Erica Fischer

Unique, moving, and true - this radiant love story is set against the horrific backdrop of World War II Nazi Germany. When Lilly "Aimee" Wust, a gentile mother of four and wife of a Nazi officer, met Felice "Jaguar" Schragenheim, a Jew living underground in Berlin, neither could have guessed that their brief initial encounter would develop into a blazing, devoted love. As the Nazi stranglehold closed in on them, Lilly and Felice found themselves fighting insurmountable odds to stay together. Extraordinarily passionate and heartrending, this is a rare and personal look at the love and strength of two women whose commitment to each other defied the brutality of their time.… (meer)

A truly amazing love story between a Jewish woman and a Nazi woman in 1943, whose documentary-style format and poor translation quality were disappointing. I have heard the 1999 film portrays this amazing story with the emotion it deserves, so I'd steer potential non-academic readers in that direction first.

The Nazi/German layman perspective on the war was fascinating for me -- mandatory home service, the different way in which rations were allocated, and the plight of adult U-Boats (Jews gone underground) was similar-yet-different to me from the England-focused WWII books I tend to read, and the child-focused Holocaust novels I devoured. I found the language around "illegals" and "deportation" to concentration camps (historically accurate, apparently, and documented as such before any of the recent American debates kicked off) to be particularly evocative and effective at forcing my reflection on social responsibility, right vs. law, and political machinery.

As a whole, though, this story has a ton of promise, and I didn't leave with the sense that the author (and/or translator?) delivered on it.… (meer)