Book Review: Those Who Save Us

I just finished a very powerful book called Those Who Save Us. The book is a story about a German woman during WWII who is living in Germany at the time. This is not a type of book I have read before and actually do not know of many books that show what it was like for Germans during this time; only Jews.

Anna was a young woman in Germany who fell in love with a Jew. After becoming pregnant with his child, she flees her town after he gets taken to the Camps by the Gestapo. On her own, Anna has to figure out her new life and how to get by during the war, raise a child on government rations, and try to stay alive. A German woman in love with a Jew, she begins to risk her life to try to understand what is going on at the Camps & send messages to prisoners.

Being a baker in town, Anna is approached by a Nazi solider about providing for his Army. Anna begins to lead a life that is quite questionable by anyone but throughout the book, it's hard not to ask yourself - what would you have done in her situation?

Anna's & her daughter, Trudy, now live in MN and Trudy is ironically, a professor of German History at a college. Trudy is embarking on a project that she recently received funding for where she is interviewing Germans who lived in Germany during WWII. After failing to get her Mother to tell her what it was like, she turns to strangers who begin to tell their story.

The book is told by both Anna & Trudy and towards the end starts to marry up with the story coming from Anna's point of view, things Trudy learns during her project, and Trudy's memories of being a child in Germany.

The title of the book, Those Who Save Us, truly shows the characters and how they were 'saved' in different ways. The Jewish love that Anna had saved her in a way from her boring life, her next "relationship" saved her from being destitute, and her final relationship saved her from a continuous life in Germany. For Trudy, the project saved her by teaching her about her past, her new boyfriend brought happiness into her life, and her project saved her again by bringing her & mother together.

As I have said before, WWII & the Holocaust really fascinates me. I truly could not put this book down and any chance I get to further hear the stories of that time period keep me energized to read the book. Totally recommend this one.

This is my 3rd book in a row that I just loved. I love it when you fall into a book and hate to see it end!