Growing up outside of Berlin, Hanna’s father encouraged his children to learn about life beyond the village. But at the end of World War II, the Soviets took control of the eastern part of Germany and established a repressive communist satellite state—East Germany—which used brutal force and a massive wall to cut off East from West.Determined to live free, Hanna made a dangerous escape that eventually lead her to America. But the price of freedom—leaving behind her family—was heartbreaking.Throughout the Cold War, the West knew little about East Germany. Hanna’s daughter, Nina Willner, became the first female U.S. Army intelligence officer to lead operations in East Berlin during the Cold War to better understand the country. Though separated by only a few miles, American Nina and her German relatives were kept apart by a bitter political war.Forty Autumns brings into focus five women who fought to preserve what matters most. Nina takes us deep into the tumultuous and terrifying world of Communism, revealing both the harsh reality her relatives endured and her experiences as an intelligence officer behind the Berlin Wall.