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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

CITY OF WOMEN

I enjoyed this book tremendously.  Gillham takes the reader into Berlin during WWII.  Bombings, death, loss of sons, husbands, and brothers are all there.  All the men have been conscripted into the army leaving the city to women and old men.
What I enjoyed most is the fact that we don't usually think about the enemy as people.  Sigrid lives with her mother-in-law, has a secretarial job in the city and her husband is away in the army.  She thought she loved him when she married him but now she isn't so sure.
When the Nazis came into power she and many of her friends and neighbors didn't really have a political opinion.  As the situation in Germany escalated and Hitler began to persecute the Jews she and many others didn't agree but also didn't do anything.  They just kept on living their lives.  Sigrid finds herself forced to become involved in the controversy when a young nanny in her building turns to her for help.  She then becomes part of a group that hides political prisoners from the Gestapo.
I found myself wondering about what I would do.  I am not politically active.  I lead a busy life.  If seriously, morally wrong crimes were being committed by those in charge of government, would I stand up and take action?  If I am truly honest I have to doubt that I would.  We are so quick to judge the Germans but would we be any different?  I hope so.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

another one I look forward to reading. And I agree with you. I like to think I"d stand up and take action, but I doubt I really would if it came down to it. I don't know that we would truely be any different than the Germans were in that situation. We already grumble about things, but don't really do anything to change or stop them. And I'm sure that, like the German citizens, there are things we don't even know are going on, and won't until it's a done deal.