Crossing the Bridge

Nora D.S. Robins is the co-ordinator of Internal Collections, University
of Calgary Libraries.

Growing up in Germany after World War I was not easy, even if one
belonged to a middle-class family and disagreed with Hitler’s
policies. The rise of Hitler and the Nazi party brought economic
stability, but at the price of silence. The elderly Nora, now a Canadian
citizen, decides that it is time to tell her young granddaughter about
life in Germany and about the child’s grandfather, Klaus.

The story weaves back and forth between past and present as Nora
reveals what it was like to raise three children while married to a
prominent member of the Nazi Party. After the death of her husband, she
faces life in Berlin during the Allied bombings. She experiences the
kindness of Canadian soldiers when they liberate Germany. It was the
memory of this kindness that led to Nora’s determination to emigrate
to Canada to find a better life for herself and her children.

Clearly based on the personal experiences of the author, this is an
interesting and sombre story, simply written and hard to forget.