Escape from Plauen

ESCAPE FROM PLAUEN tells the story of war’s depravation but also tells the story of faith and the will to triumph against all odds.


 “An artist as well as a writer, Renate Stoever has an artist's sensibility that lends beauty to her writing.  As a result, the reader is not just an observer, but also a participant in her experience.This memoir of a remarkable life is a polished gem. It will keep you turning pages until the last word.”

 —Christine Royer, retired Vice-President of Public Affairs, Barnard College, N.Y. 


“I’ve been a professional editor for more than thirty years, and Escape From Plauen is better writing than the work of most professional writers I've edited. This is an amazing story, and it is incredibly well written.”

 —Mike Slizewski,  professional editor


Parts of this book moved me to tears...creating powerful images of  destruction…great choice of words describing the emotion, terror, and horror of war as seen first hand through the eyes of a child. What a great read...riveting….” 

 —Carol Kreit, author of First Wives’ Tool Kit.


Renate was born in the German city of Plauen before the start of the Second World War. Enduring the daily hardships of the War, Renate and her family escaped to the West from Communist East Germany in 1947. Within a week of her 1953 arrival in the United States, Renate started to work in a small shop sewing beads on   moccasins. A year later she used her artistic ability to become a top designer in the Lace and Embroidery industry.


 Renate married in 1962, and helped her husband establish a successful Wall Street firm. After winning a writing competition in the New Yorker Staats Zeitung, a German-American weekly newspaper, friends encouraged her  to spend more time writing.  


Renate and her husband live in New Jersey.