My Mother

About the Book

My mother’s kind and altruistic actions affected many lives. She wanted people to recognize that there is something good in everything and to take action to further that. With her positive attitude and pleasant temperament she would encourage people and give them hope. She was a remarkable, courageous woman. She walked through several time periods in history, living a happy childhood in Germany when it was still a monarchy, experiencing two disastrous world wars and their aftermath, living under Hitler’s dictatorship and the Allied forces occupation of her home country. In addition, she grieved her husband’s tragic death while bringing up their three children as a single parent. Her acceptance of being expelled from her home and living in cramped refugee camps is commendable. She never gave up; her trust in God gave her strength. She lived her last thirty years in Canada with her children.

About the Author

Helmut Lemke was born in 1926 in West Prussia, Germany. He attended a boarding school from where he was drafted to fight on the Russian Front in the Second World War. After the war he undertook a dangerous trip into Russian occupied territory to search for his mother. They were expelled from their home and he fled with his mother to West Germany. He studied at the Technical University Braunschweig in Germany and in the USA and graduated with a degree of Diploma Engineer. He immigrated to Canada and worked there as an architect and art instructor. He married Hildegard and they had three children. Both parents were active in youth work and church activities. In his retirement he volunteered as a director for a social housing society. He has written several books.