Final Destination: A New Homeland

by Beca Sue

Bessarabia, Romania, 1940. For more than a century, the Grieb family has called this fertile land home. Though German by ancestry, Romania is the only homeland generations of their family have ever known. But as Europe is consumed by war and Soviet forces move into Bessarabia, the Griebs suddenly find themselves caught between two powerful nations—and forced to make an impossible choice.
When Hitler offers ethnic Germans refuge within the German Reich, the family joins thousands of others abandoning their homes and begins an uncertain journey hundreds of miles west. They leave behind their farms, possessions, and everything familiar, believing Germany will provide the safety and new beginning they have been promised.
Instead, they discover a country overwhelmed by war. Housing is scarce, families are shuffled from place to place, and young men are drafted into the German Army. Eventually, the Griebs are resettled on farms in occupied Poland—homes once belonging to families who have been forcibly removed under the Nazi regime. What was supposed to be a refuge becomes another life built upon fear, uncertainty, and the suffering of others.
Then Germany’s war against the Soviet Union begins to collapse.
As the Red Army advances westward, the Grieb family is torn apart. The men are ordered to fight while the women, children, and elderly are crowded onto trains and sent toward southern Germany. With little warning and no assurance they will ever see one another again, husbands are separated from wives, children from fathers, and brothers from sisters.
When the war finally ends, survival is only the beginning.
Across a devastated Europe filled with refugees and displaced families, the Griebs begin searching for one another with no reliable mail, no telephones, and no way of knowing who has survived. Armed only with names, memories, faith, and hope, they must somehow find their way back to the people they love.
A story of war, displacement, separation, and the enduring strength of family, the Griebs’ journey reveals what it means to lose a homeland—and how far people will go to find their way home again.

Genres: Historical Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published September 29, 2015

About the author

Beca Sue has always had a love for family, faith, history, and the simple beauty of country life. She and her husband own a tractor and logging supplies business, and they make their home on an organic farm, where there is always something growing, something needing done, and usually a story waiting to be told.
She is the mother of three grown children and the proud grandmother of two beautiful grandchildren, who bring plenty of joy and laughter to her life.
Her Christian faith is at the heart of who she is and naturally finds its way into her writing. Beca Sue enjoys telling stories about ordinary people facing difficult times, holding on to hope, loving their families, and trusting God through whatever life brings.
When she isn’t writing, she enjoys the quiet rhythms of farm life, spending time with her family, and appreciating the history and stories of those who came before us.

If you have comments or questions, please contact Beca Sue at becasuebooks@gmail.com or crawfordcountytractorparts@gmail.com

Reviews

[jerry Cursons · Rating 5 out of 5]

A excellent story which shows how the people in Europe main lands during the 1st & 2nd World War and before had lived. And how one man's madness turned there lives upside down. As someone from Britain who had parents and grandparents that lived and fought in the wars through this time and only hearing their side of these advent. With the passage of time it's informative to learn that life for other side in these,s conflicts was not so different to what my grandparents & parents saw and experienced. Unfortunately there never seems to be any end to wars started by someone or nation and its always the lower classes of people of these nations that pay the price.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about German upbringing.

Very similar story told to me by my grandfather who moved from Germany 50 years before this story setting. Excellent book.

[Alison Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put it down. I would almost believe it was a true story

[Melissa Walls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book . It is easy to get lost in the story of this family and all they went through.