She Could Not Be Stopped

A proto feminist of sorts, Irene Misslbeck Stoess broke out of the narrow strictures confining women in Nazi Germany through sheer force of will and desire. She wanted to be a Latin teacher, but women were only allowed to teach Latin to girls. She wanted to become an archivist, but it was a profession reserved exclusively for men. She was even told she was unlikely to ever have a husband or children, because she was too intellectual and not pretty enough. Irene did all of this and more, pursuing her goals with grit; determination; and a fierce, single-minded focus. She documented everything, leaving behind a treasure trove of information for her daughter to discover after her death. Irene's husband, Karlheinz, ably captured her strong will with his oft-spoken lament: "She could not be stopped!"

Helga Warren's first book, "The Enchanted Suitcase: A Window Onto My German Father's World War II Life", contained her father's memoirs and chronicled his time as a German prisoner of war living in America. Warren lives with her husband in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, where she is a tour guide specializing in German and French tours of the nation's capital.