Oelwein woman’s book traces family history through WWII

By: 
Mira Schmitt-Cash

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Meeting Hitler at age 14. Marrying a Luftwaffe pilot. After first husband, the pilot died, marrying a prisoner of war, and being placed in the Nazi forced laborer pool. Escaping Europe and surviving as refugees post-World War II.
Peladija Woodson-Diers documents these and more elements of her mother’s story in “Triumph Over Destiny,” moments the author described at the Clarksville Public Library on Oct. 11.
Woodson-Diers voice-taped her parents for 10 years starting in 1991. The Oelwein native holds a bachelor’s in accounting from Upper Iowa University and a Masters of Social Work from University of Northern Iowa, as well as an associate’s in Nursing Home Administration from Ankeny Community College. She performed nursing home administration, worked with refugees, and currently has a private counseling practice, in Oelwein.
“They were very open with me. My mother was quite a storyteller. Her memories were very detailed once she was willing to share them and her memory was fantastic,” Woodson-Diers said.
Read the full article in the October 20 edition of the Star.

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