Campbell Rotary

Today, in concert with the anniversary of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, we heard from Ursula Anna Fischer Smith, discussing her book “Picking Tomatoes When the Sky was in Flames,” a recollection of World War Two in the European Theater, written from her perspective as a child living in Germany during the war.

Picking Tomatoes When the Sky was in Flames

A Compelling Story of Survival, Love and Resilience

The spellbinding true story of a young girl in a close-knit coal miner’s family unfolds in Germany during six years of World War II and the years that follow.

Ursula and her brothers experience normal childhood adventures while the world around them is caught up in the flames of war. The struggle for survival comes alive in Essen, a city in the Ruhr Valley known for its steel industry, coal mines and manufacturing plants.

Ursula discussed the impact of wartime on civilian populations, and impressed upon us the principle that “A child living in the war never forgets the war.”