Judith Hayman tells the story of her mother’s life in the small town of Berndorf in
Austria before and after the Anschluss on 12 March 1938.
Judith uses anecdotes from her mother, Charlotte, and from her aunt Frieda’s oral
testimony. The miracle of Charlotte and Frieda and their immediate family’s escape is
revealed but so too are the stories of family who were trapped in Austria and perished in
the Łódź ghetto. Judith’s themes are on the role of bystanders and on what can happen
when you hate ‘the other’ so much you want them dead