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Inside the Gestapo: A Young Woman's Secret War
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
208 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1987
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95 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 27, 2012
A very strong 4 stars! Maybe even 4.5 stars. Absolutely incredible. I could not put this one down. Helene's story reads like an unbelievable action/spy novel. It's pretty amazing she lived to tell her story...and it is a story worth reading. Highly recommended!
April 5, 2020
Review to follow
Want to read
January 31, 2017I'd like to read this because I saw the movie version. She was my nanny's friend in Belgium. My late nanny's name was Madame Yvonne Baggen Gilquin (died in May 2016).
February 13, 2017
Awsome read. It reads as an action thriller and is all the more astonishing for having been true!
April 10, 2018
This was an unbelievable account of a Jewish woman's role during World War II and her role in the resistance. Amazingly Helene infiltrates the Gestapo office in Brussels, obtaining valuable information that helped save countless lives. She sacrificed and gave her all to the cause, her strength and determination to put a spanner in the works of the Nazi regime kept her going. Along with little bits of luck. This is a fantastic account of the struggle Helene faced and tackled head on when her country and it's people were subjected to German occupation.
December 28, 2019
A testimony of the incredible strength and courage a woman could have. However, I do not agree with what they did to Frank at the end. He was a traitor no doubt, but I don't think he deserved to be hung.
April 20, 2021
Well written book, I keep coming back to it
March 18, 2022
Absolutely amazing and so interesting! Very easy to read as well, 100% worth the read!
March 2, 2024
A very good book about one Belgian woman and her infiltration of the Gestapo.
December 8, 2024
One of the best stories I've read. It's like a thriller, very enjoyable
January 23, 2013
Truth or fiction? A young, impulsive and vivacious 19-year-old when the Germans invaded her hometown of Brussels, the French-speaking Jewish Helene Moszkiewiez and her family were unable to flee to England as the bridges had been blown up by the Resistance. As the Jewish community became increasingly worried about the threat of deportation to Germany, Helene was able to move freely due to her non-Jewish appearance, although the lives of her parents were becoming increasingly restricted. When she met a former friend, now in the German army but working undercover for the Belgian Resistance following orders from London, he asked her to help him infiltrate the Gestapo headquarters in Brussels. Amazingly, using her female charms, she managed to get him transferred to the very position in which he could do the most damage, coordinating intelligence on the members of the Resistance. Helene, whose mother was German, worked part-time as a volunteer at Gestapo HQ under the false identity of Olga Richter, and the two were able to pass on information to the Resistance network which saved many lives. As she was not paid for this work, Helene also had a job as a governess, using another set of false papers, using her friend's French name.
As the war progressed, Helene gradually became more involved in Resistance work of all sorts, including sabotage, reprisals against informers, hiding other Resistance workers and allied airmen, as well as personally killing a high-ranked officer of the Gestapo. There are so many exciting events that the book seems more and more like the script of a war film. Many of the incidents seemed to come straight from a series such as Secret War (a 1970s BBC series about the Belgian Resistance, later parodied in the BBC's 'Allo 'Allo). This autobiographical novel was in actual fact written down in English by Helene's husband, forty years later in Canada. Could this just be a collection of tall tales, cobbled together from a mix of truth and film and TV? There seemed to be too many points at which Helene writes, conveniently, "I'm sorry I can't remember this person's name" or the hotel in which a certain event took place; just as she became increasingly wary about how trustworthy her Gestapo/Resistance colleague Franz was, so I became increasingly wary of the truth of this account. I don't doubt that she was there, took part and witnessed some of these incidents, but surely this could not have all happened to one person, and there were too many happy coincidences and close calls. Would somebody who revealed a suitcase full of weapons to bystanders on a tram be trusted to carry on covert operations where she could have endangered so many other people? Can we trust someone who did such a thing to tell us the truth?
Whatever the truth of the matter, this was a fantastic page-turner of a book, action-packed and gripping until the last page. It was made into a TV film 1991 under the title A Woman at War, and intriguingly, the French Wikipedia entry claims that Paul Verhoeven's Black Book / Zwartboek is based on this book, although I have not been able to confirm this. Truth or fiction, it was a good read.
Read in Dutch: 'Een vrouw in oorlog', www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6506989
Published under several titles: 'Inside the Gestapo: A Jewish Woman's Secret War', 'Inside the Gestapo: A Young Woman's Secret War', 'Helene Moszkiewiez: My War in the Gestapo'.
