Broken glass, Broken lives: A Jewish Girl's Survival in Berlin, 1933-1945.

by Rita J. Kuhn

Rita Kuhn lived her Jewish childhood and adolescence in Hitler’s Berlin, surviving a cycle of ever-growing dangers for her, her family, and her friends. The people she loved disappeared from one day to the next and left no messages, no farewells, no forwarding addresses. They were as silent as the graves they never had. Their memories remain engraved within her heart.

Years later, an inner voice urged her to put her memory into words. In the telling of it, her story of survival grew to bring back those who could no longer speak for themselves. They want to be remembered, they do not want their deaths to have been in vain. In remembrance the seeds are planted to create a better world for future generations.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

212 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 2012

Reviews

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know what I would be getting into with this book. I have read multiple Holocaust books and have been intrigued by each one in a different way. This one was no different. What I liked about this one was that we were able to see how it was for a young girl of mixed race in Hitler's Germany. Kuhn's mother was German and her father was Jewish so that made Kuhn Jewish in the eyes of the Nazis. There was some let up in the torture and aggravations the Jews received because of her mother but she still had to wear the star, live off of reduced rations and suffer shame because of her "inferior race that caused this cursed war". This book was a fresh look through the eyes of a young girl who was forced to grow up way to fast. I cannot imagine the scars that are still visible in the European countries where this war ravaged for years but I do hope we learn from our past mistakes and never find ourselves marching to the beat of a madman again. If I am not mistaken, a lot of schools have The Diary of Anne Frank" as recommended reading, I would add this book to that list if I had the authority. I don't want to receive hate mail for what I am about to say but I enjoyed this one more than Frank's diary. Frank lets you know what it is like to be shut up in a secret room and have to deal with your emotions but Kuhn lets you know what it was like to be on the streets and see the broken buildings and lives and still have to retain your integrity and hope. This was a great book that I will probably have my daughter read when she gets a little older. Read this one. You will be glad you did.

[batya7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally read books about the Holocaust. They depress me too much. This book however, was different. It was a sober accounting of a time in history, a phase of the war, that is little explored. I felt the feelings and experienced the activities of the young girl, Rita, growing up under Nazi rule with the hindsight and wisdom of a full life lived as a special kind of survivor.

Broken Glass Broken Lives explored an aspect of the Holocaust I had not given consideration to: what ever happened to people who were of mixed Jewish parentage, or who were married to Jews?

I had believed that Jews could not live in Nazi Germany. She lived and worked in Nazi-occupied Berlin for 12 years until the age of 17. Her mother, a convert to Judaism, was married to a Jewish man and the children were Jews. While her natal family enjoyed the privileges accorded to German Aryan citizens, her own family was restricted by the laws enacted to repress Jews.

Rita's experience, as a child and then a young woman, with this unusual status, is very well described: the separation from her non-Jewish friends, the successive restrictions on her activities and education, her transition into a worker, her interactions with her family, her close love and appreciation for her parents.

Moreover, I was interested to read the account of the historical Rosenstrasse Protest, where women demanded their family members be released from the Nazis, the only protest ever occurring in Nazi Germany (according to one reviewer). Women protesting were Aryan women married to Jewish men, and the Nazis backed down and released the men and their children.

I recommend this book as a fast read but a meaningful read.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so easy to read, and the author's writing mechanics were excellent. The book was somewhat boring because I could not find the author's soul in her words until the last pages. From this book and many other sources, the horrors that the German Jews suffered at the hand of Hitler and his Nazi party are incomprehensible to me, an American. I know the love and unity of family, but not that of a particular race. The author spoke so often of friends--not family--that impacted her life in one way or another. I feel quite jealous of those friendships upon which she relied. Perhaps in my huge extended family, I have found all of the friendships that I require.

Thank you, Mrs. Khun, for a good read.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for anyone who believes in the power of peaceful demonstrations to change government strategies. It is even more of a must read for those who do not believe in that power. One cannot help but ask what would have happened if the Germans had protested en masse against the Nazis.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

found it a little slow

[Mills College Library]

909.04924 K9617 2012