Tapestry Of My Mother's Life is a biographical account of a woman coming
of age in Germany during the 1930s. Malve von Hassell explores her
mother's life through the fragmented lens of transmitted memory, and its
impact on the second generation.
Born at her grandfather's house in Farther Pomerania, 1923, Christa von
Hassell had to contend with the increasing and pervasive impact of the
Nazi regime. As the child of a German army officer, she moved with her
parents often. Through boarding school, university, marriage, the Second
World War, life under Soviet occupation, and a new beginning in the
West, eventually in America, the biography is an incredible, emotional
journey of childhood, survival, and relationships.
The portrayal of Christa's life also focuses on the role of memory:
shaped, distorted, and realigned in the continual process of telling
stories of the past in conjunction with silence about many aspects.
Children of women who shared similar experiences and life trajectories
struggled with the challenge of learning about their parents' lives
during extraordinary times, confounded by a wealth of stories on the one
hand and a seemingly impenetrable veil of silence on the other.
Working through such memorabilia, as well as the tales of the past, can
offer ways in which one can come to terms with the inherited detritus of
thoughts and memories. As such, this account of the life of a unique and
complex individual has also wider relevance in that it addresses age-old
questions of the relationship between one generation and the next.
