In 1945 as World War Two was ending German concentration camps were being liberated. Meanwhile in Yugoslavia the German speaking population was being incarcerated in new concentration camps. Luisa Lang Owen was a young girl who along with her family was imprisoned in these new camps for several years. This little known chapter in history has been mostly forgotten. Luisa Lang Owen could not allow those memories to be lost. In her memoir "Casualty of War-a Childhood Remembered" Owen recalls how her peaceful village was torn apart after the Germans invaded. After the Soviet Red Army drove out the Germans Tito's partisans moved in and as the war ended they began to exact their revenge upon the German speaking population that had resided there peacefully for centuries.
This was quite a story. The author lives in Yellow Springs. After her book came out she was contacted by C-Span's Book TV; they wondered if she would be interested in recording an interview for their network? Owen agreed to do it and she asked me to conduct the interview. If you do a Google search for "Luisa Lang Owen" and "Book TV" you can locate that TV show and listen to our conversation which was recorded in 2003.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Microsun Lamps.
