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The Bones of My People: One German woman's story of survival as a forced laborer in the Soviet Union after World War II Paperback – March 11, 2014

by Gertrud Baltutt (Author), Michael L Clark (Editor), Waltraut Clark (Translator)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 274 ratings
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The story of the capture, imprisonment and survival of Gertrud Baltutt, a German civilian in East Prussia who was transported into forced labor in the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
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  1. Print length
    156 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    March 11, 2014
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.36 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0991617908
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0991617906
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gertrud Baltutt, nee Jakumeit, was born in 1913 in Memel, East Prussia, Germany (now Klaipeda, Lithuania), eventually marrying Otto Baltutt in 1934, whereupon they moved to Gilgenburg, East Prussia (because of his military service). It was in Gilgenburg that their first two daughters were born. After Otto's term of service was complete, they moved to Osterode, East Prussia (now Ostroda, Poland), where her last two daughters were born. During the time they lived in Osterode, Otto commuted to Koenigsberg, East Prussia's capital, to work as a machinist. When the Soviet Army's advance in 1945 penetrated the borders of East Prussia, the family fled via refugee train, but were overtaken by Soviet forces in the town of Preussisch Holland, where both Gertrud and Otto were taken into custody for forced labor. It is unknown what happened to Otto, but Gertrud was transported to the Ural Mountains in Russia, where she was forced to do hard labor in the forests and the nearby steppes of the Ural region. After three and a half years of forced labor, she was returned to Germany, and not knowing their fate, began the search for her children.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prospect Avenue Books LLC (March 11, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 156 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0991617908
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0991617906
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.36 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 274 ratings

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
274 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

RM O
5.0 out of 5 stars the German civilian aftermath of WWII
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2020
Verified Purchase
The "rubber meets the road" account of the average German family fleeing the Russian advance at the end of WWII. This is the story of the Mom, as she and her husband are imprisoned by the Russians, separated, and sent east toward Siberia. leaving their young daughters alone to fend for themselves in the rubble and starvation following the Nazi defeat. Here is nothing heroic or dramatic, it is the simple story of a very determined woman who works to survive everyday, in the slave labor camps with the odds stacked against her. It is the story of her release from prison, and her work to gather up her children years later.
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RKO CHESTER
4.0 out of 5 stars wages of war
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2020
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Most students of WWII are familiar with the genocidal campaigns waged by the nazis and so a story about German civilians paying the price for Nazi atrocities could be greeted with a sentiment, ‘they had it coming’. But the reality of starving , freezing children and innocent civilians being dragged into slavery is a sobering counterpoint that touches one’s humanity.This is an interesting and informative story of one woman’s post war struggle. Worth reading.
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Best_Legend
5.0 out of 5 stars Forced Banishment within the Ural Mountains of a Courageous Woman
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
Well written account of a lady's abduction by Russians from East Prussia immediately after World War II; into forced labor deep within the Ural Mountains. Full of well described experiences that are certainly stark, and embedded in hardship; this lady perseveres to survive, and the story has a rewarding resolution, unlike similar many accounts of this period.

I read the companion book, "Yesterday's Sand hills" which is written by the lady's second child, and enjoyed it to the point where I immediately wanted to read her Mother's account of the forced labor period. I expected just a couple of chapters in this very well priced kindle book, but found it to be much more in-depth than I expected. It was a good idea to use this material as a second book rather than to have tried to include it with the daughter's story, ...because there is so much material in both accounts, and the forced labor period really has little to do with the struggles that her children encountered back in Germany after the war.
9 people found this helpful
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fuzzy logic
4.0 out of 5 stars An easy read with some exaggeration?
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2018
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An easy read and a good look into some disturbing Russian history. Parts are the book are suspect as the women survive (some of them) months of sub freezing weather with very inadequate clothing and footwear, a starvation diet consisting just scraps of food daily, and no blankets. Also, they are cutting and stacking trees roughly 3 feet in diameter with crude hand saws. Again this is done in freezing weather on a starvation diet. No mention is made of frostbite. If you can get past these unlikely details you will enjoy it.
One person found this helpful
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Dennis Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Not an ounce of Christian Love
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2015
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My greatest anger against all of the allies, was their total lack of love and forgiveness taught by the very Son of God. You can say with complete agreement with me that Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union were evil and lead to millions of deaths and I would agree. But how we treated the innocent German people is a disgrace and crimes against humanity. Forced slavery, looting, stealing large chunks of land, multiple rapes and murder committed by the Bolshevik are easily verifiable. But kindness and to "love your enemy, be kind to those that hate you and despise you" was rarely practiced by the allies. "Uncle Joe" of The Soviet Union was a master in deception and had both Roosevelt and Churchill eating out of his hand. After all, Joe. Got all of Eastern Europe and millions of innocent German slaves as part of the booty.
5 people found this helpful
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Milan Kotmel
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice writing.
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2016
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This is how it goes in the system in which lies and propaganda is forced on population. Yes she was a german women, yes germans started the war, but the live in workers paradise is dedcribed well. We will not know how she would behave if the germans won the war. We would all speak german if we would be racialy pure. Nazis or commies, there is no diference. Anuyime I hear , for sake of our children I know there is a trouble ahead. Only God our saviour Jesus Christ knows the answer.
4 people found this helpful
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Rory Reno
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting story
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2019
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I found it very interesting to read about the plight of those in Russian captivity after WW II. The depravity of the human mind knows no bounds. It transcends cultural and political boundaries.
One person found this helpful
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Mona Merkevicius
5.0 out of 5 stars Continuation of the Yesterday's Sandhill's Wolf Children in Germany at the End of WWII
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2019
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The first part of the book covers the first book then it goes into what happened to the mother when she didn't come home and the prison camp the Russians shipped her to and how she survived. Very good book.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

