Still, We Loved Life: True Stories of German Women Who Endured War, Reflected on Their Lives, and Loved Anyway

By Sonja Tolevski

What happens when you ask a generation of women-who lived through bombings, hunger, loss, and displacement-what they remember most? What they dreamed of? Whom they loved?
Based on in-depth conversations shaped around eleven core questions-about war, childhood, Christmas, love, marriage, and advice for younger women- Still, We Loved Life brings together the voices of German women born between 1928 and 1944-witnesses to war, trauma, and profound transformation. In their own words, they recount what it meant to grow up in bomb shelters and burning cities, to be displaced, silenced, or forgotten-and still find reasons to laugh, to dream, to fall in love. Through their raw and deeply personal testimonies, we enter kitchens and bunkers, crowded train cars and quiet moments of joy. We hear what it was like to fall in love during times of scarcity, to raise children after loss, to rebuild a sense of self in a world forever changed.

From hunger lines and air raid sirens to first kisses, forbidden romances, and the complicated beauty of motherhood, these intimate narratives stretch beyond history books. They show us what survival truly looks like-and how ordinary women found strength in the extraordinary.
This collection is not only a record of the past but a timeless portrait of courage, grief, humor, and above all, enduring love-for life, for family, and for themselves.
Honest, intimate, and deeply moving, this book is a rare and unforgettable portrait of a generation of women who remind us what it means to carry on-with courage, with care, and with heart.

Raw, tender, and unforgettable-this is history through the hearts of those who lived it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F5NLLP6M
• ISBN13: 9798280466401
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"