The Last Bridge

soft-bound biography
Price . $20

Synopsis Page 2 of 3 . In 1939, plain-clothed Germans visited Arzis to host youth games and dances in order to re-ignite and fan flames of German pride and hope in a future united Germany. Then in May 1940, Red Russians advanced into Arzis and subjected the gentle German population to physical and psychological abuse. During this period, a Russian officer usurped the Ziebart parlor, made it his headquarters, and demanded the then-fatherless Ziebart family to provide his meals. Comparing the bleak option of enduring growing Russian hostility to Hitler’s suspicious promises, 47-year-old Eva hurriedly loaded family and no more than 50 kilos of belongings—the family limit—into a crowded military truck destined for Germany. Eva’s two stepsons, intending to join the family later, remained behind to harvest Arzis crops.

Arrival in Germany brought bitter disappointment and confirmation that Eva’s skepticism was justified. Hitler had not prepared accommodations for the thousands of returning Germans. The Ziebarts subsisted on diluted vegetable soup and stingily rationed food served to them in a squalid school house cum refugee camp for 450 individuals. Separated by only sheet draperies, multiple families cohabited the classrooms. All-night blackouts and split-second sprints to cellar air-raid shelters became daily events. Soon, all too clear was Hitler’s true motive: the sturdy, hard-working Germans were lured from Russia to further displace Polish families, revitalize neglected Polish farm soil, and feed the emerging Nazi army.

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