Eka: Berlin and Munich Memories 1911-1935 (Paperback)

EKA the book is a song, Erica's song, a spiritual, sung about her life and God; how she followed her spirituality, her feelings, the waiting, worrying, then knowing the way, heart singing, through many passages in her long, long life.

Erica Maria Johanna Grossgerge was born in the German capitol of Berlin on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and eleven: 1/1/11. Her life spans most of the twentieth century and she considers herself blessed to have met so many people who have been spiritual figures important to the world's well-being.

As a child in Berlin, she saw the suffering from World War One; the crippled soldiers, the food rationing, the violent political turmoil in the Weimar Republic, and an infamous inflation rate that could double in hours.

As a young adult she studied business and took English courses. First employed by an American, then a British company, she drifted towards the English speaking world. She saw the film "Showboat," and Robeson's songs of the movie convinced her that America was the place she wanted to live, simply because they sang such sweetly spiritual music there.

In 1931, at the age of twenty, Erica moved from Berlin to Munich. There she met and became engaged to the son of an American diplomat, soon following him to England to work as an au pair while he attended Cambridge. The university was a truly international place, and she found delight in making the global friendships that she would keep throughout their lives.

While in America at Stanford University in 1938, where her husband taught German and studied for his PhD, Erica was introduced to Sufi thought and she found the first true path that resonated with her spirituality, which she has developed throughout her long life.

Many paths and many years later, the book EKA was written. There still is much more, she says.

Daniel P.W. Hathaway