Walled-In

WALLED-IN  A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom

Born in Berlin, Germany, J. Elke Ertle grows up in the city’s British sector during the aftermath of World War II when Berlin is the focus of an escalating Cold War. Throughout childhood and adolescence she is known by her first name, Jutta.

During her teens, mounting East West tension culminates in the construction of the Berlin Wall. But the brick and mortar monstrosity is not the only insurmountable barrier Jutta comes to know intimately. As the only child of exacting German parents, she is brought up to unquestioning obedience. When she befriends an American service family she catches a glimpse of a very different lifestyle, one that encourages dialogue and mutual acceptance. The experience leaves a profound mark. But she does not defy parental authority until she falls in love a few years later. The ensuing parent-daughter conflict parallels in intensity the Cold War between East and West, and Jutta finds herself incarcerated behind walls as impenetrable as the one that divided her city. Upon turning twenty one, she immigrates to the United States. When her first name proves too difficult for American tongues, she begins using her middle name, Elke.

In WALLED IN, the author, J. Elke Ertle, interweaves history with her own memories of the Berlin Airlift, the mounting East-West tension, the construction fo the Berlin Wall, and the city’s enthusiastic response to John F. Kennedy’s visit to Berlin in 1963. She takes the reader on a remarkable journey into her closely supervised, yet happy childhood, her youthful disillusionment, and her deliberate, albeit difficult decision to choose freedom.