Displaced Person: A Girl's Life in Russia, Germany, and America

By Ella E. Schneider Hilton

Book Overview

In this moving and personal memoir, Ella E. Schneider Hilton chronicles her remarkable childhood - that took her from the purges of Stalinist Russia to the refugee camps of Nazi and postwar Germany to the cotton fields of Jim Crow Mississippi - before granting her access to the American dream. On the day that Germany invaded Russia, Ella's father was arrested in Kiev by Soviet authorities, never to be heard from again. Fluent in German, her mother provided for her two children and mother-in-law by assisting the occupying forces. When the city was about to return to Russian hands, the family fled to Germany by freight train. Food was scarce and Allied bombings killed her grandmother, but young Ella retained her inquisitive spirit. Her mother married a widower to survive and the family emigrated to the US as the indentured servants of a host family in Mississippi, where they picked cotton and lived in poverty. Puzzled by segregation, Ella learnt about the Holocaust and realized that her father was probably Jewish. Throughout her ordeals, she never relinquished hope or sight of her goal of education. story of a girl caught up first in the maelstrom of World War II and then in the complexities of southern culture, adjusting to events beyond her control with resiliency as she searched for faith, knowledge and a place in the world.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807128783
• ISBN13: 9780807128787
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

overwhelmed reader

Mrs. Hilton sold me the book and I was overwhelmed at the details she included in her memoirs. It was, at times, one of the hardest books I've ever read due to the abuse she suffered. Mrs. Hilton said, "every American girl should read this book" and I totally agree. I am purchasing more for my family because mine is a signed copy.

excellent story

Ella writes what she remembers about her childhood and gives us a chance to understand what life was like for a girl dealing with World War II and the aftermath. The details of everyday life help you understand what it took to survive. She writes with honesty and gratitude for those who helped her. It is an inspiring story. God is good - all the time!

This is a great book and should be made into a movie

I think this was a great book. It answers alot of unasked and unanswered questions. It also talks about the effects of war. We met the author at a time share and she gave a talk about the book. She was very interesting to listen to. My Dad read this book too. He agrees with me that she didn't leave anything out. I did wonder why I couldn't get a straight answer from distant relatives where our relatives were from. When a country or state boundary line has moved other places people write on there family tree death or birth record that when the people were born they live in X which is call Y in 2006. I never thought they were not telling the truth because they were afraid the communists would find them. If you want to read an interesting book about Russia and Germany about WWII this is the book for you. The section about life in America was vivid about living with her parents but when she was more integrated into American life and not living with her parents the information was slimmer. I definitely wouldn't have wanted to live on a cotton plantation in the South.