Life in post-World War II Germany was a struggle. The war was raging in 1943, the year that I was born. Communist doctrine ruled. We live in East Berlin - behind the Iron Curtain. Freedom was lost. Choice was eliminated. As teens, my best friend and I became unhappy with our life's situation. Our only way out was to escape * Would we get past the border police whose orders were to kill? They were everywhere. * Would we make it through the tall barbed wire unharmed? The barbs were razor sharp. * What would my family think of me? I had to leave them behind. Ice cold fear flowed through my veins, my friend became hysterical, but the time was now - or never - for the renewed chance of freedom. That's all that I wanted. Surrender was not an option My true story is from a first-person perspective, taking you from my harrowing escape, to an almost debilitating loneliness; the struggle to learn a new language, and finally the happiness that comes from true freedom.