Unserer Töchter, die Nazinen

by Hermynia zur Mühlen

This book is entirely in German. Dieses Buch ist vollig in Deutsch.

Genres: Fiction

143 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extremely scary book. It embodies how the Nazis came to power, lured people in, stayed in power and how they treated their people. Hermynia Zur Mühlen herself could not have written this book during the war if she had still lived in Germany - it's too provoking, too anti-Germany. No, for her opinions she was already forced to flee in 1933. The terror of what she must have lived through even that early in the Nazi's rise to power seeps through the pages.

This book is told from the point of view of three women, who all get two chapters each: Kati, the countess Agnes and doctor's wife Martha Feldhüter. All three have daughters, which can be concluded from the title, who all three end up with the Nazis. Kati and Agnes however are fighting against the Nazis, while Martha grows to sympathize with them in the end. At the end of the book, both Kati's and Agnes' daughters have turned their backs on the Nazis, whereas Martha and her daughter Lieselote have joined the Nazis (after deliberately not joing a party until they knew they would be on the winning side) and have grown more and more pompous. Especially Martha enjoys her new status as big woman in the town, and fully agrees with what the Nazis are doing. "10 men are pursuing one communist and beating him to death? Why, there's nothing wrong with that! And the other doctor in town, he's a Jew, he should just get the hell out of here. He doesn't belong here. Stealing German houses and patients from a German doctor, who does he think he is? Plus, I want his house. Why doesn't he leave?! I wish there were more Jewish stores in town. It's so much fun to boycot them! But why should the Jews and foreigners boycot our stores and export? Don't they see how many people are hurt by these things? How many of them lose their jobs? It's incredibly uncivil of them! And there's really something wrong with the things they sell in Jewish warehouses. I mean, I bought this dress last summer. I gained sixteen pounds, and then it ripped! What nonsense, it should not have been allowed to rip, the sixteen pounds are completely unrelated." Let's just say, I didn't get along with Martha so well. While reading her chapters, I was steaming beause of injustice and anger. How many people have for selfish reason misused the Nazi power? How many people have for their own personal gain, compelled 6 million people to die?

The book, like mentioned before, also shows why people were initially taken in by Nazi Germany. How Hitler got his votes. What he promised, and why people believed in that. And then it shows that the scales are falling from people's eyes, and it's a horrible read. These old people, who grow cold and grim, for worry about their kids, because of the sickening atmosphere in the whole of Germany. And then the kids, who know no fear, know it may well be over tomorrow and don't seem to care.

If we cut out the chapters from doctor's wife Martha, the book was inspiring. It showed people (and quite often: women) learning that the Nazi regime was wrong, it showed people (and again, mostly women, since so many men had been killed or captured) taking up arms in their own way and fight. It moved me more than words can say.

Hermunia Zur Mühlen had finished writing this story before the war had ended. Yes, they know in the story that Germany was going after Austria, but England had not yet invaded, Russia hadn't done anything yet, and as far as these people seemed to know, Germany had not yet attacked other countries. And already the atmosphere in the town was killing, and very tense. Despite all that, the last lines of the book say: "we will rebuild Germany. We will build it up again. We have already started rebuilding." It was simply incredibly beautiful.