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Friday, July 27, 2018

Sources of Inspiration For my Book

Just wanted to share a quick post, on all of the amazing fictional(and true) stories I've found while doing research for my book. In just seven months, I've unearthed so many incredible stories of Holocaust survivors, and read some amazing books that have really contributed to inspiration. Here's just some of them.


 Surviving Hitler
This is the incredible true story of a Norwegian SS officer and a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor, who found each other after World War II and fell in love. It was one of the most heart-wrenching, beautiful tales of survival I've ever read. It's astounding everything that both of them went through, and how many times God preserved their lives. They experienced the war in very different ways, Agnes as a Jewish concentration camp prisoner and Gustav as an SS officer, stationed at the Russian front. She risked her life several times, and bravely defied all odds and survived Auschwitz and the Bremen work factory in Germany. He also nearly died at the front, once from a deadly wound and another time from illness. But he fought valiantly and did his best to always do the right thing, even during such a dark, evil time. In 1946, Agnes and Gustav met while she was working at a soup kitchen as a waitress. Even though he eventually revealed his background to her, she was loving and compassionate and took care of him while he recovered. They married in 1947, joined the Church of Latter- Day Saints, and together raised five children. In 2014, their eldest son published this amazing novel. I would definitely encourage anyone who is interested in World War II or Holocaust history to purchase this book. You won't be disappointed. On top of the unique love story, there is a depth of historical facts and information on the war in its pages.

The Jewess and the Captain: 1995 Documentary

This is another true story, which nearly moved me to tears when I watched it. Although it does not have a happy ending, it is even more proof that my book did indeed happen in real life. The young girl and man pictured above are Ilse Stein, an 18 year old Jewish girl, and Willi Schultz, a 42 year old Nazi officer. In 1941, Schultz was put in charge of the Minsk ghetto in Russia. There, he met and fell in love with Ilse, and made her his secretary. Throughout their short-lived 6 month romance, he protected her at every cost, in spite of the danger it posed for him. He eventually went on to rescue her, her family, and 20 other Jews, from being sent to a concentration camp. His love for her was greater than his fear of the risk he was taking. It is a short documentary, but very inspiring and moving. It shows interviews of Ilse, many years later, and documents what life in the Ghetto was like in the 1940s.


The Nazi Officers Wife: 
This tale, by far out of all the autobiographies/novels I've read or watched, is my favorite. Edith Hahn Beer was an Austrian Jewish woman in 1938, studying to be a lawyer at university. She was one exam shy of graduating, when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. Her and her mother were sent to a Polish ghetto   and Edith was transported to a labor camp in Germany.  Separated from her family and country,  she sent  haunting, sad letters to her boyfriend, during that time, telling of how difficult and hopeless life was in the work camp. When she returned to Austria, she was eventually denounced and abandoned by her lover, who was a Austrian Christian. He told a devastated Edith that it was too risky and bothersome to be involved with her, because she was a Jew and hiding to avoid being sent to a concentration camp.
Edith was forced to find a better way out, as many of her friends had begun to denounce her and refuse to let her stay with them. A trust-worthy, Aryan friend of hers gave her false identification papers, and she disguised herself as a young 21 year German woman, by the name of Grete Denner. In order to survive, she had to completely forsake her Jewish identity and find work as A Red Cross aid. In 1942, she met Werner Vetter, a member of the Nazi Party. He quickly fell in love with her, obviously unaware of who she really was. Although Edith protested when he proposed and eventually confessed to being a Jew, Werner married her and hid her true Jewish identity.
In 1945, Werner was captured by the Russians as a POW. While her husband was gone, Eva was forced to try and feed and protect their young daughter on her own, while the Russian army invaded and killed/raped German women on the streets. Eventually, she managed to bring her husband home, and miraculously both her and her infant survived.  I would recommend this novel to anyone, who is fascinated by the Holocaust/ World War II period. It is a very heartbreaking, but interesting and unusual and riveting story. You will not be disappointed in the slightest.

