5 Stars A masterpiece, truly
As a student in the U.S. we are taught from 5th grade the atrocities of what Hitler destroyed and took away from so many; lives. Until we get to the 11th grade the school system’s greatest ability is to pin the horrors of other countries on the main bulletin board, basically we learn about what every other country (mostly Germany in WWII) has done wrong to their people. Since we have our own atrocities (death and purposeful mistreatment of Native Americans, horrific lives of slaves and our constant push for more and more and more land) we have to focus on the worst thing to mask our own terrible history. What better place to do that than the 1940s German empire? Well, because of this plain fact of constancy in curriculum, Germany’s whole story with the Jews gets old.
I still remember the first time I saw pictures of little Jewish children and I was so appalled I didn't even know how to react..or think. It was so horrific I almost cried. Well the years went by and eventually the story got told too much--multitudes of summer reading about the same topic and forced learning year in and year out. Frankly, I was sick of the third reich. I wanted something new and fresh. Well that is where this book comes in.
I have always been an avid lover of historical fiction--Ruta Sepetys? she’s a Goddess of this genre, actually just in general a Goddess--but I was a little hesitant to pick it up. It sounded like every other story--one of a kind family (in this case a young woman, already making it different) letting in a Jewish person to stay hidden--but at the recommendation of our TAC leader I thought, why not? So I read it.
From when I picked this book up to when I put it down I was in this constant state of “I can’t stop.” It had new perspectives, things I never even thought of, things that are not taught in class. For example, the curfew affected everyone, even the free and “happy” individuals like the main girl. One night the she almost comes face to face with the German soldiers who burn books in the streets, waiting around for some unsuspecting female to rape and kill. I mean, I’ve never heard of that. Obviously rape and pillage happens (especially the book burning), but in that scene it felt so real. So so real. That is how to describe this book.
And before I knew it I had an emotional investment in the story and the history. Emotion that had been void after the 5th time of forced learning of it. This story became alive, dancing behind my eyelids during my sleep. I thought about it constantly. I never paid attention to what time it was or where I was or perhaps how hungry I was. I was truly lost in this story.
One thing that came out of this book that school never taught me, nor did anyone ever say (perhaps they didn’t know, but honestly there were scenes only a woman who was not Jewish but still less than the Germans would have experienced and those things were not so quickly taught), was that these German people--soldiers, citizens, doctors anything--really were atrocious. I realized that when people feel they can do whatever they want with no repercussions, often they will do whatever they want. This sprouted anger towards the Nazis, and frankly I was so grateful. After all, I had become so detached after hearing the same story. “Finally, I have some founded anger towards these horrific things!” So now I was angry at those stupid Nazis and fearful for the main girl and sympathetic towards the Jews. This story truly brought back that initial reaction to what the Germans did.
I really appreciate that this story was based and written mainly on memoirs transformed into story format. Thus, I really can believe all of what I read happened which makes it so much more real and poetic. Another thing that I have realized is that even though a story may feel very distanced as they often do, most times they are much closer than we could ever imagine. Such as this one, so many times it felt like I was reading a fictional story and then I would realize ‘But this is real, this happened.’ and even then, that made it even more unbelievable.
Unbelievable, a young woman living with her young sister hiding 13 Jews in her attic housed next to a woman with a son in the German military. It really does not get crazier than that. And that is what I love about this story. While so much in it is crazy and unbelievable, so much in it is real and true. I know I keep repeating ‘real’ but I cannot think of a better word to describe this. It is so beautiful in it’s realness which is what I think I needed after all those years of the stories not being real.
Something that makes it even more real is that for a few of the Jews she housed, I most definitely did not like them, one was quite selfish and another slightly perverted, but then again....isn’t that the beauty of life? No one is this perfect saint from heaven, and of course some people have more annoying traits than others--they are human after all. That’s something they leave out in history class, portraying Jewish people as not human because the humanness of their lives are left out and all we learn is what happened to them.
What the Germans did was horrible and should never be repeated in history, but luckily there were some small beams of light during this time of darkness and these are the stories worth reading. The stories of bravery and strength and perseverance and hope. This is a story with that and so much more. Which is why you need to go and read it right now. Maybe it will change things you thought about the holocaust. Or maybe you will finally have that reconnection with the past that so many of us have forgotten.