Last Minute: Our Escape from East Prussia, Paperback

This is a true account, to the best of my knowledge, of our journey from our home in East Prussia to West Germany in 1945. I was nine years old at the time we left. This is not my life story. But I thought that perhaps someday my children and their children might be interested in knowing where their ancestors came from and why and how they left that country. Rosemarie Miles Apsel

About the Author:

Rosemarie Apsel was nine years old when she and her family had to flee from the invasion of the Russian Army which was closing in on her homeland of East Prussia, Germany. On January 21, 1945, near the end of World War II, her mother and her five children had to leave their home in sub-zero weather, while her father was serving in the German Army. They fled to West Germany via ship, rail and wagon train, a journey which took several months. They ultimately ended up in the town of Bocholt where she met Guenter Apsel, who was also a refugee from East Prussia. They were close friends for several years, but they eventually lost touch when they went different ways. They found each other again after 40 years without any contact in between, were reunited and married in 1994. They now live in Orlando, Florida.