Another Bridge

By Brigitte Barrell

Subjects: Biography, WWII, History

Description: On the night of February 13, 1945, 1,800 Allied bombers flew over Dresden, Germany and started the infamous fire-bombing which destroyed the city and killed over 300,000 people in one night. Brigitte Barrell and her son, Alex, survived the bombing, but were separated when the Russian troops occupied the ruined city and arrested Brigitte. After her escape from the Russian jail, Brigitte began her four-month search for her small, three year old son. Trapped between the ever-advancing Russian and American lines, Brigitte hid in the forests during the day, searched for her son at night, and discovered her own strength as she searched through a hell of defeat and occupation, enduring hunger, homelessness, madness, and constant disappointment. Finally, in a climactic ending, Brigitte and her son are reunited. Brigitte Barrell has recrossed a bridge to her past to share an unusual and moving episode from her life among the ruins of wartime Germany. Far from being a tale of war, however, *Another Bridge* is the true story of a mother's love.