Rot-Weiss-Rot: A Village Childhood in Wartime Austria

Title

Date

2021

Author

Genre

A memoir of a woman growing up in the town of Jennersdorf during World War II, as written by he daughter.

The Second World War was a time of casual cruelty, anti-Semitic violence and propaganda, even in a remote Austrian village. Looking back, Hannerl Maurer remembers the turmoil and her many fears. But she also recalls loving memories about her village, Jennersdorf.

About the Author

Martina Freitag

MARTINA FREITAG was born in southern Austria, and grew up in Toronto. She received a BA (U of Calgary, 1985) and also worked in community and student journalism in Alberta and Manitoba. She was an arts administrator for the Mississauga Arts Council and the League of Canadian Poets. She moved to Guelph in 1987, where she taught in the elementary schools for twenty-six years.

She received two creative writing scholarships from the Banff School of Fine Arts, and continued to pursue workshops and university courses on various writing forms. Other recent workshops covered topics in aging, spirituality and narrative, and in creative non-fiction.

A suite of her poems, called a lush life, was published in Paper Plates (Vol. 3, No.4.)

In April 2021, she independently published Rot-Weiss-Rot: A Village Childhood in Wartime Austria. (Find it on Lulu.com.) Another current project is a family drama set in cottage country. She is also working on a memoir, called A Last-Minute Friendship.