Dance on the Volcano

Dance on the Volcano focuses on the life of ordinary Germans during the last two years of World War II when events began to escalate that brought the downfall of Hitler’s Third Reich. 

After a devastating air raid on Berlin, Zerner, the teenage daughter of an anti-Nazi ethnic-German family, leaves her childhood home for a small spa in the west.

Though not subjected to Nazi persecutions, Zerner gains a broad awareness of the horrific atrocities in the concentration camps as she witnesses disturbing Nazi acts of violence against Jews. She describes in detail the attitudes of young people and adults, as she meets Nazis and anti-Nazis. Her story conveys a sense of fear and dark forebodings, as in the end she, too, suffers the loss of her father. 

Zerner’s memoir depicts life in a society without freedom. Her account has a place as part of our recorded history.