As told by her granddaughter Jenny Krausz, 62, a teacher, who lives with her husband Sean in BrittanyGertrud, my grandmother – or Omi, as my twin sister and I called her – was a constant presence in our lives until we left home for university.
She lived with us and our parents for my whole childhood, and the image of her sitting in her chair, looking out into the garden and reading Der Spiegel magazine, is imprinted on my mind.
She gave the best hugs, sang nursery rhymes to us in German and kept a stash of chocolate-covered marzipan for us. She was warm and loving – more tactile than verbal, as her English was poor – but she was happy to chat about everything, with one exception: she never, ever spoke about her past.I grew up knowing we.
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