Day had not yet spread its wings. The smell of antiseptic and anticipation lingered in the halls of the hospital in the little village outside Berlin in a war-torn Germany. Suddenly, a baby's first outcry shattered the calmness of the early hour. In a room, Greta, a blonde, beautiful woman, listened to the crying baby; and when the nurse wanted to give her the baby to hold, she turned away. 'No, no, I am tired. I don't want it.' Elke Hawthorne shares the fascinating tale of her life, from her humble birth devoid of a loving parent's anticipation, to her fear and confusion at being asked to spy on the U.S. by the East German police. Born in East Germany at the end of WWII, she escaped the conditions of socialist Germany by crossing the borders of the newly built Berlin Wall even under gunfire. She lived as a dancer, married a U.S. soldier, moved to Texas, survived in the path of a tornado, and was even asked to spy for her native country. Although she is forced by nature and necessity to trust those around her, she is betrayed over and over again. Yet through it all, she finds a way to forgive and forget, always moving onward to help those around her.

Photographs and text comprise an expert tour of the holdings of the Library of Congress.