For our second IN meeting, we invited an outside speaker, Dr. Bettina Blum, from the University of Paderborn. Her talk, “Anglo-German Relations 1945- 2019″ was not a cut-and-dry historical survey, but covered personal stories of many families who were stationed in the British zone after the war. The motto” occupiers-partners-friends” gives you an idea of what many families went through during those years. One fact that we were not aware of is that British families were placed in homes of German families, who were then evicted and had to find other places to live. Dr. Blum did make clear though that German        families were not expropriated, they eventually got their property back or were compensated, but it was an extremely  difficult time. With photos and inside stories, Dr. Blum captured our attention, even those of us not directly involved. Some of our British members had their own after-war stories, and Dr. Blum encouraged us to talk. Two dates are important:  first legal Anglo-German marriage 1947, and the first twinning project Reading-Düsseldorf 1948. It was an interesting,            rewarding afternoon – 17 ladies attending.