Their story begins in 1910 when Liese was born in the
Khortiza area of Ukraine and does not end end until her death in 1981 in
Berrien Springs, Michigan.
Follow their journey from their early courtship and
marriage, beginning a family, and having to say goodbye to the vagaries of
World War II, to the decades-long separation and the trials of Liese being a
single immigrant mother and Eddie becoming a prisoner of war through his
subsequent life of hardship under a Communist regime.
World War II destroyed many lives, and ripped apart many
families. The Konrad family is no different. They had to work together to
escape to safety in the midst of a world falling apart. Liese had to fight for
the very survival of her children all this while she hoped and waited for her
husband to return alive.
In other words, Liese never gave up on her faith or her God
neither did she ever gave up hope of ever seeing Eddie again--alive.
The authors wrote this book to honor the love story of their
father and mother, Eddie and Liese Konrad.
After spending their early childhood in eastern Europe,
Albert and Karl Konrad, the authors and children of the Konrads immigrated to
the United States with their mother, Liese.
Albert became a pastor and studied at Andrews University
where he earned both BA and MA degrees before retiring and says is learning the
art of doing nothing in retirement. In his spare time he reads, preaches and
volunteers.
Karl became an educator and retired as Professor of Chemistry
after serving at Southwestern Adventist University for over 40 years. In
retirement Karl enjoys prison ministry outreach, and volunteer tutoring.
I knew Albert in Maryland when he was pastoring here and so
when I had the opportunity to read this book, I was immediately interested and
curious to learn “the rest of the story.”
Eddie and Liese were married in the Ukraine December 30,
1937 where Eddie had become a successful photographer and tailor. When World
War II came along, Eddie had to join the German Army and served as an
interpreter. On his one and only visit home, he did everything possible to provide coal and wood for heating and cooking
for the family which now consisted of Liese and their two boys Albert and Karl.
When Eddie received his orders to report for active duty, he
prayed, “Oh God take care of my family.”
Not long after this the family had to flee along with a
large group of others and God took care of them as Eddie had prayed.
One amazing situation and irony is, as they were passing
through a forest, they noticed a large compound with a three-story house and
immediately hoped they could rest there. However, to their dismay, they were
told they couldn’t rest there and asked to leave because only soldiers could
stay there!
So, dismayed, they reluctantly left the house but feeling
they could not travel on farther.
As they were leaving, they heard a man saying “follow me,” which
they did and he took them to another house where there were soldiers but he told
the soldiers to leave because these civilians needed a place to stay for the
night. The soldiers left. Food was provided that night and the next morning, before
they left and went forward on their journey.
It seemed that this this man dressed as a common rank
soldier may have really been an angel.
When the war was over, Liese and her two boys were able to
immigrate to the United States.
I would encourage you to read the full story and be inspired
by how God took care of the Konrads. This amazing book is available at Amazon.com the ISBN is 978-1-4796-0851-5.
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