Something that would have been impossible before 1989 was Plener 's contribution on the Stalin years in Moscow . In 1997 she published " Frauenschicksale unter Stalin " ( '' " The fate of women under Stalin " '' ) which was followed nine years later by a " Gedenkband über deutsche Opfer des Großen Terrors in der Sowjetunion " ( '' " Memorial volume on German victims of the Great Terror inside the Soviet Union " '' ) . Some of the victims whose fates were set out in this volume were people whose disappearance had , hitherto , been unexplained . The theme of Stalin 's purges was one in which Plener had a personal interest . When she was living in Moscow as a very small child with her mother , her paternal grandparents had also been living as political refugees in the city . Her law abiding paternal grandfather was arrested and shot in 1937 . Three years later , in 1940 , the Soviets returned her grandmother to Nazi Germany following conclusion of the Molotov – Ribbentrop non-aggression Pact . Other relatives suffered , and Ulla 's mother , Marie-Luise Plener herself came under suspicion
Great Terror
Great Purge
Ulla Plener