“Lost Property” was inspired by the current refugee crisis and by my discovery of an earlier refugee crisis - that of 1945/46 when around 12,000,000 ethnic German civilians were forced out of their ancestral homes in, for example: Sudetenland, Hungary, Rumania, Ukraine and Poland, and sent back to Germany to fend for themselves. Many of them were murdered on the way. Estimates vary but the number of victims could be anything from 450,000 to 3,000,000. The photo above right, from the German archives, shows the return of German children to Germany in 1946.
The book was also inspired by the Stolperstein (literally “stumbling stones”). These are brass cubes inscribed with the names and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination. These cubes aim to commemorate individuals at their last place of residence before falling victim to the Nazis. The Stolperstein in the second photo above are outside my neighbour’s house here in Jugenheim.
Finally, I was inspired by the area I live in and, in particular, by Heiligenberg Castle and its surroundings above Jugenheim. It was this castle I had in mind when I wrote about the attack on the refugee bus. Thankfully, this event is entirely my own invention! The cross in the first photo above dominates the surrounding area. It marks the place where the castle chapel was built and where a memorial to Lord Louis Mountbatten was erected.
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