FROM REFUGEE TO RAFTERS: A True Story of Flight, Freedom & Faith - by Rudolf Stepper with Elsie Loewen, 2013. When Russian tanks invaded Bessarabia in 1940, the simple carefree life of growing up in a farming village was over for 10-year old Rudy Stepper. Under a looming cloud of war, his family joined 93,000 other Germans in a mass evacuation to Germany at the invitation of a charismatic new leader, Adolf Hitler. Resettled in Poland, their dreams of prosperity under a glorious Third Reich quickly turned to disillusionment and danger. Once again threatened by the advancing Russian army and faced with Germany's imminent defeat, they were forced to flee back to an uncertain future in the West. Rudy's courage and resourcefulness was vital to his family's survival in the ruins of the post-war Germany. Would it be enough to meet the challenges of the new life he was determined to build in Canada? Soft cover - 305 pages.
| GRHS Home Page |