Prior to the Second World War, Elizabeth Bickley enjoyed “a happy, modest and sheltered upbringing” with her family in Thuringia, Germany.But once the war broke out, she said it “changed everything”. Her oldest brother, Wolfgang, who was studying to become an architect, was called up for military service.He was fighting for Germany when they occupied France; and was later transferred to Russia, where he was killed in 1941.“My second brother [Peter] who was then studying philosophy in Jena, was exempt from going to war, but he enlisted just the same behind my father's back who, as well as my mother, was very upset about it.“He participated in the Balkan War, but later also had to go to Russia, where he became a prisoner of war and finally came home in 1947.”For the most part Mrs Bickley was not aware of the tragic situation taking place under Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.But on January 20, 1945, her eyes were opened. While at a railway station in Konigsberg she observed “total chaos” as people fought to flee Germany.“[I saw] wall to wall people, refugees, soldiers etc and only one train. Somehow, I don't know how, I got pushed into the train carriage.“You could hear the artillery and the loudspeakers reassure us that everything would be all right. My sister was not allowed to leave [because she was a teacher] and remained at her post.“I was very lucky. I learned that two hours after my train left, the Russians broke into the town and Konigsberg was cut off from the rest of Germany for a long time.”Even after the war initially ended it was “a very difficult and worrying time”. She said people had no money or food and many lived with an uncertainty about what lie ahead.Remembrance Day is an important time to acknowledge those, including her loved ones, who lost their lives through war, she said.She thinks back to wartime, particularly when she revisits her home in Germany.“I go where I used to live and where my school was and I always remember then.“It's like a big story when I look back on that time, but it's also still very alive. It was awful to think of all those people from countries around the world that died. It's just awful.”