Faith in the Ruins

The reader will be unable to find Schwabendorf on a map. It is a literary composite of the countless Swabian villages in former Yugoslavia. Although this is a work of fiction it is based on historical facts and the personal experiences of individuals who survived the attempted liquidation of the German minority living in Yugoslavia after the Second World War who were known as the Swabians. The events that took place in the village of Bulkes, now known as Maglic in present day Serbia, form the basic background of the novel. Although the majority of the Swabians were Roman Catholics there were also numerous Lutheran and Reformed communities all of which shared a similar fate. Intertwined with all of the hazards of war and its aftermath is the sustaining power of love, both human and divine, in the lives of those who survived.