work, civic duty and kindness. He had reason to believe, from listening to my talk and matching the details with those from his family folklore, that his great-grandmother BERTA SCHÖNEWALD, may be been on that same deportation train on 22nd March 1942, heading to her death in Sobibor death camp.

Escaping Hitler is the true story, covering ninety years, of a fourteen-year-old boy Gunter Stern who, when Adolf Hitler threatened hisfamily, education and future, resolved to escape from his rural village of Nickenich in the German Rhineland. It is a fascinating, heartening story, shot through with adventure, love, loss and some of the bleakest and most terrifying events of human history. Moreover, in June 1941 all the diplomatic embassies and consulates of the United States in Germany and occupied Europe closed. During an emotional ‘foot-stepping’ journey in September 2013 the author visited Günter’s birthplace, met with a school friend, discovered the apartment in Koblenz where he fled following Kristallnacht in 1938, drove the route of Günter’s walk through Europe and retraced the final steps of his parents prior to their deportation to a Nazi death camp in Poland during 1942. I was on a train, and a German soldier began shouting at me and poking me in the ribs with his machine gun.I was thrilled to accept, not only because it was an opportunity to extend the reach of Joe’s remarkable story, but particularly as Victor and I spent a wonderful week’s holiday, just two summers ago, staying in Tweedledee Cottage, in the centre of that delightful village, enjoying walks in the stunning countryside, eating at superb local pubs, visiting Bakewell, Dovedale, Heights of Abraham, Chatsworth and the Plague Village Eyam, to name but a few. These were Joe’s very words as he told me his story in December 2011, our very first interview for his biography in his comfortable Norwich home. During an emotional foot-stepping’ journey in September 2013, Scrivens also visited Günter’s birthplace, met with a school friend, discovered the apartment in Koblenz where he fled following Kristallnacht in 1938, drove the route of Günter’s walk through Europe, and retraced the final steps of his parents prior to their deportation to a Nazi death camp in Poland during 1942.

My parents, though not Jewish, were both on the Gestapo Black List of people to be killed immediately in the event of a successful invasion.

How well I remember the many occasions when my husband and I would enter Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich, to see rows of people, many dressed in black, waiting for the special annual service to begin.