Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Little, Brown Spark (2016), Edition: Reprint, 384 pages
Description
Follows the true story of a young Jewish woman who vanished into the city and lived under an assumed identity, relying on safe houses, foreign workers, and communists in order to survive in World War II Berlin.
Media reviews
Gone to Ground is in many ways a heartening book, about how ordinary German men and women could and did behave imaginatively and generously, often at great danger to themselves. It belongs with Hans Fallada’s novels, and Victor Klemperer’s diaries, as a portrait of a German city during the Nazi
Show More
years, many of its inhabitants neither good nor bad, but simply intent on survival, and willing to take risks as a reminder that they were, at heart, human beings, with sympathy for those in trouble. The people in her apartment block gave her food, watched over her. There is nothing sentimental in Jalowicz’s writing. She simply records what she perceives, and how she felt. Even the obligatory sexual encounters are described calmly, as necessary transactions for survival. Show Less
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member meggyweg
I just finished this book last night and I must say I can HIGHLY recommend it. It had a knack for showing each character’s individuality and their internal contradictions—there were no heroes in this story, and even many of the Nazis were not monsters.
Marie Simon, a German Jew from a middle
At the same time, many of her rescuers, although they were undoubtedly risking their lives for her, were very also unkind to her, and Marie had complicated and often painful relationships with them. She does a good job showing the hypocrisies: the committed Communist who looked down on working class people, the gynecologist who was helping save Jews left and right while cheering the German war successes, the Nazi sympathizer who blackmailed Marie while at the same time treating her lovingly like a daughter, and so on.
Marie often had to barter her body to stay safe, something she also speaks about frankly and without self pity, as if she was only describing what she had for breakfast. I’m sure many other Jews in hiding had to go through the same experiences, but few of the other accounts I’ve read have touched on this.
This is definitely a win, especially if you’re interested in Jews hiding in plain sight in Germany.
Marie Simon, a German Jew from a middle
Show More
class family, an only child whose parents died before the deportations started, spent (save for an abortive flight to Bulgaria) three years “gone to ground” on Berlin on papers she’d borrowed from a helpful woman and then altered to better fit herself. She stayed with a long series of different hosts and estimates that over 20 people could share credit for having saved her life.At the same time, many of her rescuers, although they were undoubtedly risking their lives for her, were very also unkind to her, and Marie had complicated and often painful relationships with them. She does a good job showing the hypocrisies: the committed Communist who looked down on working class people, the gynecologist who was helping save Jews left and right while cheering the German war successes, the Nazi sympathizer who blackmailed Marie while at the same time treating her lovingly like a daughter, and so on.
Marie often had to barter her body to stay safe, something she also speaks about frankly and without self pity, as if she was only describing what she had for breakfast. I’m sure many other Jews in hiding had to go through the same experiences, but few of the other accounts I’ve read have touched on this.
This is definitely a win, especially if you’re interested in Jews hiding in plain sight in Germany.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ikeman100
Very good book. It really gives a good insight of the life a Jew in hiding and that of many ordinary Germans during WWII. Well written and detailed.
ISBN
0316382108 / 9780316382106