Those Who Save Us

First, I must apologize for my month long hiatus. I hardly picked up a book at all during the month of August, partly because I had so many things going on and partly because I burnt myself out a bit with all those books I read in July. Well, new inspiration from Borders’ 3 for 2 table and an early flu that knocked me out for a few days have conspired to bring me back to the books. And, boy, do I start with a doosey…

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum is an amazing fictional account of a woman’s experience in
WWII Germany and the modern day story of her daughter’s attempts to reconnect with her unknown past. The story is horrifying, gritty, realistic, and heart wrenching from the very beginning. I’ll warn you straight off, this novel is not for the younguns unless, as a parent, you are prepared to do a lot of explaining. In addition to the physical and emotional violence inflicted on characters, the book deals with sexual topics and describes some rather disturbing sexual encounters. That said, I don’t feel that any of the scenes described in the novel are anything other than what is necessary to communicate the very real conditions that Anna faced during the war, and what many women like her probably faced as well.

Without giving too much away, the story revolves around the past experiences of Anna as well as the modern day search of the daughter, Trudy, who was born to her during that time. Trudy has only fleeting memories of her childhood in Germany and has only one memento of that past: a photograph of her mother and herself with a high-ranking SS officer. Her mother refuses to speak about the past, even nearly fifty years later, leaving Trudy to wonder about the nature her mother’s relationship with this man, a relationship that has given Trudy a sense of guilt her entire adult life. Anna’s silence on this and anything else to do with the war drives Trudy, a university professor of German history, to seek out the war stories of other Germans now living in the Twin City area of Minnesota.

Perfectly interspersed with this story, accenting it perfectly, Blum slowly develops Anna’s story. From her brief, illegal relationship with a Jewish doctor to her Resistance work, to her affair-of-survival with the SS officer of Trudy’s picture, Anna’s story is perhaps not typical, but certainly exemplifies both the possibilities and many of the realities German woman faced in the face of Nazi brutality. Yet, even with all the sacrifices Anna makes to keep herself and her daughter safe, they not only faced near starvation towards the end of the war, but were left with deep emotional scars that Trudy can’t even begin to let heal until she begins to unravel her mother’s past, and which her mother continues to hide under a veil of silence.

The interesting theme that Blum develops in the novel is silence as a form of self-punishment. She suggests that many German’s have remained silent about what went on during the war from their own sense of guilt and complicity. Although they lived through those years is crippling fear of the Nazi’s, they feel guilty for what that fear and deprivation prompted them to. While for some the verbalization of those experiences releases them from that burden of guilt, some do not want that freedom.

I should insert another warning here. Not all of the stories that Trudy collects are filled with regret or hidden resistance. Blum realistically displays some of the opposing attitudes of apathy and out-and-out anti-Semitism that some Germans still harbor. She also does not shy away from the reaction of some Jews against the Germans, which includes the belief that all were culpable because they remained silent and that their stories should not be told at all. (This again goes back to the idea that verbalizing the experience brings a sense of expiation, which some feel the Germans do not deserve.) Honestly, some of the interviews that Trudy collects are rather disturbing.

In addition to her excellent story-telling ability, I must praise Blum’s writing. She isn’t too fussy or presumptuous, but also hasn’t simplified her diction to make this an “easy read,” which I appreciate. I also delighted in her occasional literary allusions, which weren’t terribly obvious and fit with the story, but also weren’t so obscure that it would take an English teacher to recognize them.

Okay, enough said. I really can’t praise this novel highly enough. I was impressed with the fluidity in which the two plots were developed and revelled in the writing itself. Granted, I may be slightly biased, as I’ve had a longstanding fascination with books about the Holocaust and WWII Germany. As a Christian, I’m interested in the history of God’s chosen people, and I have familial connections with Germany, though the majority of those relations immigrated to Canada between the wars. At any rate, the bias is only slight, and even then, I think this novel is an exceptional sample of the genre.

If you’re looking for something a little more kid-friendly try The Devil’s Arithmetic for young readers (upper elementary and junior high) and Briar Rose for young adults, both written by Jane Yolen. Keep in mind that even these books contain disturbing topics, which you simply can’t get around when talking about the Holocaust. Young readers will certainly need some guidance in dealing with these topics. Also, if you are interested in a Christian’s first-hand perspective of the Holocaust, high highly recommend The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian who hid Jews until she was caught and sent to a concentration camp; she was an incredibly amazing woman who certainly still sets an example of Christian love and self-sacrifice that we should all follow.

(The Devil’s Arithmetic was also made into a film. Very well done.)

(Ten Boom’s story has also been turned into a film, though this one is older and misses a lot of the story, some of the most moving parts as far as I’m concerned.)

September 9, 2007 Posted in: fiction, historical fiction