War Time Letters From an American Mother

by Blanche Barney Janson


Formats

Softcover
£10.75
Softcover
£10.75

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 22/11/2000

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 5x8
Page Count : 192
ISBN : 9781587218279

About the Book

World War II finds Blanche Janson facing an existence as an American alien in Dresden, Germany. In 1906, Blanche had left America with her new husband, Arne, a dentist who had opened an office in Dresden. With the outbreak of the war, she finds herself alone...for her husband suddenly dies and her only daughter is far away in San Francisco, California. It is then that Blanche decides to write a diary in letter form describing the terrible ordeal she is facing, including the bombing of Dresden and miraculously surviving. In a DP camp, she makes an American flag that protects a village from looting Russians. In 1946, she finally returns home to America after 40 years in Germany.


About the Author

Blanche Barney Janson was born in 1875 in Manchester, Iowa, from a line of illustrious American ancestors. She was a fine pianist and taught school in the slums of Chicago. She met Doctor Arne Janson in Seattle in 1906, married him, and they moved to Dresden, Germany, where her husband opened his office (American dentists were in great demand in Dresden). She loved the culture and music in Dresden. The Janson’s were happy there and their love brought forth one daughter, Elinor, who grew up to become an opera singer. Arne died shortly before the outbreak of World War II, and with Elinor in San Francisco, Blanche was left alone to face terrible experiences. After surviving DP camps, she finally returned home in 1946. She died in Santa Cruz, California, on March 11, 1953, strangely on the same date she began her "Wartime Letters of an American Mother."