5 Million Displaced: The WWII Aftermath Story That Went Untold for Decades 80 years after the end of WWII, survivor’s childhood memoir of post-war German expulsions published in new English edition and first-ever German translation

2 December 2025 – This year has marked 80 years since the end of World War II in Europe, but eight decades since the guns fell silent in May 1945, one chapter of that history has remained largely untold in English-speaking countries; the expulsion of approximately 15 million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe in history’s largest forced population transfer.

Now, as the world commemorates this pivotal anniversary, Arena Books announces the publication of two landmark editions of A Childhood in Bohemia and the Flight to the West by Erika Storey: a new English edition and the book’s first-ever German translation. Written by a survivor who, at just eight years old, witnessed one of history’s largest forced population transfers, this remarkable memoir breaks decades of silence around events authorized at Tehran and Potsdam.

In June 1945, just weeks after Germany’s surrender, eight-year-old Erika Schroll was torn from her home in Saaz, Bohemia, along with thousands of other German women and children. What followed was a three-year ordeal of starvation, disease, and displacement that nearly killed her entire family – a story repeated across Central and Eastern Europe as approximately 15 million ethnic Germans were expelled under decisions made at Tehran and Potsdam.

“This memoir illuminates a historical truth that has remained obscured for too long,” says Storey, who has lived in Essex since 1958 and raised her four children in England. “I wrote this book because in English-speaking countries, little is known about what happened during and after the war in Bohemia. The historical events matter – not to assign blame, but to understand how such things happen and to prevent them from happening again.”

Written with extraordinary vividness and honesty, the memoir documents the human cost of collective punishment through a child’s eyes: the packed SS barracks where small children died daily, the open coal wagons transporting thousands through winter storms, the skeletal bodies her father wept over when he finally found his family in 1947, and the desperate illegal border crossing where they were shot at while fleeing the Soviet zone.

Why the 80th Anniversary Matters
As we mark eight decades since the end of WWII, this publication arrives at a crucial moment. The generation that lived through these events is rapidly disappearing – Erika Storey is now 88 – making the preservation of firsthand testimony more urgent than ever. Yet the book’s relevance extends far beyond historical documentation.
“Eighty years later, the lessons of this period remain urgently relevant,” notes the publisher. “In a world experiencing renewed displacement, political division, and sophisticated propaganda, this memoir shows how ordinary people can be shaped to dehumanize others – and why understanding these mechanisms is essential to preventing history’s repetition.”

The simultaneous publication in both English and German represents a significant milestone in transnational historical understanding. While Storey has called England home for more than 60 years, her story bridges British and German history, documenting the experiences of the 3 million Sudeten Germans expelled from Bohemia – a region where German and Slavonic cultures had coexisted for centuries.

The memoir draws on personal experience, family testimonies, and historical research to provide context for the post-war expulsions, tracing events from 1918 through the end of WWII. Storey’s brutally honest approach includes documenting the Nazi propaganda she was exposed to as a child in school—to show how entire populations can be shaped by systematic indoctrination.

“These experiences made my life richer and taught me valuable lessons,” reflects Storey. “But the fact of this mass expulsion remains the ‘missing link’ in our understanding of WWII. If we condemn what people did and believed, we should at least make it freely available knowledge what happened to them afterward.”

Written during the 1990s following the sudden death of her husband and both parents, the memoir serves both as personal catharsis and historical documentation. The original English edition was published in 2009; this new edition marks the book’s first availability in German, making it accessible to audiences on both sides of Storey’s remarkable transatlantic life story.

In today’s world of political upheaval, A Childhood in Bohemia offers urgent lessons about the cycles of violence and the dangers of collective indoctrination and punishment. It reveals how ordinary people can so easily be shaped by propaganda to dehumanize others – and why we must remain vigilant against such manipulation. But above all, it stands as a testament to human resilience – to the capacity to survive, rebuild, and bear witness.

Publication Details:
New English Edition:
• Title: A Childhood in Bohemia and the Flight to the West
• Publisher: Arena Books
• Format: Paperback and E-book
• ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-914390-47-0
• ISBN (E-book): 978-1-914390-48-7
• Publication Date: 31 December, 2025

First German-Language Edition:
• Title: Eine Kindheit in Böhmen und die Flucht in den Westen
• Publisher: Arena Books
• Format: Paperback and E-book
• ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-914390-49-4
• ISBN (E-book): 978-1-914390-50-0
• Publication Date: 31 December, 2025

About the Author: Erika Storey (née Schroll) was born in Saaz, Bohemia, in 1936. After surviving the post-war expulsions and rebuilding her life in Bavaria, she moved to England as an au pair in 1958. She married a teacher, raised four children in Essex, and wrote this memoir to document a chapter of history largely unknown in English-speaking countries. Her daughter Christine provided the cover artwork for both editions.

For review copies, interview requests, or additional information, please contact:
Isabel Corfe
Arena Books
info@arenabooks.co.uk
01284 658979
www.arenabooks.co.uk