anirban
4.0 out of 5 stars A useful narration of those times
Reviewed in India on April 21, 2019
Verified Purchase
I had read a longer account of East Prussia before, but two vignettes made this worth reading for me- the scene of a Russian officer sitting with Gertrud's children and telling about how his own children were killed by the Germans , and the one of her arrival at the station to reunite with her daughter.
Getrud is strong willed- often her husband just gives up what is prudent ( to keep walking as the Russians close in) because she refuses to cooperate. This strong will comes in handy later at a Russian prison camp, while many men give up mentally and die on the train ride into Russia.
I personally found the narration in abandoned and Forgotten to be more vivid and gripping hence the 4
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The future
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 6, 2018
Verified Purchase
A devastating example of history repeating itself. This is what happens to any group of people or persons when good people irrespective of their race, colour, creed, social, economic, culture, phyisical or intellectual being etc stand by watch and do nothing. This is what happens when a group of bystanders misuse their social power by helping themselves and neglecting others. It’s the antithesis of the Good Samaritan. As the holocaust demonstrated, it effects and affects everybody in the end. No winners when this happens.
One person found this helpful
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Jean-Yves
5.0 out of 5 stars Really sad real life horror story
Reviewed in Canada on November 4, 2016
Verified Purchase
No German citizen deserved that fate yet millions of Germans perished at the hands of savage red army. Rape, torture and murder among other things like starvation. The allies are guilty of this horrible human catastrophe.
One person found this helpful
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Erik T
5.0 out of 5 stars gives me a great understanding of what the German people went through during ...
Reviewed in Australia on July 20, 2016
Verified Purchase
A gritty read, gives me a great understanding of what the German people went through during the end days of World War II. My grandmother, her sisters and her brother and their mother all lived in Berlin during the war and afterwards, all of them surviving unscathed, but their father had gone missing on the Eastern Front at some stage (a Red Cross letter my grandmother has shows that he was in the 6th Army at Stalingrad). This is as much as I know about my own family's experiences during this time. My great-uncle, in a video recording where he gave his own obituary as he knew he was dying, talked briefly about some of these experiences, but even then my thirst to learn more was not quenched. Any time I raise the subject with my grandmother, she either skirts around the questions or she tells me she had a pretty good and cannot remember much about the experiences during the war. Her twin sister, my great-aunt, nearly freaked out when I was watching an old World War II film set during the battle of Berlin where Russian tanks were visible, so I have a feeling she witnessed at least a little of the fighting in Berlin but she refused to talk about it. I can understand that, but its a shame as these stories disappear as the older generations die out. So glad I came across this book. Really helps me come to grips with some of the things my family may very well have experienced.
I highly recommend this for people who are curious enough to learn of the experiences of "the defeated enemy" as there appears to be very little material on the subject
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Client d'Amazon
3.0 out of 5 stars J Fernandes
Reviewed in Canada on January 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
For those who are interested in the human side of the war (collateral damage in today's aseptic definition), regardless of the side, this is a nice reading. The overall picture of suffering and despair is well known, but 1st person accounts are always welcome to realize how dramatic it was for civilians.
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