Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

Author : Jenna Blum

Title : Those Who Save Us

Published : 2006

Publisher : Canongate Books

Pages : 496

Genre : Historical Fiction 

     'Impossible' Max breathes. 'This is impossible.' Anna bends to put her lips to his ear 'No, it's not' she whispers. 'I know where to hide you. I have the perfect place.' For fifty years Anna Schlemmer has refused to talk about her life in Germany during World War II. Her daughter, Trudy, was only three when she and her mother were liberated by an American soldier and went to live with him in Minnesota. Trudy's sole evidence of the past is an old photograph: a family portrait showing Anna, Trudy, and a Nazi officer, the Obersturmfuhrer of Buchenwald. Driven by guilt about her supposed Trudy, now a professor of German history begins investigating the past and finally unearths the dramatic and heartbreaking truth about her mother's life.

     A friend of mine suggested that I gave this book a try, Over the past few years, I have read a lot of books about the Holocaust and the events that took place in both Poland and Germany. I did however complete stop after visiting Auschwitz, the whole experience to me was so overpowering that I could not bring myself to pick up a book on these themes.  She suggested this might be the book to get me back into this genre. I was a little hesitant to read this book but I thought maybe it was time to go back in some ways to deal with all the thoughts swirling around in my head. There is always the worry that we ask too much of a book and set it up to fail through no fault of its own. I'm glad that I did though it is in part down to the author's different take on what took place that I felt it worked for me. 

     Like a few other books that have come out recently the hero of this book is a woman or in fact, two as the book jumps between the present and the events of world war two. In this split, we get to see how one tried her best to survive the horrific events that would shape her life and the other as she tries to come to terms with her family's history and what that means to her on a personal level. Both of them I found very intriguing it is interesting to see how outside events can tear apart our lives and we have to find a way to do the best we can. There is some choice we are forced to make out of necessity. Things we would otherwise never have considered or wished to have crossed our minds. In the case of Anna, it is what she must do to keep her daughter safe. We all know that if push came to shove the are few things we would not do to protect them. It is what a good parent would do, this, however, does not make it any less difficult to read what she must endure.

     As one would expect this book brings all the horrors up front and center. You can not expect to go into such book without ending up feeling saddened by what people do to each other. The author captures what it was like for everyday Germans caught up in the madness that seized a nation. I think for a lot of us it is far easier to assume that all Germans believed in Adolf Hitler's cause. Or if they did not surely they should have done something. But hindsight is not as clearer view as we might hope. All we have to do is look at other conflicts around the world. We all wish we could stand up and shout this is wrong and make a difference in the world. But unfortunately this isn't how life works, there comes a point where we think of our selves and simply how do we make it through to the other side assuming there is one. This book raised so many questions in me about what I would have down. In the end, the author delivers a powerful novel about two very strong women. With Anna, she comes to show what true strength is and how she puts her self second in her life. Trudy shows that despite what we may think we don't know the things those that came before us went through to give us the lives we now have.

     A thought-provoking novel that took me through the wringer of emotions as we came to the final few pages. I'm glad I gave it a chance and while it may be a while before I tackle this genre again the time I spent with these women was well worth the time.