life stories

remembered... recounted... recorded!

Browse through life stories from the biography Publishers´s programme – only through those, of course, who were approved for publishing. A lot of biographies were designed and printed for family and friends only and are therefore not on display.

All books (apart from those marked “out of print”) can be ordered in any bookshop, online bookshop or directly at the publishing house via email. Shipping to Germany is free, shipping to the US is 5.00 $.

On display besides many intriguing stories: A lot of experience by now…

Lily – Eine ganz normale Deutsche

When Elisabeth Roeckner, born 1915, narrates her life she need not only rely upon her excellent memory, but upon folders full of letters, diaries and a shoe box filled with meticulously administered calendars. 

The vivid portrayal of the “cheeky lass from a good home” and her contemporary records convey an authentic feeling of the time and the life lived. In its own unique way this also applies to the period of the Nazi dictatorship.

Dr. Elisabeth Roeckner und Ruth Damwerth: Lily. Eine ganz normale Deutsche.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-11-0; 18,90 Euro

Der lange Weg der Heimkehr

Georg Rüthnick’s portrayal of his years in war captivity (1945-1949) is poignantly intensified through poems that he wrote as a prisoner and was able to smuggle from the compound during his release.

Georg Rüthnick: Der lange Weg der Heimkehr.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-12-7; price 12,90 Euro

Augsburg 1939–1946. Erlebnisse eines Schülers in Krieg und Nachkriegszeit.

Whether the young Hermann is rummaging amongst rubble of the old toy store looking for the long-desired Märklin tracks or whether he is enjoying “Fuggerei” romanticism at his grandparents’ until his grandmother is killed during the bombing of the housing settlement, or he pulls a pillow over his head in a cellar corner or is upset viewing the destruction of the familiar town silhouette from his room’s window – his vivid account allows us to trace what war meant in general and especially in Augsburg.

“The city of Augsburg is the secret leading lady of this book.”

Dr. Hermann Winter:  Augsburg 1939–1946. Erlebnisse eines Schülers in Krieg und Nachkriegszeit
ISBN: 978-3-937772-14-1, paperback 92 pages, 9,90 Euro

(M)Ein ganz normales Leben. Erinnerungen an einen Aufbruch.

Franz Kowsky wonders: How is it possible that a young boy born in 1937, who was left fatherless, unsettled and impoverished by the war, is a confident teacher twenty years later? In a precision piece of work unfolding his history private memories become a survey of the (intellectual) history of the Federal State of Germany. It becomes increasingly clear that the history of the young republic is also the answer to the book’s underlying question.

Kowsky, Franz: (M)Ein ganz normales Leben. Erinnerungen an einen Aufbruch.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-17-2, hardcover, 460 pages, 19,90 Euro

Zweifelsfahrten. Bilder aus der Vergangenheit.

“When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see.” Helmut Rücker follows Shakespeare’s instructions and describes images that emerge from the past, relives them, vividly explores them for the reader, who may relish in them equally: inklings of childhood happiness, a rich family life that allows the six-year-old from Sudetenland to view the double displacement, first from his parents’ farm, then from home completely, as an adventure and not just a threat. Then there is a new start in Westphalia, school, especially the school of life during carnival and the “Paohlbürger”, joining the new Federal Armed Forces, and the universities of the sixties. 

Contrasted with the melancholic reminiscing of his father and the mischievous confessions of his brother Gerhard a compass of German history evolves like only the past century could have written it.

Rücker, Helmut: Zweifelsfahrten. Bilder aus der Vergangenheit.
ISBN 978-3-937772-19-6, paperback, 172 pages, 17,90 Euro