The Munich Girl; lby Phyllis Edgerly Ring.

A girl who is orphaned early and hasn't known a father, one that she has a right to, even if she has a loving father figure in her life, might deep down hanker for that right, and consequently allow herself to be subjected to abuse by a man in her life, emotional and verbal, possibly worse.

A woman abused by a father, whether really her own or the only one she ever knew to be the father, might suffer worse, because she might then allow herself to be subjected to lack of rights by a man who owes her recognition - or even more than one, as in not only men in her life but male colleagues and more.

And the more a man abuses and denies and manipulates such a woman, the more she takes it as a test of her virtue proven by being sweet despite the abuses. That the world, especially male world but also the women who accept this as the only share allowed to women, take this as normal, and measure women's worth by this criteria, has the effect of the said world of males - and the women who accept it - treating a normal person, one who happens to be female, with hostility, for not accepting such abuse, for demanding better behaviour and treatment, and she is subjected to wide ranging abuse, accusations and gossip, and worse.

This sort of thing only changes if the men in her life have power and wealth, and not only treat her well but demand that others do so, with punitive measures in place for aberrations. Human rights for women are treated with suspicion and worse, and this is often true even more in West than those of societies seen by West as lesser progressive.

This work deals with this phenomena, interwoven with interpersonal relationships of various kinds, with the whole twentieth century horror of the third Reich and it's aftermath as background, and a romantic angle that is idealised in almost every way but textbook. That is to say, instead of a tall dark taciturn male, here the romantic angle is a good guy who happens to be not only over six feet but sapphire blue eyes with gold brown hair. And a German to boot, and there is more. He is decent, because his mother doesn't know who his father was - she was raped by three ss officers whose faces she never saw, as punishment for her being loving to the lebensborn babies, instead of leaving them alone as instructed, so they grow strong - so the doctrine went.

But there is more.

The author writes about well known persons, especially one, and has her protagonists set as characters who were familiar to bordering intimate with this character who remained in shadows in thick of the whole third reich main stage - Eva Braun, namely - with exploring this treatment of women by men in particular and world in general as the running theme. The story goes back and forth, between 1995 as present, and from early thirties to end of war as background, not flashback but in process of unfolding the story of the mother of protagonist, who she discovers had met, knew and was even clse to, Eva Braun, albeit at a distance that had the two live parallel lives that each knew nothing of details of the other, but shared concerns that were same or similar.

So for examples as the war is ongoing, each is concerned about her man, and in pain due to being distanced, but for exactly opposite reasons - Peggy is in love with Erich who is working in resistance, and hence stays away for her safety, while Eva was denied recognition by her man for reasons of his single image necessary for manipulating the psyche of his nation.

There are several interesting angles. For one, the author states ethics and so forth through the characters, and not only opposition to the nazi doctrines in general but also a flat declaration towards the end that they and their leader were subhuman. Yet, the book from the beginning is dissecting the allies general attitude, and not only questioning the allies actions during the war but also, by various characters portrayed that are from UK or US , painting them as not necessarily better, while ordinary Germans or at least representatives here are shown as the really good, homely, decent ones,  who suffered not only under the third reich but subsequently under the changed situations too.

The angle that's most interesting despite all this rich tapestry, however, is an unexpected one.

Peggy is, from beginning, sort of - not always, but often enough - bothered by an almost second sight, able to clearly see coming events and ends of some, not always and not everyone but just enough to be intriguing, because unless such a gift is nurtured and developed, this is how it remains.

But the hair raising part is when she is, unexpectedly, invited by her friend's paramour - a relationship she knows nothing about, till years after - for an interview that she had neither asked for nor expected, and meets him. The descriptions of her realising that he is looking into her eyes, and that it's a challenge, and her returning the gaze and more, and especially the further part, is the hair raising bit, is the part that tells one that this author isn't playing this for readership. That she finally concludes that he was the far lesser, worthless person, while Eva Braun was the truly valuable one with kindness and more, hinges more on that perception by Peggy than the general historical valuations of the two.

And the love story that all the while is weaving on borders of home, relationships, and more, goes satisfactory too. One only wishes that the author's writing skills matched the canvas she has painted, and they fall short because that canvas is huge.





 

Lilac Girls; by Martha Hall Kelly.

One sees this unusual title and beautiful cover, and going by the blurb takes it to be a halfway serious account of three young women with lives intertwined, assuming they began perhaps at a boarding school together. One couldn't be further off.

One begins to read, and the first sentence is more appropriate for a love story that ends in a tragedy due to a young girl falling for someone perhaps more fond of playing with hearts and breaking them. Again, one couldn't be further off.

Then one sees the date, and it's the day Poland was invaded, so one expects a bit more interesting book. This time, the expectations fall short. Perhaps all this misleading was not entirely the fault of the reader?

Then begin the chapters switching between three, two young - and one slightly less young - women, telling their stories first hand. One is an upper class society person working in N.Y. city with homes in CT and Hamptons, another a young girl in Lublin looking at devastation of her home town by German military, and the third, a medical student in Dusseldorf who is forced to work for her uncle the butcher, out of necessity, in more than one capacity, since her parents aren't well off, and her aunt supports her education.

Each of these has her problems, some from the society she is part of, and others due to the time. Caroline deals with working without salary and more for charity, at the French consulate in N.Y., sending clothes and more to displaced children across France in orphanages. Kasia is dealing with devastation of her hometown and society invaded and trampled, as they are being picked on to be sent to camps. And Herta is trying to be a doctor in a highly misogynistic society that is worse under the regime she sees as something good for her country.

It's not until one is through three quarters of the book that one realises with a jolt, that this isn't a novel one thought it was, even based on real events and places, but is about characters that were real persons, not just types that they represent.

Herta is the most disappointing, in that being a doctor and facing obstacles of recognition in that capacity, she throws ethics out and joins in the experiments performed on live camp incarcerated women who aren't volunteers, without compunction. Here the author takes the view that she ought to have been better as a woman, and gives her performing sexual slavery to the uncle as a sign of her moral weakness, perhaps with an idea that a woman in that dilemma ought to give up education and be content with a life approved by society. That this approved life is after all an approved sexual slavery is not perhaps a problem for her. But one may take the view that Herta is a product of her times and nation, not that different from the average German who made similar choices in whatever capacity including doctors, and is more determined to keep her status as a doctor because of the hard fight she has throughout her life in keeping it.

Caroline is of course the easiest to like, being kind hearted as to hock her family heirlooms to fund her charity boxes sent to France, and so ethereal even in her one love. One can be in awe, or take it thst being cushioned by her security and her mother's love, she can afford the strength. Either way, lovely person.

It's the young Polish Kasia and her other friends, relatives and more, innates of the Ravensbruck camp, rabbits as they were called, who form most of the body of this horrendous story, one that hits deeply and repeatedly, surprising even a reader familiar with the horrors of the era through a dozen or two books of the memoirs kind.

Where they found strength to go on, is the eternal unspoken question. One is glad they did.