2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two. Despite a persistent effort to reprocess the deadliest conflict in human history, one important chapter of the post-war period still receives little attention: the fate of about 450,000 children of war, who were conceived through rape, love affairs and relationships between German women and garrison soldiers.

Sonya Winterberg presents the first comprehensive study on this topic. She illuminates, based on interviews with witnesses and intensive research, how the children of “enemies” often concealed their origins, how they were discriminated, excluded, and even abused. Prominent examples are introduced, such as Football trainer Felix Magath and Singer Marianne Faithfull, and the situation of approximately 200,000 children who were born in Austria after the war is elucidated. Winterberg creates a multifaceted and detailed portrait of a generation whose fate is exemplary of the post-war period.

Sonya Winterberg, Yury Winterberg

Sonya Winterberg was born in 1970 and has an MA in European Media Studies. Her work focuses on the themes of war and trauma. After periods in Belgium and the USA, she is now based in Berlin and in her country of birth, Finland. Yury Winterberg was born in 1965. He studied Psychology at the University of Dresden. He is the co-founder of a film and television production company and has written prize-winning documentaries.

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