The reader will be unable to find Schwabendorf on a map. It is a
literary composite of the countless Swabian villages in former Yugoslavia.
Although this is a work of fiction it is based on historical
facts and the personal experiences of individuals who survived the
attempted liquidation of the German minority living in Yugoslavia
after the Second World War who were known as the Swabians. The
events that took place in the village of Bulkes, now known as Maglic
in present day Serbia, form the basic background of the novel. Although
the majority of the Swabians were Roman Catholics there
were also numerous Lutheran and Reformed communities all of
which shared a similar fate.
Intertwined with all of the hazards of war and its aftermath is the
sustaining power of love, both human and divine, in the lives of
those who survived.
