Memoirs of Spiegel, now president of the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland. He was born in 1937 in Warendorf. Pp. 18-83 deal with the Nazi period. His father was arrested during the "Kristallnacht" pogrom, and afterwards left for Belgium. Several months later the rest of the family followed - his wife, seven-year-old daughter, and Paul. A few days after the German occupation, Spiegel's father was arrested and deported to Buchenwald and Auschwitz. The rest of the family found refuge with the Blomme family, the father's former employer. In October 1942 Spiegel's sister Rosa was arrested on the street and disappeared. Spiegel was placed with a Belgian family in Uccle, and later with a peasant family near Namur. In January 1945 the village was liberated. Spiegel's father survived Auschwitz, and after the war the family returned to Warendorf. Rosa was murdered in Auschwitz in November 1942.