ABSTRACT
In November 1945 Jürgen Kuczynski had finally been allowed to travel back to Berlin, 'for good and without interruption, to help with the rebuilding. Jürgen's and Ursula's dreams of building a new and democratic post-war Germany on the ashes of the old were immediately confronted by the sobering realities. Beneath the level of big power confrontation, life for ordinary citizens was a continuous struggle for survival in those early years. During these early years back in Germany Marguerite was largely preoccupied with looking after the children and organising home life in the difficult post-war circumstances, while Jürgen worked at the university in East Berlin. However, she did remain politically active. The Soviet Occupied Zone of Germany to which Jürgen would eventually return was a place of devastation, tension and uncertainty. East Germany's economy became one of the most successful and most stable of the socialist bloc.
