This book describes the history of the author's grandparents, parents and other relatives from 1905 until about 1946 with a few details of a much later period. It gives an insight into their daily lives and the problems encountered during World War I, the various revolts in Germany following that war and its hyper inflation period, the crisis years during the 1930s, World War II and life in the Nazi concentration camps. It is based on the voluminous diaries kept during the war by the author's mother and an uncle, on extensive recorded interviews with them and research by the author in various archives.