"This is a story of 'ordinary' people – ordinary people who were caught up in the cataclysm of events in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. A discovery of letters that had been carefully kept for decades since that time led to the uncovering of a family story that took the author on a journey in the footsteps of her husband's grandparents through Germany, Belgium, and France.
Hermann Hartog (1887–1942) was a Jewish teacher in the north-west of Germany at a time of increasing anti-Semitism. He and his wife, Henny (1897–1942) recognised that Germany was becoming an unsafe place for Jews and sent their daughters to England for safety. As a leader of his community, Hermann stayed for as long as he could.
After 'Kristallnacht' in November 1938, Hermann was arrested with other Jewish men and sent to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen. He was later released on condition that he would leave the country. Hermann and Henny fled Germany for Brussels, but when Belgium was invaded in 1940 they were sent to Paris, and then found refuge in a village in the south-west of France. Here, 'ordinary' people gave them shelter, work and friendship – and shared their lives during the dark days of 1941 and 1942.
When French police – acting on the orders of the Vichy government and the Nazi occupiers of France – arrested Hermann and Henny, it was part of a round-up of Jews to deport them for extermination. After a long journey, they were murdered in Auschwitz in September 1942.
An active memory of the Hartog family lives on. In France and Germany, 'ordinary' people remember their names, commemorate their legacy, and work to build communities where tolerance, acceptance, and friendship can thrive."
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This is clearly a well researched book that sheds light on an area of this horrendous period in our history that I was not fully aware of.
We follow the story of the Hartog family which has been pieced together following the discovery of letters and postcards sent during that time. Henny and Hermann had to make the difficult decision to send their daughters to England and then try and survive all that was happening around them whilst trying to make arrangements to leave. I admit to struggling to understand why other countries wouldn't accept people trying to flee especially when they had an inkling of what was going on! I don't know how they could live with themselves knowing that they could have saved so many people once the full horror or what happened came to light. However, what came through strongly was that there were many people who were kind and went out of their way to support the Jewish refugees despite having very little themselves and at great risk and whilst it didn't save Henny and Hermann, it did make a huge difference to them.
This is a book that needs to be read by everyone if only so that we don't repeat what happened and that we continue to remember the names of those who didn't survive.
Thanks to the author, Pen & Sword and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts on this powerful book.
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