As the war progressed, Helene gradually became more involved in Resistance work of all sorts, including sabotage, reprisals against informers, hiding other Resistance workers and allied airmen, as well as personally killing a high-ranked officer of the Gestapo. There are so many exciting events that the book seems more and more like the script of a war film. Many of the incidents seemed to come straight from a series such as Secret War (a 1970s BBC series about the Belgian Resistance, later parodied in the BBC's 'Allo 'Allo). This autobiographical novel was in actual fact written down in English by Helene's husband, forty years later in Canada. Could this just be a collection of tall tales, cobbled together from a mix of truth and film and TV? There seemed to be too many points at which Helene writes, conveniently, "I'm sorry I can't remember this person's name" or the hotel in which a certain event took place; just as she became increasingly wary about how trustworthy her Gestapo/Resistance colleague Franz was, so I became increasingly wary of the truth of this account. I don't doubt that she was there, took part and witnessed some of these incidents, but surely this could not have all happened to one person, and there were too many happy coincidences and close calls. Would somebody who revealed a suitcase full of weapons to bystanders on a tram be trusted to carry on covert operations where she could have endangered so many other people? Can we trust someone who did such a thing to tell us the truth?
Whatever the truth of the matter, this was a fantastic page-turner of a book, action-packed and gripping until the last page. It was made into a TV film 1991 under the title A Woman at War, and intriguingly, the French Wikipedia entry claims that Paul Verhoeven's Black Book / Zwartboek is based on this book, although I have not been able to confirm this. Truth or fiction, it was a good read.
Read in Dutch: 'Een vrouw in oorlog', www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6506989
Published under several titles: 'Inside the Gestapo: A Jewish Woman's Secret War', 'Inside the Gestapo: A Young Woman's Secret War', 'Helene Moszkiewiez: My War in the Gestapo'.
March 3, 2022
This is not a holocaust story. This is a Jewish resistance and a spy. I always keep finding books that are unpopular because this happens to be my favourite genre. This is another extraordinary and a powerful book to read because it is brilliant book. This story is a hell of survival in a masterful and intelligence way. She takes a lot of courage and endurance, and I couldn’t put it down as a result. The story unfolds, Helene was only 19 years old, she grew up in Brussels, France. Her family couldn’t be able to flee to England because the bridges had been blown up by the resistance. Helene was very lucky because she was able to move freely because she looks not Jewish. When she meets a former friend, which he is in the Germany army, but he is working as a undercover for the Belgian resistance following orders from London. He asked her to help him to spy at the Gestapo headquarters in Brussel. She agreed. She had to do her charms look and manages to get him transferred to the gestapo headquarters coordinating intelligence on the members of the resistance. Helene’s mother was a German, she works at the Gestapo part-time under the false identity of Olga Richter and were able to pass all the information to the resistance network that saved many lives. Helene work as a governess and had false paper using her friend’s French name. It is very much thrilling and actions in many different settings at the time. I couldn’t be in her shoes, and she did sacrifice, use strength, and put a lot of determination. She has risked her lives to keep her identity as well.
July 25, 2016
I rate different books differently. A book does not necessarily have to be well-written if the content is valuable to me. I am not saying this book is poorly written. I'm saying that my rating is based on content, not literary skill.
I had never read a non-fiction book about WWII resistance. I was intrigued and inspired by the courage and circumstances faced by Ms. Moszkiewiez. Living in a culture of ease, I wonder if my generation could be lionhearted enough to battle such a fortified enemy.
I had never read a non-fiction book about WWII resistance. I was intrigued and inspired by the courage and circumstances faced by Ms. Moszkiewiez. Living in a culture of ease, I wonder if my generation could be lionhearted enough to battle such a fortified enemy.
February 13, 2015
My edition is hardback and titled "My war in the Gestapo" (pub 1995 by BCA). It is an engaging, insightful and at times tragic read about someone who was not only extremely brave, but also very fortunate to live through her experiences on numerous occasions.
It becomes a compulsive page turner - but with a constant undercurrent of dismay as to how certain members of European civilisation could descend into such acts, just 75 years ago.
It becomes a compulsive page turner - but with a constant undercurrent of dismay as to how certain members of European civilisation could descend into such acts, just 75 years ago.
February 17, 2018
Brilliant insight. Enjoyed it throughly .
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews