Creative way of dealing with the past

My graphic novel "Letting It Go" is about the difficulties and challenges I faced while dealing with the fact that my son (40) had decided to live in Berlin.

I was born in Budapest in 1942. My first graphic novel from 2006, "We are On Our Own", is the story of my mother saving us from the German invasion of Hungary. That first book was translated into six languages including German.

So, as a child of WW2, I had great fears about my son wishing to live in Berlin. But that’s how it was and I had to learn to live with it. I felt that the best thing to do was to produce this book.

I hoped that the process of creating the book and a number of visits to Berlin would help me to understand the city that my son loves and the new Germany. It was very helpful for me to have found your program. It has given me some insight into the life, culture and art of modern Germany as well as many other European countries.

Since leaving Hungary in 1957 I have not had much to do with Europe.

Sent by: Miriam from the USA
Edited by: Kerstin Boljahn