In 1954 Gundi Busch was the first German to be crowned Figure Skating World Champion und subsequently she not only became a national idol, but an internationally celebrated star. In grey post-war Germany the success of “gudomliga Gundi”, deified Gundi as the Swedish press had termed her, grew into fairytale proportions. “Gundi Busch is currently being photographed more than any actress. Who could possibly resist her?”, newspapers were asking. Even today, fifty years later, her name is still a familiar one to most Germans. However, Gundi was not only an ice princess, the darling of the adoring public, a blonde star on blades, she was also an eighteen-year-old girl – and: she hated skates.

Gundi Busch/Ruth Damwerth: Mein eiskaltes Leben.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-13-4; hardcover, 19,90 Euro

“I was four and a half and it was a Sunday afternoon, when my father took me to the ice rink for the first time. I can still envision the pores in the wood of the ledge which was at eye level and that I was fearfully gripping…”

“Smiling was intrinsic”, says the 73-year-old today. However, in her biography “the fairytale image of a happy ice princess” will be “thoroughly dismantled.” Back then no one knew: The ever-smiling teen hated figure skating and she hated the woman who was tormenting her towards success – her mother. In “Mein eiskaltes Leben” Gundi Busch describes the fame she was forced into during the post-war era. Her son Peter Johansson persuaded her to chronicle her long way of suffering. Through the internet she came across Ruth Damwerth who wrote the book. It will also be published in the USA and in Russia.

Kölner Express, 04.19.2009, on “Mein eiskaltes Leben“