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Winter Fünfundvierzig oder Die Frauen von Palmnicken
Gehörte auch Hans Broders zu den Tätern? Als 21-Jahriger diente er im Kriegswinter 1945 bei der Wachmannschaft, die einen den Todesmärsche von KZ-Gefangenen an die Ostseeküste begleitete. Er hat zeit seines Lebens über die Ereignisse geschwiegen, nun versucht sein Sohn herauszufinden, was damals geschehen ist.
Der bewegendne Ostpreußen-Roman erzählt das Schicksal von sechs Frauen, dir nur eines wollen: überleben. Levine Gedeitis aus Memel wird mit ihrer Tochter an die Bernsteinküste nach Palmnicken ungesiedelt. Lisa lebt mit ihren vier Kindern auf einem Bauernhof. Mit dem Pferdewagen versucht sie wie Tausende über die zugefrorene Ostsee zu fliehen. Im Ghetto in Lodz leben vier junge jüdische Frauen, die von dort in Konzentrationslager deportiert werden. Ihr Leidensweg, der in den Mittelpunkt dieses erschütternden Zeitpanoramas.
Arno Suruminiskis Roman ist ein aufwühlendes Zeugnis der letzten Kriegstage, er fragt nach Schuld und dem Schweigen der Täter.
Der bewegendne Ostpreußen-Roman erzählt das Schicksal von sechs Frauen, dir nur eines wollen: überleben. Levine Gedeitis aus Memel wird mit ihrer Tochter an die Bernsteinküste nach Palmnicken ungesiedelt. Lisa lebt mit ihren vier Kindern auf einem Bauernhof. Mit dem Pferdewagen versucht sie wie Tausende über die zugefrorene Ostsee zu fliehen. Im Ghetto in Lodz leben vier junge jüdische Frauen, die von dort in Konzentrationslager deportiert werden. Ihr Leidensweg, der in den Mittelpunkt dieses erschütternden Zeitpanoramas.
Arno Suruminiskis Roman ist ein aufwühlendes Zeugnis der letzten Kriegstage, er fragt nach Schuld und dem Schweigen der Täter.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
11 people want to read
About the author
Arno Surminski
47 books5 followersArno Surminski (born 20 August 1934 in Jäglack, East Prussia) is a German writer, living in Hamburg, and a father of two.
After growing up in East Prussia, his parents were deported to ther Soviet Union, while he was expelled to Schleswig-Holstein. Having finished his school education there, he was apprenticed to a lawyer from 1950-1953.
He lived in Canada from 1957 to 1960, but then came back to Germany, where he worked for an insurance company from 1962 until 1972.
Since 1972, apart from writing, he has been working as a journalist, specialising in economy and insurance. His fame is mainly due to his novels, the principal themes of which are his recollections of a happy childhood and the fate of the deportees; he has no interest however in revenge, but only wants to preserve his childhood memories. Several of his books were used for TV productions.
Since 2001, he has been working as an ombudsman in the field of health insurance.
After growing up in East Prussia, his parents were deported to ther Soviet Union, while he was expelled to Schleswig-Holstein. Having finished his school education there, he was apprenticed to a lawyer from 1950-1953.
He lived in Canada from 1957 to 1960, but then came back to Germany, where he worked for an insurance company from 1962 until 1972.
Since 1972, apart from writing, he has been working as a journalist, specialising in economy and insurance. His fame is mainly due to his novels, the principal themes of which are his recollections of a happy childhood and the fate of the deportees; he has no interest however in revenge, but only wants to preserve his childhood memories. Several of his books were used for TV productions.
Since 2001, he has been working as an ombudsman in the field of health insurance.
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December 15, 2025
This exceptional novel is woven together by the artistic prose and historical research of Arno Surminiski. It's a pity it hasn't been translated into English so that it could reach a wider audience.
Set mostly in East Prussia at the end of WWII, the various strands of the story blend the events leading up to the little-known massacre of 3,000 women in Palmnicken in January 1945. Palmnicken (today known as Yantarny) was a small village on the Baltic Sea coast about 25 miles west of Königsberg (Kaliningrad) which has the largest amber mine in the world.
Surminiski begins with the 1998 funeral of Max Broders’s father. Max learns from a fellow mourner that his father was a member of the Waffen-SS and served in East Prussia in 1945 and cryptically is informed that his father was not one of the guilty. The story then moves back and forth between Max’s journey to the region in 1998 and the stories of various people who were caught up in the actual events—four young Jewish women from Lodz, a farmer’s wife and her children in central East Prussia, and a mother and daughter from northern East Prussia. Their lives intertwine to tell the story leading up to the massacre, its aftermath, as well as about the refugees from the area. Max learns about how the story had been ignored for more than 50 years and decides to dedicate his life to telling the victims’ story. Surminiski's tale is filled with haunting images of atrocities, cruelty, fallibility and decency.
Surminiski is the “poet laureate” of the refugees from East Prussia. This book easily stands alongside his classics Jokehnen and Kudenow to provide insight into their world. Here is a side of what happened as they were leaving and after they left. East Prussia became an artificial island of Russia nestled between the Baltic States, Belarus, and Poland. They and the rest of the world have slowly come to recognize the Palmnicken massacre. In 2011 a monument was dedicated in Yantarny to recognize this terrible episode. This story will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life.
Set mostly in East Prussia at the end of WWII, the various strands of the story blend the events leading up to the little-known massacre of 3,000 women in Palmnicken in January 1945. Palmnicken (today known as Yantarny) was a small village on the Baltic Sea coast about 25 miles west of Königsberg (Kaliningrad) which has the largest amber mine in the world.
Surminiski begins with the 1998 funeral of Max Broders’s father. Max learns from a fellow mourner that his father was a member of the Waffen-SS and served in East Prussia in 1945 and cryptically is informed that his father was not one of the guilty. The story then moves back and forth between Max’s journey to the region in 1998 and the stories of various people who were caught up in the actual events—four young Jewish women from Lodz, a farmer’s wife and her children in central East Prussia, and a mother and daughter from northern East Prussia. Their lives intertwine to tell the story leading up to the massacre, its aftermath, as well as about the refugees from the area. Max learns about how the story had been ignored for more than 50 years and decides to dedicate his life to telling the victims’ story. Surminiski's tale is filled with haunting images of atrocities, cruelty, fallibility and decency.
Surminiski is the “poet laureate” of the refugees from East Prussia. This book easily stands alongside his classics Jokehnen and Kudenow to provide insight into their world. Here is a side of what happened as they were leaving and after they left. East Prussia became an artificial island of Russia nestled between the Baltic States, Belarus, and Poland. They and the rest of the world have slowly come to recognize the Palmnicken massacre. In 2011 a monument was dedicated in Yantarny to recognize this terrible episode. This story will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life.
Displaying 1 of 1 review