Meet Alice, my maternal grandmother, born in 1897 in Riga. On a large country estate, one evening in 1914, her father hosted a farewell party for the officers of a local regiment who were leaving for the front the following day. Alice sat next to a dashing young officer called Eugen and it was love at first sight. Eugen spent months in the trenches in East Prussia, was injured, captured by the Germans and spent the next four years in 12 prison camps. Alice traced him, and they became engaged. On his release they tried to marry but, on the day of their wedding, the Lutheran pastor was shot. The following day, they tried again, but the pastor had typhoid. Eventually, in 1919, they found a catholic priest who married them.

The phrase that I typed, ‘Sitting. Listening. Waiting for the knock’ refers to their life in 1940 when the Soviets invaded Lithuania. One night, the knock came at midnight and Soviet soldiers arrested Eugen. Alice retaliated by showing the soldiers documents relating to their planned exodus to Germany, saying they had the protection of the Reich. The bluff worked and Eugen returned the next morning. Most didn’t; Alice had saved his live. Their story has many more chapters, all showing what a lioness Alice was; brave, quick-witted and indefatigable in protecting her family.

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