Not many have lived a life like Rosina’s. Based on the known facts, this is her story:
When Hitler invades Poland in September 1939, sending shock-waves across Europe, thirteen-year-old Rosina Callens is in Oostende, Belgium, dreaming of becoming an Olympic gymnast.
When the Nazis invade Belgium, Rosina and her family must decide whether to flee to England, or to stay and endure enemy occupation, as they had previously in the Great War.
Most of the family head for England, but German Stukas ensure that not all will make it.
Rosina’s is a life of courage and endurance, as she witnesses and survives the terrible horrors of war, before marrying one of her liberators: a Welsh soldier named John Jones.
She moves to Wales full of love and hope, but life will never be easy for those who have suffered so much. She soon realises she is not welcome in John's family; the mental scars of suffering and the anguish of memories plague her, even as she continues to face oppression and depression daily.
Somehow she survives, raising a family and leaving a legacy. This story is part of that legacy.
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