Discussion: The Nazi Officer's Wife

The Nazi Officer's Wife

How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust
by Edith Hahn Beer with Susan Dworkin







I was very touched by this book. What an amazingly inspiring woman! Edith Hahn had so much courage, so much strength. I know in that same situation I wouldn't even have the strength to get though working on that asparagus farm. This story has made me evaluate my own life. I take so much for granted. I know we live in a different time than that of the Holocaust, but it made me realize I could be doing so much more; with my life as well as others. I get so caught up in my own live that I don't even think of what others might need. I want to contribute more. In the book Edith talks about doing her part in healing the world. I've got to get off my lazy bum and do my part as well.

What did you think of the book? What parts did you like? Anything really strike out at you? The whole book for me! Post your thoughts in the comment section. Lets get this discussion started!

The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust

The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust
by Edith Hahn Beer and Susan Dworkin

Description:
Edith Hahn was an outspoken young woman in Vienna when the Gestapo forced her into a ghetto and then into a labor camp. When she returned home months later, she knew she would become a hunted woman and went underground. With the help of a Christian friend, she emerged in Munich as Grete Denner. There she met Werner Vetter, a Nazi Party member who fell in love with her. Despite Edith's protests and even her eventual confession that she was Jewish, he married her and kept her identity a secret.

In wrenching detail, Edith recalls a life of constant, almost paralyzing fear. She tells of German officials who casually questioned the lineage of her parents; of how, when giving birth to her daughter, she refused all painkillers, afraid that in an altered state of mind she might reveal something of her past; and of how, after her husband was captured by the Soviet army, she was bombed out of her house and had to hide while drunken Russian soldiers raped women on the street.

Yet despite the risk it posed to her life, Edith created a remarkable record of survival. She saved every document and set of papers issued to her, as well as photographs she managed to take inside labor camps. Now part of the permanent collection at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., these hundreds of documents, several of which are included in this volume, form the fabric of a gripping new chapter in the history of the Holocaust -- complex, troubling, and ultimately triumphant.

So this is the book for June.. Maybe July too, depending on how long it takes everybody.. Get excited!! I hear its a good one. I'm going to pick my copy up from the library tomorrow.

WELCOME!!

Hey all! I love to read books and it is nice to discuss them with other people.. I also want to get out of what I normally read and broaden my reading horizons. So here we are folks. If you are a part of this blog, congratulations! You rock! Haha.. So here is how it will work.. When we are reading a book I will post a little bit about it.. And in the comments we can discuss it. I look forward to all the wonderful discussions that we are bound to have!