Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: Jewish

  • The Jade Lily

    The Jade Lily

    While she was overseas on holiday the idea for this book gradually came to the Kirsty Manning. In Honhkou, she noticed a “Rusted Star of David inset into a doorway.” That led to a visit to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. She has used historical research to detail a fictional family’s journey, and experiences during, and after, the war.

    The story outlines the journey over time of the Jewish Bernfield family and their lives, as the Germans invade their home in Austria. Narrated by Romy, the twelve year old daughter, and also Alexandra, her granddaughter, we pass from the present to the past to gradually delve into mysteries that have held the family together in love.

    When Romy, Papa and Mutti witnessed Kristallnacht, and saw their brother and son shot, they knew they had to leave Austria. Through a very good friend, they were able to get visas to China, and being a fine doctor, the father was offered a position in a hospital in Shanghai. They were privileged because of their medical backgrounds, and because they had money. The Bernfields made great efforts to fit in to the large Jewish Society of refugees in Shanghai, and they also made friends with local Chinese.

    Romy enjoyed her time learning a new language, meeting new friends and studying at school. Romy met Nina on the boat to China, and although Nina was living with an uncle, Romy and Nina kept in contact. Romy also had great friends in Li and her brother Jiang, whose father was also a doctor, but of Chinese traditional medicines. He and Papa shared many ideas.

    We meet Alexandra, Romy’s granddaughter, when she has been called to Australia as her Opa is dying. As Romy and Opa migrated to Australia from Shanghai, and raised Alexandra, she is sure of the love and family ties she will find. However, Alexandra wants to learn more about her mother, who died when she was young.

    The strength and love that dominate this story is quite remarkable. The calamities that Romy has faced as a young girl, then as a young adult, are enormous. The Japanese invasion of China and some of the atrocities committed there were witnessed by Romy, who used her medical knowledge to help the locals. Her parents had not left for work at the hospital when their building was bombed, so yet again, Romy witnessed the death of loved ones.

    It is hard to convey the fascinating search Alexandra has in China, while looking for information about her mother. It is also remarkable how little is known about the Jewish refugees in China. The characters in this novel stand firm in the face of adversity, and are totally loving, as their idea of family unity comes before all else.

    Such a unique story told in a gradual revelation of facts and ideas is compelling and great reading.

  • Codename Suzette An extraordinary story of resistance and rescue in Nazi Paris

    Codename Suzette An extraordinary story of resistance and rescue in Nazi Paris

    Many a great story comes about by chance. Codename Suzette is exactly that. Stumbled upon while researching Red Orchestra, a retouched photograph of a woman known as Suzanne Spaak, was unearthed. Supposedly listed as a Soviet spy during World War Two, a known friend of Leopoldo Trepper, a man who was definitely a Russian spy, little was known about her.

    Anne Nelson made the decision to discover more about this mysterious woman and her wartime exploits, and in doing so uncovered one of a myriad of incredibly courageous stories, one of the many of which sadly, have faded into the past.

    Suzanne Spaak was born into a wealthy Belgian Catholic family, her father’s favourite and an intelligent woman. Falling in love with Claude at the age of 14 years, he was 15; they became secretly engaged, marrying in 1925.

    Considered a golden couple, she with the wealth, he and his family both wealthy and politically influential, they eventually moved to Paris: on one level to try and revive a flagging marriage and for Claude, a playwright and poet to be more easily accessible to theatre groups and his older brother Charles, who had already begun to make a name for himself in theatre.

    Alone and lonely Suzanne befriended Jewish refugees fleeing before the wrath of Russia, which once Germany invaded Paris, saw her become one of the leaders of an extremely comprehensive and effective resistance group.

    Her life was to change dramatically once the infamous Gas chambers of Auschwitz began to ‘process’ Jewish children aged between 3-17 years.

    She was instrumental in recruiting a group of people from all religious persuasions to ‘kidnap’ Jewish children from the orphanages, hide them with willing families and then somehow, in a desperate economy, raise the funds required to help feed them.

    Over time her network spread far and wide, enlisting the help, of many who put their own families and lives in jeopardy, and by using her contacts ,her social standing and realising this was her purpose in life, she and many others ultimately saved the lives of 1000 Jewish children.

    Not only does the story of Suzette paint a picture of bravery and courage, but as research often does, also uncovers a Paris under Gestapo rule, the underhanded dealings often done by neighbours and people who were trusted members of the community. Society was a dangerous place to be as to trust, to talk to the wrong person, to dare take on a member of the German occupation forces would result in death.

    Over the years munch white wash has been painted in relation to the reality of life in occupied countries, in Codename Suzette the white wash has been removed to show Paris as more of the reality; a very dangerous place to live.

    Riveting and engaging, the story of Suzanne Spaak, her family and the people who gave so very much to help others, offers a new and better understanding of what being a Jew during the horrific years of World War Two was like and the bravery of so very many who helped them.