Eleven-year-old Horst Helmut flees with his family in January 1945 from the advancing front lines in Silesia, facing icy cold and deep snow. Upon the arrival of the Russians in the refuge of Bad Langenau, he witnesses looting and a house fire, and he must endure the sight of rapes. After returning to his war-torn hometown of Strehlen, he lives there until his expulsion in August 1946. Horst Helmut recounts his life between childhood and the struggle against hunger, as well as the repressions from the Russian and Polish occupiers. The boy describes the expulsion and his experiences on the transport train heading west. Finally, he talks about the difficulties of integrating into his new home village in the Bielefeld district.