Never Broken: Brief Outline and Character Sketch

Never Broken: A Holocaust Memoir

The story begins in the summer of 1995, in rural upstate New York. The beginning of the book follows a 23 year old English school-teacher, as she embarks on an incredible, life- changing journey, that begins with a summer's visit to her beloved grandmother's home, in the quaint city of Haarlem, Holland. When she leaves the U.S., she has only envisioned/anticipated a leisurely holiday and much-needed time with her grandmother, but she will return to her family and students with the amazing story of how her Dutch grandmother survived the Holocaust, and her unfailing love for the man who saved her life.

Characters: The majority of the book follows a young Dutch Jewish woman, living in Nazi- occupied Holland, during the late spring of 1944. It chronicles the experiences and trials of her and her three sisters, during the late years of the German occupation. It will eventually document their deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Nora's nearly impossible struggle to keep herself and her younger sister alive.

Main Characters:
Nora Elise Caplan: -age 19(born 1924) A Dutch Jewish seamstress. She has a quiet, soft- spoken temperament, but also can have a bad temper on occasion. She is very sensible and practical, fiercely loyal to, and protective of her family. After her family is sent to Auschwitz, in the spring of 1944, she does everything she can to protect and care for her younger sister, in spite of her own pain and increasing sense of hopelessness. The rest of the family's whereabouts are unknown, with the exception of their mother who dies of typhus not long after their arrival. After the war, they are heartbroken to discover they were the only ones to survive the notorious concentration camp.

Hendrick Irvin Bruan- “Henry” (b. 1919), a 26 year German SS Guard, who saves the Caplan sister's lives while he is stationed at the Polish concentration camp. He is intelligent, witty, and educated, but also conflicted and lonely in regards to his life.  Throughout his time in the service, he frequently longs for his homeland and friends back in Germany. A loyal member of the Third Reich, he serves as an officer and then as a Guard throughout the five years of the war.

In spite of this said loyalty, Hendrick will eventually fall in love with Nora, although he knows the risks involved with such a relationship. He is captivated by her, upon their first encounter, and subsequently goes to great measures to help her. He secures Nora a better job in the “Kannada”, an improved section of the camp, where the workload is lighter. (Before this takes place, she was subjected to back-breaking physical labor). She also performs for his men in an officer's club, singing and playing the piano. He sends her food, and risks his life on multiple occasions to protect her. After Germany's surrender in May 1945, he burns his Nazi uniform and hat and renounces his past as a member of the Third Reich. He eventually returns to law school and tries to resume his normal life. However, the pressing aftermath of the second World War creates a unwelcoming environment for him. When he returns home, he struggles to find work, because of his previous role as a Nazi party member.

Tessa Anne(aged 25) born 1972) Nora's granddaughter who will find her World War II diary and a necklace of the Jewish star in the attic of her grandmother's home. She is a high school English teacher and a caring, smart young woman. She is wholeheartedly dedicated to her career and her doting fiance, Astor who is  a wealthy attorney. 

Nora's family:

Miriam and Nathaniel Caplan: Nora's parents. They are both outgoing and warm, inviting people, musically inclined by birth. Nathaniel plays the violin, piano, and cello, while Miriam was a skilled opera singer before the war. Prior to the occupation, Nora's father owned a shop, where he sold and repaired instruments. In 1940, when the Germans invaded, he was forced to shut down his business, as Jews were prohibited from owning them. He took up work in a factory that built airplane parts for the war-effort, while Nora and her mother mended clothes to bring in extra money. Even though their life is not easy by any means, Nora’s parents strive to maintain a positive environment for their children, and to uplift them. They play music each night, and Nora’s father tells stories to keep their spirits up. 

