"Refuge" and "From Fear to Freedom" Audiobooks

At just ten years old, Liane Guddat (later Brown) stood on the streets of Insterburg, East Prussia, as Hitler’s motorcade passed by. Only months later, that same town lay in smoldering ruins. Liane, her mother (“Mutti”), and her siblings scrambled over broken glass and charred beams in a desperate attempt to survive.

Her father—no Nazi, but drafted into the German army—was captured and held as a prisoner of war. At home, the Guddat family faced a different kind of imprisonment: life under Russian occupation.

While history remembers the devastation of the Holocaust and the Allied victory, far fewer stories have been told of the German villagers—the wives, the children, the grandparents—who also suffered, abandoned by their collapsing government and brutalized under Soviet control.

In Refuge, Liane recounts sixteen harrowing months as her family became the last survivors of a town of five thousand. Through starvation, abuse, and unimaginable loss, they clung to faith. Against all odds, they escaped, reunited, and carried with them a story of God’s marvelous grace in the darkest of days.

Liane Guddat Brown is a survivor, storyteller, and mentor whose life testifies to God’s sustaining grace. Born in January 1934 in East Prussia, she was a young child when WWII began. Like many in her community, her family initially believed they would not be affected by the war. Liane fondly remembers her time in the Hitler Youth, enjoying sports, camaraderie, and skill-building exercises—until the realities of war hit her hometown and she realized the organization’s darker purpose.

At ages 10–11, Liane witnessed the destruction of Insterburg, endured Soviet occupation, and faced refugee life while separated from her father, Emil, who was a prisoner of war. Through faith, courage, and perseverance, her family survived and eventually made a new life in the United States.

Her award-winning autobiographies, Refuge and From Fear to Freedom, recount these experiences, sharing stories of miraculous provision, enduring faith, and courage in the face of overwhelming adversity. Beyond her books, Liane has dedicated her life to family, faith, and service—raising three children (including Melanie Lewis, co-founder of DDCommunity), supporting missionary efforts, and helping families in need. Today, she enjoys a growing family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, carrying forward a legacy of faith, resilience, and devotion to Christ.