This novel (historical fiction) broke my heart! The very beginning was confusing to me. Even though I read the book jacket and knew basically what the book was going to be about, it just jumps right into the story and it took me a few chapters to get into the swing of it. Plus, it's set in Amsterdam and Vienna, Austria and so even though it's written in English, it's still a European event and the language used represents that.
In 1933, a Dutchwoman from Amsterdam, Geertruida Wijsmuller-Meijer ("Tante Truss") started rescuing children who were at risk (basically Jewish children) from Germany. She started by rescuing a couple/three children at a time, traveling into Germany and sneaking the children out across the border back into Amsterdam. Once they were in Amsterdam, they were considered "safe" and then transported again to various countries willing to take them. The book actually starts in December 1936. Tante Truus continues to "polish" her skills at dealing with the border control between countries as she brings children across the border. The challenges and risk increases as Hitler becomes more powerful of course. Truus and her husband, an incredibly kind and supportive husband (Joop), have been pregnant and miscarried a few times already. They both desperately want children. Unfortunately, Truus has been unable to carry a child to term. So she dedicates her life to saving other people's children.
In Vienna, we get to meet a young playwright, Stephen, who is from a wealthy Jewish family and the girl Stephen likes, Zofie-Helene, whose mother edits an anti-Nazi newspaper. Even though they are only teenagers, Stephen is a talented writer and Zofie-Helene is a brilliant mathematician. They each have one younger sibling. Stephen's brother, Walter, is 5 years old and Zofie-Helene's sister, Johanna, is 3 years old. With the Nazis taking over Austria, Stephen's family is forced to surrender their home and valuables to the Nazis. At first they are allowed to stay in the attic of their own home (thanks to their non-Jewish family member), but eventually Stephen's father is taken and killed, Stephen goes into hiding and Stephen's dying mother (cancer) and brother are forced into the Jewish ghetto to live. Zofie-Helene's family doesn't fair much better even though they are Christian. Zofie-Helene's mother is arrested and her grandfather becomes the primary caregiver for Zofie-Helene & Johanna. (Her father had been previously killed.)
In 1938, Truus is asked to go to Germany, talk to the "up and coming" Nazi leader, Adolf Eichmann, and ask him to release Jewish children from Germany (to London). This is the start of the "Kindertransport" which eventually saves 10,000 children, three quarters of them being Jewish. Adolf Eichmann agrees to release EXACTLY 600 children, not one more and not one less, the following Sabbath. Despite the fact that participating in this venture on the Sabbath is against Jewish law, many more than 600 try to send their children (between the ages of 4-17) on the transport out of Germany. In this story, Zofie-Helene and Stephen's brother, Walter are accepted as part of the 600. Joanna is too young and Stephen ends up being #610. When one of the 600 gets diagnosed with the measles before the Sabbath, Truus decides to take a chance on Stephen being able to "bluff" his way in, in place of the ill child.
The story moves quickly between what Truus is doing and what's happening with Stephen and Zofie-Helene. It's a page turner. The only time I put it down is when I needed a break from the horror of it all. I have never understood how people can treat others so horribly. It's heartbreaking. As a mother, I can't even imagine sending my child off to a different country by themselves. A country that speaks a different language and practices a different religion. These parents loved their children so much that they sent them away to the unknown rather than keep them in their Nazi-occupied countries. That's how awful the Nazi's were. Most of these children never saw their parents again. Thinking about what these families suffered through makes me want to sob out loud. (I actually did cry.)
The other significant feeling I experience whenever I read a book about the Holocaust is "awe" when it comes to all the brave people who did everything in their power to save the Jewish people from the Nazis - at blatant risk to themselves and their own families. It astounds me how incredibly selfless some people are. I love my own children so much I don't know if I could have ever been that brave, knowing that my actions might lead to the death of my own children/family. It's truly incredible. Geertruida Wijsmuller-Meijer was inspiring - along with all the other brave souls of that time.
This is a must read book, in my opinion. It certainly puts my life in perspective.
Wendy's Rating: *****
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