Some of the letters published in this volume were first published by the Society for Contemporary American Literature in German (SCALG) and were very well received in the US. In 2010 they were published in book form in Germany for the first time. Those letters show what happened during World War II not only to the soldiers fighting on the front, but also to those waiting at home, the families. And, once, the war was over, the struggle for survival continued, in the prisoner camps, and at home for the starving families, who wait for the prisoners to come home.