Anna Wimschneider; Farm Wife’s Memoirs Became a Film

Anna Wimschneider, a Bavarian farm girl who wrote of being deprived of her youth by the death of her mother and the hardships of World War II, has died.

Ms. Wimschneider, whose “Herbstmilch” (“Autumn Milk”) was made into a popular film, was 73. She died Friday of the complications of a stroke in this small community northeast of Munich.

At age 64, she set down for her children and grandchildren the story of her marriage and the rigors she endured as a girl.

A son-in-law found the simply written book so moving that he took the manuscript to a publisher in 1984. The book, “Autumn Milk, Memories of a Farmer’s Wife,” was the only book Ms. Wimschneider wrote. It has sold 1.6 million copies.

In the bitter memoir, she describes her mother’s death during the birth of her ninth child when Ms. Wimschneider was 8. As the oldest daughter, she was left to take care of the rest of the family and help with grueling farm work.

She married in 1939, but her husband was drafted into the army days later. She was left to care for his sick relatives, two eccentric uncles and an aunt. Her husband came back from the war, but the many years of rebuilding Germany made raising a family difficult.

The book and movie earned Ms. Wimschneider more than $2 million, but she never changed her unassuming manner or rural lifestyle.