The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer

This is a non-fiction book. It is the story of how Edith Hahn Beer, a Jew, survived WWII while living in Germany.

The beginning of the book shows us what it was like for her growing up as a child with her whole family, before the war. Then it moves to the time when Hitler rose to power and the war started, and ends with her safe after the Nazi's are defeated.

Edith did work in slave camps and was lucky to be sent there instead of the concentration camps, although at the time she didn't know that. She then was sent back to her home town where she was supposed to then report to the officials and would have been sent to a concentration camp, but along the way she was told not to report in, so she never did. Through the help of some friends and strangers she assumed the identity of a pure Aryan and lived her life as a good German who approved of Hitler. She even married and had a daughter. This is how she survived, by being married to a Nazi Officer.

This was a great book. I didn't give much detail because I don't want to give a lot of it away. This is the first story I have read that describes how some Jews survived, by being a u-boat, somebody who assumed another identity. I guess deep down I knew this happened but never really thought about it so it was interesting for me to read how this worked. I couldn't imagine the constant fear that she must have felt that she would be caught and that if she was caught all the people who helped her would be killed as well.

If you are looking for a story about how a women survived in a concentration camp or living in a shack in the woods, etc, you won't find it with this book. However if you are looking for a well written story about one women's life and how she survived WWII by taking on the identity of the very people who were killing her family and friends...this is the book for you.

I have to thank Nancy and everyone else who recommended this book to me. I loved it!

non-fiction 5 challenge/new author/305 pgs