The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correo, author, Joy Osmanski, narrator This novel is narrated by the character called Hannah. It travels through 75 years as it illustrates courage and endurance in the face of hopelessness, but, unfortunately, at some points in the narrative, it descended into the realm of a romance novel. Never-the-less, it told the story of German Jews who tried to escape from an untenable situation, even prior to the official outbreak of World War II. Many were unsuccessful, but millions died in the aftermath. The story the author related is about the Rosenthal family. They lived in Berlin, Germany. They were very wealthy and were part of the elite German society until Hitler rose to power. His election brought monumental changes to Germany and other European countries. If you were not pure-blooded and German, you were disposable. Physical characteristics defined those who were true Germans and those who were not. Adolf Hitler wanted to establish a perfectly pure Aryan race in Germany, and he set about removing all elements of society that did not fit in with his idealized version of the Fatherland. German Jews were, at first, unable to accept the fact that although they had been heroes in the first war and were upstanding professionals, although they were respected citizens, they would still be systematically removed from their homes, systematically removed from society, systematically be robbed of their possessions and treasures. Too late, many understood that they had to leave Germany. How, though, could anyone have imagined what fate awaited them? The Rosenthal’s fell into the category of those who waited in disbelief as events continued to evolve that dashed their hopes of a Germany that would soon come to its senses. Surely, they believed, Hitler would be recognized for the tyrant he was; surely their friends and colleagues would not support him and turn against them. Yet, that is what happened. The world of the Jew began to shrink. Public transportation was denied. Education was limited. Access to most public spaces was forbidden. People disappeared. They were beaten, shamed, tortured, robbed, and removed from the rolls of the living. Jews were not Aryans, and they were not welcome. Jews grew very afraid. When the Rosenthal family finally decided it was time to leave, exit documents were very hard to come by. Alma Rosenthal and her daughter Hannah had excellent documents but Mr. Rosenthal, Max, did not. Alma, who had been a shrinking violet for much of the time that Hitler rose to power, became strong when the need arose. She acquired new documents for all of them. They were not the same as the ones she had originally secured for herself and Hannah, though, but she was led to believe that they were good enough to get passage for all of them on the SS St. Louis which would take them out of Germany and into Cuba. From there, they hoped to go to New York where they had already purchased an apartment in the hope that they could build a new life. Finally, they set sail for Havana, Cuba, in first class accommodations on the ship. The atmosphere was far different from the horrific conditions already being witnessed on the streets of Germany where Jews were indiscriminately arrested for non-crimes, beaten, humiliated and even murdered without fear of recrimination by authorities; some were never heard from again. Their businesses, fortunes and homes were stolen from them, and those that moved into their homes to steal their lives, claimed, falsely, to be blind to what was occurring. While on the streets of Berlin, their dignity was being taken from them, it was restored on the ship! Their happiness was short-lived, however; when they arrived in Cuban waters, they were not allowed to dock. It was discovered that the rules had changed while they were in transit. The second set of documents that Alma had acquired for Max, herself and Hannah were no longer legal and would not be accepted. Hundreds of passengers were affected by this change in plan. They would not be allowed to disembark in Havana, Cuba, unless they had documents similar to the ones originally obtained for Alma and Hannah. So Hannah and her mother could get off and settle in Havana, but they would have to leave Max behind. They would wait for Max to return to Cuba before they went on to New York. Surely, they believed, this problem would be solved shortly. The St. Louis turned back to Europe, where many who had thought they were finally free, faced death again. Those sent to England survived. Those sent to other places like Paris and Holland, did not. The main thrust of the story is about two young girls who were born into two different centuries, but who were connected by a rather circuitous route which they did not discover until several years after the death of a man called Louis Rosen. When a mysterious package arrived at the apartment of Anna Rosen and her mother Ida, in New York, in 2014, it set a search in motion to find out the true heritage of Anna’s father who had disappeared on September 11, 2001. The story moves back and forth in time zones from 1939, in Berlin, Germany, with Hannah Rosenthal, 11 years old as a young, fair skinned, blond and blue-eyed, to Anna, another preteen, in New York City, in 2014. An unknown photographer had snapped a picture of Hannah. Her face, ironically, appeared on the cover of a German magazine as the face of The German Girl. In actuality, she was anything but the face of an Aryan. As a Jew, she was impure and unacceptable in Germany, even though she had the coloring and facial features of someone that was not considered Jewish. Of course, the error really exposed the flaws in Hitler’s theories and his racial policies, but this was not revealed. The book concerns itself with the coming of age of both girls as their connections to each other are revealed, a bit too slowly and deliberately, at times, but the girls do mature before our eyes. Each of them experienced fear, one of the Nazis and the other of terrorists. Each experienced some form of unrequited love. Each experienced deep disappointments beyond their control; each was fatherless. Each of the girls was strong-willed; each was hoping their father would suddenly return. Neither was aware of the actual fate of their fathers. Both of their mothers tended to be depressed and often took to their beds or shuttered their windows to keep the world out. Still, both Anna’s mom, Ida, and Hannah’s mom, Alma, rose to the occasion in emergencies. While 75 years earlier, Hannah and her mother were uprooted from their homeland and basically forced to go to Cuba for reasons they could not control, and which they hoped would only be for a short visit, when Anna, left New York to visit Cuba to discover her connections to her past and to discover unknown relatives, she loved it and thought she would not mind remaining there. As the story unfolded, it soon became apparent that dictators rose up out of the ashes of the citizens’ discontent everywhere. Often, those who sought power from those they believed were abusing it, began to abuse the same power when they attained it. Years passed and in Cuba, too, people became persona non grata as businesses were taken over by the state and other people were considered persona non grata and were abandoned by their world, lost all they had worked to accomplish and achieve their entire lives. Undesirables in Cuba were called “worms”. When Hannah had arrived in Cuba, years before, she was called a Polack. Even though she considered herself to be German, she was still a Jew. Now she was witnessing the arrest, beatings and murder of Cubans who did not or could not flee in time. The novel is sometimes slow, but it is always interesting. I was disappointed in the story line when it basically reduced itself to a romance between Hannah and her first love, Leo. As an eleven year old, Hannah called the Nazis ogres, and she feared them, but as she grew into an old woman, she was rarely afraid again. She accepted her losses and remained in place. At the age of 87, she had made her peace with the world and herself. Hannah’s feelings were described in detail, from moments of euphoria to times of deep despair, from a life of privilege to a life of study and work, from feeling free to feeling trapped more than once in her life, from a feeling of accomplishment to a feeling of terrible loss and failure, from disappointment to satisfaction, she made her way in life. The book explored the history that led to the departure from, and the return to, Europe, of the ship known as the St. Louis. Many Jews were tricked into buying passage on this ship which was later determined to be invalid. Many lost their lives when they were forced to return to Europe to countries that did not want them and to countries that were dedicated to their extermination. The novel explored an event in history that has been told many times, but telling it from the point of view of a child, a child who could not understand what made her “dirty” or “impure”, or suddenly hateful, was a different interpretation of the Holocaust and its awful effect on helpless families. Hannah and her parents fled a despotic regime only to find themselves in another, one day in the future. Ironically, Hannah’s brother Gustavo, conceived on the ship, became part of the new, brutal dictatorship to arise in Cuba. He married and had a child named Louis. It was through Louis that we learn of the connection Hannah had to Anna. A bright spot in this very sad story which was liberally peppered with many historic facts, was the symbol of the tulip. For Hannah’s father and then for Anna, tulips offered hope for a brighter future when they bloomed. Long live the tulip.