Tessa Elizabeth: 23( b.1921), her oldest sister, a nurse, who is engaged to marry at the time of the novel's opening. Their wedding takes place only a month, before the Caplans are deported to Auschwitz . Sadly, she is one of the first people in the family to perish, a victim of a disastrous typhus epidemic that breaks out. She is a rock of strength for Nora most of her life, and is very kinda and sensitive. Her extensive knowledge of medicine earns her a job working in the hospital at Auschwitz, until she succumbs to the disease after months of being overworked.
Katrien Anne “Kate”- 18( b.1925) the third youngest of the Caplan sisters. She has just graduated secondary school, when the family is taken to Poland. She has dreams of attending acting school, but the family's struggles financially and the restrictions on Jews prove to be obstacles. She has a sweet, even-tempered temperament often confiding in her older sister when she is feeling troubled.---
Annaliese Grace- the youngest of the Caplan sisters, aged 16 (b.1927). She is bright, animated and full of life, with ambitions to attend college, although Jews are forbidden from going. After the war ends, she returns to secondary and school in April, graduating the following year in June. She goes on to attend college,earning a master's degree in psychology in 1952. She meets a young Swedish doctor the same year and they marry in 1954, and raise a son, Liam( b.1957) together. They eventually join Henry and Nora in their work at the rehabilitation center, where Annaliese works as a counselor until her retirement in 1986.
Sophia Ziegler- “Aunt Sophie” Nora’s aunt, and her mother’s older sister, the only member of her family to survive. She takes in her two remaining nieces, after the war, and together they reopen a dress shop together, to earn money. She is a capable and knowledgable woman, and becomes a support system for both of them, when they return. She loses not only her sister and parents, but also her husband who perishes at the Buchenwald concentration camp. She finds some comfort and healing upon discovering the girls survival, and eventually adopts little Rivkah. 

Freida- Nora's best friend, aged 26, a young mother of two small children, and her husband, Jacob. Very few children survived Auschwitz, because they were useless as workers. As a result, Freida is sent to the gas chambers immediately upon arrival with her infant son. Freida and Jacob's 4 year old daughter, Rivkah will miraculously survive, due to the heroic efforts of an older woman who hides her in the barracks(risking beatings and her life many times in the process to protect the little girl). When the camp is liberated, Nora comes upon the frightened child and is beside herself with gratefulness and astonishment that she is alive.

Nora's children:
Nathaniel Henry( B. 1947) her oldest child, a businessman man, entrepreneur, and doctor, who takes after his father in looks and temperament. He falls in love with an Austrian girl in 1970 while away at medical school and they marry in 1973 and have two sons together, Marco( 1975), and Noah(1978)\
Christina Marie- (b.1951) Nora's oldest daughter, an accomplished musician. She inherits her mother's dark hair and compassionate persona. She studies music at Amsterdam University and recreates many of the timeless songs that were passed on to her by her late grandparents. She meets a violin instructor after college and moves to America to raise her son, Edward,(1976) and daughter, Tessa( 1972)
Kate(  b.1955) the youngest of Nora's children, a blond-haired beauty, who grows up to become a successful actress and singer, in De Nationale Opera( Dutch Opera). She was named after her aunt Katrien, Nora’s beloved younger sister who died tragically at Auschwitz. She married in 1985 to her husband, Noah, and they start an acting school together and raise one daughter, Emilia(B.1987)


Henry's family:
Adela Braun, his mother. b. 1899) a vivacious,  opinionated woman, and a music teacher. She resents his position as an SS guard and is sympathetic to the plight of the Jews.Her relationship with him is strained for much of the novel. This is mainly because he indulges in a very reckless life-style. He drinks heavily and frequently and entertains unsavory women, and disregards his mother’s well-meant concern for him. After his father is killed at the front in 1942, he spirals downhill and makes a series of bad decisions, culminating in his decision to join the Reich. Hendrick has a strong sense of loyalty and duty to his country, no matter what. However, he will begin to question his allegiance to Germany, after he arrives at Auschwitz. Upon encountering Nora, he is torn between his unfailing monogamy to the Fuhrer and his growing love for her.