In the Mouth of the Wolf

by Rose Zar, Eric A. Kimmel (Editor)

Rose Zar was 19 years old when the Nazis invaded her native Poland. Her father urged her to save herself by hiding "in the mouth of the wolf"--or within the enemy itself. She managed to obtain false papers, secretly changing her identity and surviving the Holocaust as maid and nanny for a Nazi SS colonel.

Genres: Holocaust, History, Nonfiction, Biography, World War II, Memoir, Middle Grade

226 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1983

Reviews

[Sarah Sperry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all time favorite books. It was written by my Mom's neighbor who used her smarts to survive during WW II. Fascinating! I highly recommend it, talk about bravery. For me it was especially memorable knowing my Mom grew up in the neighborhood she ended up in after leaving Europe.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author might best be described as spunky -- going from a sheltered, conservative Jewish childhood to the nitty-gritty business of survival on false papers, looking blackmailers and Nazis and potential rapists in the eye, refusing to be intimidated and ready to defend herself with shouting or deceit or even boiling water if necessary. She goes into significant, interesting detail of the day-to-day business of hiding, the difficulties in finding a suitable job and place to live, etc. She was fortunate in having a "good" (that is, non-Jewish) appearance and being able to speak fluent Polish without an accent, but many times she questioned her decision to live among the Aryans and wanted to stay in the ghetto with her family and friends, even if that was significantly more dangerous.

I do wish Zar had written more about her emotions during this time, and revealed some details of her prewar life. When the book starts, she's nineteen, the war is in full swing and she's about to leave the ghetto, and that's all we know. There's not much about her post-war life either; just one short chapter of the immediate days after liberation and then a two-page epilogue about her marriage and journey to the US. I would like to know if she stayed in touch with the SS officer's wife who had been so kind to her, and their child, whose nanny she was, whom she had great affection for.

In the Mouth of the Wolf doesn't especially stand out in the genre of Holocaust memoirs, but I can recommend it -- you could do a lot worse.

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Mouth of the Wolf, by Rose Zar, was a great book. It took place from 1942 to 1945, when Rose was ages 20-22. The reason Rose wrote this memoir was to explain to people what her life was really like during the Holocaust.
An exciting event that happened in the book was when Rose was 17 years old. She and her brother had to get false papers, pretend to be Polish, and leave their Jewish family. Another event that happened is when Rose got her first job at the hospital in Warsaw. There, she met people who gave her her other job. The next exciting event that happened in the book was when Rose got her job working for the kommandant, Colonel Roemer, and his wife, Mrs. Roemer. Without this job she probably wouldn’t have lived. The last exciting event that happened was when Rose was 22, and the war ended. After it ended, she was free to be herself again.
I thought In the Mouth of the Wolf was a very good book. It was full of details from Rose’s life that were interesting to read about. All the parts of the book were related, the beginning connected to the end, which made it really easy to understand. The only thing that I wish Rose had included more of would be her family. She could of explained them a little more than she did. Other than that, I really liked this book.
I am really glad I read In the Mouth of the Wolf, by Rose Zar. It was a very interesting book with facts about her life during the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a real, but very interesting story about what some people did to survive during the Holocaust.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the mood for a terrifying Holocaust memoir? This book will give you chills. A teenage Polish girl survives the war, hiding as the nanny in an SS colonel’s family - in her father’s words, right in the mouth of the wolf. Couldn’t put it down. It would make a wonderful movie.

[Vada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easily the best WWII book I've ever read. I usually lose interest in historical war stories, but I had a hard time putting this book down!! Definitely a must-read!

[Lyndsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book that I read was called, In the Mouth of the Wolf, by Rose Zar and it takes place from 1933-1945. The main character of my book is Ruska Guterman and someone who influenced her was her boss, Colonel Roemer. Something that was significant about my author’s life was she was hired to work for the German S.S. This is significant because my author is actually Jewish, but is pretending to be Polish.
An interesting event that happened in my author’s life was her and her family got evicted from their home and taken to a Jewish ghetto, but Ruska escaped and then got taken back to the ghetto and then escaped again. Another interesting thing that happened to my author was she got hired to work for the German S.S. Something else that was exciting in my author’s life was her cover almost got blown, but her bosses wife stuck up for her and she didn’t get caught. The last interesting thing that happened in my author’s life was she made it to the end of the Holocaust without anyone discovering she was Jewish. My opinion of the book is that it was boring and slow. Some weaknesses of it was that there wasn’t a whole lot of details, it was boring, and the fact that Ruska made it the whole 12 years without getting discovered once, seems unbelievable to me.
I didn’t like this book because it was vague, it had little to no detail and some parts were unbelievable, but if it was more detailed, I may have liked it more. Therefore, I would not recommend this book to anyone.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of a Jewish woman in Poland who manages to escape from the Jewish ghetto and start living a stressful life as an Aryan Pole. The first 1/2 of the book is primarily her journey from place to place, learning who to trust and learning how to function when it is difficult to know who to trust and what to say or not say to stay safe. The 2nd 1/2 of the book focuses on the job she eventually lands working for an SS Commandant and his wife. She becomes friends with the wife and is the nanny.

The story is an interesting one. I wish that there had been more insight into her emotional struggle as this often reads in a very factual and straightforward manner. Sometimes I felt like I lost part of the story in the logistics. On the other hand, she started to share more of that in the 2nd half and we get a better sense of her feelings about the fact that she has been torn from her family and is living with people who might/would despise her if they knew her real identity.

I wish at the end I knew what happened with the woman she worked for. They were close friends and I wondered what happened when she learned that Rose was Jewish the whole time....

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exciting memoir of a young woman whose father taught her it was safest "In the Mouth of the Wolf." She took his advice to heart most of the time, as did her brother, and escaped the holocaust. The author is an intrepid individual who brazenly worked her way into being the maid/nanny for the SS Commander in Kracow and his wife, which is literally in the mouth of the wolf.

[Yibbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for children. A memoir that is so desperately sad on one level, but manages to end on a hopeful note. She is amazingly resilient and courageous. Never does she allow herself to become vengeful. This is a book I would recommend to any adult.

[Natasha]

"If you're ever on the run and have to hide, the best place is right in the mouth of the wolf."-Herman Guterman's advice to his daugther Ruska

[Angela Gyurko · Rating 4 out of 5]

As we approach Christmas, I must quote Zar's novel. "Shivering in the darkness as church bells rang out all over the city, I thought about Christian love, Christian charity. I thought of Joseph, Mary, and the Infant Jesus. What if those three Jews had come into Krakow on the train that night, looking for shelter? Would all those Masses, bells, carols, trees, and candles do them any good? Hardly. The best they could hope for was to be thrown out into the snow like I was. More likely those holy hypocrites filling the churches would turn them over to the Germans. That night, all over Poland, there were Jews like me, desperately seeking shelter. But the inn was full. The well of human kindness was empty. Every door was slammed in our faces. And all the while, the church bells rang" (89-90).

Zar's treatment at the hand of the Poles makes for gripping and necessary reading in these troubled times. She was fortunate to have a father who made connections in the underground well in advance of her needing to flee. She was fortunate to have learned fluent German and Russian, in addition to Polish. Her family saved money to facilitate her fleeing. Her father taught her to lie quickly and effectively.

On the craft side, Zar's layout of her father's initial advice is brilliant, the words arranged as if slowly dripping into the mouth of the wolf. The imagery of her prologue sets the tone. Knives. Blackness. Darkness. Casual brutality. Studied official callousness (3-5). The tone set, Zar can be as brusque and blunt as her survival necessitated. The story is gripping and needs no further embellishment.

[Eman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible story. Rose was such a badass. Her bravery is unparalleled. The way she survived through the Holocaust, using her intelligence and courage, is beyond chilling. My younger brother said this was one of his favorite things he read in school, and I now know why. My eyes were glued to the pages and I read this book in basically one go. It's fast-paced as Rose tells how she disguised herself, with hardly anyone suspecting she was Jewish, and outwit everyone who even supposed she was. What makes this story so much more crazy in my mind is that it is her real story. It seems like something out of fiction, but she really was in these situations and smartly got out them, going from job to job, fleeing at the right moments, surviving in the mouth of the wolf.

