"Somewhere in Germany" begins a letter from a GI shortly before the end of the Second World War. He obviously didn't know where he was, but this is where the author grew up. He never got to finish the letter, which was later found in the trash.

There was never a time in her young life when the author and her family were not in some way affected by various conflicts. At first there were political unrest, inflation, depression, and economic hard times; then a new regime that promised hope and a better life, but brought on intolerance, genocide and a devastating war instead. Anxiety, fear and terror became a way of life until liberation from an oppressive regime resulted in new hardships and shortages.

The book starts with the translation of a collection of recollections by contemporaries, texts published in Germany in 1985 and 1995 to commemorate the fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries of WWII, respectively, as well as memories by and about several educators published in 2001. In the last part, the author reminisces about her own experiences during that time.