Leni, orphaned and homeless in postwar Germany, seemed older than she really was, for she had learned through bitter necessity to take care of herself. She was determined that one day she would be a great actress like her mother, and her chief ambition was to study under a good director.
When Aunt Frederike and her husband escaped from East Germany in 1948 and came back to live in their derelict and ancient family castle just over the East-West border, Leni agreed to live with them only because there was a group of young actors living in a nearby town with whom she hoped to work. When the theater group was in desperate need of permanent quarters, Leni persuaded Aunt Rexie to let them live in the castle on the understanding that they would help rehabilitate it. Later she learned, through the village doctor, that the cellars of the castle were used as a way station by people crossing the border from one zone to another, and she was drawn into helping these desperate folk.