I looked her up to find out more, turns out after WWII, she moved to South Bend and passed away in 2001. Rest in peace, Rose Zar, you incredible woman.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

"'Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.' But not for Jews. Shivering in the darkness as church bells rang out all over the city, I thought about Christain love, Christain charity. I thought about Joseph, Mary, and the Infant Jesus. What if those three Jews had come into Krakow on the train that night, looking for shelter? Would all those Masses, bells, carols, trees, and candles do them any good? More likely those holy hypocrites filing the churches would turn them over to the Germans. That night, all over Poland, there were Jews like me, desperately seeking shelter. But, the inn was full. Every door was slammed in our faces. And all the while, the church bells rang."

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discovered courtesy of NYT Overlooked- the story of Rose Zar and her survival in Poland during German occupation. A 19 year old Jewish woman , tri-lingual and talented she ‘passed’ as a Pole - and survived
But what she saw and heard - will shock you - Hitlers willing executioners daily mocked the fate of Jews, enjoyed the luxury of property taken from Jews, and turned in Jews to the Germans- without a moments hesitation

Truly a must read because we must understand that yes- once someone is”other” you have already condemned them.

[Wayne E Hoppe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Courage

Very well written. A story of love , family and community strength in desperate times, the very best of devotion to preserving a sense of humanity in a inhumane society, bravery and dedication to family. Tense

[Beth Jerkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the Read

The book took off slowly. I was not much enamored with the main character. However as she grew and matured she became the character you pulled for, were proud of, and wished you knew her as a friend. Her time in hiding was exciting, and very educational.

[Jennifer]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/24/ob...

[Sara Auger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books sucks you right in, every chapter having its own twist that makes you want to keep reading.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best WW2 memoirs that I have ever read. I read it when I was in school and loved it so much that I included it in my child’s schooling.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story of a Jew staying alive in Occupied Poland WWII. No chance to flee forced Rose's hand.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rose's story left me with many questions throughout and discussions in my head. A great WWII book!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This memoir recounts how a Jewish teen survives the Holocaust under a false identity working as a domestic for a Nazi officer in Krakow, Poland.

[Nancy Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book several times. First time in high school. It was the only required reading that I actually enjoyed. This is a must read!!! After high school, I came across this book at a Goodwill and purchased it right away and read it again. I've also purchased copies and gave them as gifts because it is that good!!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In the Mouth of the Wolf" by Rose Zar is a fascinating account of one young girl's survival during the 1930s/40s Nazi invasion of Poland. Zar did not look like a typical Jewish girl a fact that she recounts bemoaning as a child. This ends up being her saving grace. She is able to escape the ghetto in her hometown and make her way to the main Nazi hub in Poland. She quite literally spends the war in the mouth of the wolf. She works for the Nazis; first as kitchen aide, then a custodian in the offices, and later as a nanny. The tale is fascinating, heart-breaking, and more than anything else heart-pounding even though the end is quite obvious. Well worth the read.

[Lori Henrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

The was a slow read for me. Not because it wasn't good but for some reason my mind would wander. This is the true story of Rose Zar and how she survived living in Poland as a Jew during the war. I enjoy this story and the determination and strength this young woman had to survive on her own when she had no idea what had happened to friends and family.

If you like a story like Anne Frank you will like this.

[N'isa Freedomwalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredible true story occuring around Poland during the jewish holocaust. It is a real page turner that I didn't want to put down. My only reason I didn't give it more stars, is that I could not pronounce many names of people and places. It has a little of everything in it.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Older teenage girl from Poland finds herself transforming into a Polish gentile to escape the Nazis. She ends up working in the house of a high up SS officer as a nanny. Thus, the name.

[Jess Reese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Follows a young Jewish girl during WWII who hides her identity and works for an SS officer as a housekeeper living in constant fear of being discovered.

[18HannahG · Rating 5 out of 5]

SOOOOOO good.

[Monica]

This book was okay it's not one i would read again.