Okay, if you were to be told that a family went through leaving Germany to go to Cuba, only for some to be turned back to reside in Paris then sent to a concentration camp. Then one family member dies during the World Trade Center attack and another dies during the Cuban revolution, you would think, there is no way one family can be that unlucky. Well, it does happen in this book. However, the way the author writes it, it's believable. I thought nothing about while reading the book.

I was really into reading this book. Because of the family being moved, separated from each other and just losing touch, it was such a sentimental journey to read. It was such an emotional tale to hear Hannah tell the story of her family and all that had happened. The writer did a great job with the back and forth of Ana in present day and Hannah during WWII.

I would definitely read more books by this author.

Thanks to Atria Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest and in my unprovoked words review.

The German Girl is about a 12 year old Jewish girl named, Hannah Rosenthal and her well-to-do family that are living in Berlin during the war in 1939. The German authorities are in the process of rounding up the Jewish men first and deporting them to death camps. They are allowing some of the wealthier well known families to leave the country if they agree to hand over all of their possessions. The Rosenthal family along with 900+ Jewish refugees buy visas and gain passage on a transatlantic liner, the MS St. Louis, headed to Cuba. Originally Cuba agreed to accept all of the passengers but midway through their journey the Cuban President revoked the agreement, invalidated the visas and denied entry to all but 29 passengers, including Hannah and her mother. Her father was denied entry along with the others and the ship was sent back to Europe. The Captain, Gus Schröder, continued negotiations with other countries and the passengers were accepted in France, Belgium & the Netherlands. Many families were split up for years to come and some were never reunited. 

Hannah's story was told in parallel with a present day story of a girl named Anna, who lives in New York City. She receives a mysterious envelope from Hannah who happens to be her great-aunt and related to her deceased father. Anna and her mother travel to Cuba to visit Hannah and unravel the connections between their families.

Both girl's stories are very moving but heart wrenching. The author does a fantastic job portraying the cruelty and suffering that the Jewish families endured in Nazi occupied Germany. They suffered incredible losses that no one should ever have to go through. It's not an easy read but if you have any interest in learning more about this last chance voyage that was suppose to be the saving grace for many Jewish families then I highly recommend reading this book. 

*I received this ARC from NetGalley & Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Told in alternating chapters, this story was different than other stories I have read about this time period. Anna was searching for answers about her father, the person who walked out of her life when her mother was three months pregnant with her.  Anna held onto a photo of him, hoping that some day she would be able to put the pieces together on why he left and never came back. When a package arrives in the mail with photos, negatives and a magazine cover, Anna hopes that her questions will soon be answered. Anna must travel back in time to find the answers she has been searching for and in doing so; she opens up a world that I did not know existed. She shows me the desperation that individuals found themselves in and the frustration that they coped with daily to find a better life for their families and themselves. I knew nothing about the ship St. Louis or how individuals worked frantically to get to Cuba, giving up almost everything they had just to get into their protective borders.

We don’t spend much time in 2014 with Anna as she tries to piece her life together, Anna wants to know her past and that is where we spend our time as we travel back to 1939 to Berlin where the war is occurring and people are desperate to get out of the city. We learn about Hannah, who is the aunt that raised Anna’s father and who Anna is named after.   The story has an excellent flow even though the story is told in alternating chapters (not a favorite means of mine). Anna ponders events and issues about the history of her family and reflecting back in history, the story takes shape. It really worked in this novel as the historical chapters follow Anna’s present day chapter, addressing the topics that Anna reflected and answering them or giving the story in a chronically timeline. I have never learned or heard about the citizens of Berlin escaping to Cuba aboard a ship named the St. Louis before reading this novel. Nothing would surprise me about this time period and I am glad to read that there were other means of escape for individuals during this time. As I read, I could feel their urgency and their anxiety as they waited to see if they were going to be one of the few chosen to leave aboard the ship.   There was not enough room for everyone who wanted to go and it costs a great deal of money to go. I thought this alone was sad for many people could not even be considered for the trip. What if not everyone in your household was chosen? What would you take? Who would you leave behind? Those that were finally chosen, how do you say good-bye to those who have to stay? When they finally got onboard the ship, I know they had to have mixed feeling about their trip. They finally got their freedom and when they saw land ....it was within their sights, Cuba is now having second thoughts about having these Berlin citizens amongst them. I felt deflated as I read this. Now what? I sat shaking head, taking a minute to comprehend what these people have gone through and what their options were now.   I really enjoyed this novel. I saw a part of WWll that I hadn’t seen before, I saw people at their best and at their weakest and I think this book made me a better person.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been watching Texas Rising on the History Channel.  I know it has historical inaccuracies in it, and I know there is a huge debate over the whole Yellow Rose aka Emily West story, but its good entertainment.  I have to give it points for the acting and large amounts of male skin.  But there are two more important reasons.  The first is that while the show is definitely in the American camp, there is some attention paid to how the Mexicans would view the Americans.  In fact, when one of Santa Ana’s officers kills a Team solider, it is hard not to sympathize when said officers tells the solider to get out of his country.  The second reason is the character of Emily West.  No doubt there is justice in claiming that she is many ways another stereotype of the beautiful temptress using her wiles to ensnare a man.  But there are glimmers of something deeper.  West isn’t motivated out of love of Houston or Texas, but out of desire of revenge for the killing of her brother.  More importantly, several times she has called direct reference to her past as a slave.  There is even a line where she says that as black woman she doesn’t have freedom in America (or what will be Texas).  Her prayer when she asks for strength to do what needs to be done is some of the best writing in the series.

                I thought of this while reading this book.  Bailey looks closely at a case in New Orleans.  The case occurred prior to the American Civil War and concern a woman who some people were convinced was a German immigrant enslaved.  In this story, Bailey looks closely at what the laws regarding slaves and ownership were in New Orleans (pre and post purchase) as well as the case itself.  The question is whether or not Sally Miller was a woman who had African blood in her veins.  If the answer to this question was yes, than she would be a slave.  If no, while than she wouldn’t be.  The question of who Sally Miller was isn’t as easy to solve as you would think.

 The only misstep that Bailey makes is when he is discussing the use of female slaves by their white male owners.  Because of ownership (a slave woman couldn’t really say no; obviously), it is hard to see it as anything other than rape, at least by our modern terms.  This could have been more directly worded, even in a chapter that was discussing how such “relations” were legally seen at the time.  (And no, I am not taking about the concubines.  I am talking about the enslaved women).

                Perhaps the most horrifying aspects of this book are not the chapters detailing the trials of Sally Miller but those sections that detail the laws governing whether a child would or would not be freed along with his or her parents.