Divided Lives: The Untold Stories of Jewish-Christian Women in Nazi Germany

by Cynthia A. Crane

Divided Lives is a book that brings together the horrifying life stories of women from Jewish-Christian marriages whose families were persecuted under Hitlerâ s Third Reich. These women, the â Mischling,â â half breeds,â or â half Jews,â were subjected to an onslaught of anti-Jewish laws that divided spouses, family, and friends. From the early Hitler years through post- war Germany, the book chronicles these womenâ s personal struggles, joys, losses, and terror as well as how they maneuvered in a country that had betrayed them. Relatively little has been written about the plight of Jewish-Christian â mixedâ families, perhaps because of the complex and controversial split between their Jewish and Christian roots. Crane, whose family suffered under these laws, has collected, translated, and interpreted the life stories of ten women who survived. These are universal stories of hope and survival that transcend time, race, religion, class, and gender.

Genres: Holocaust, History, Nonfiction, German Literature, Religion, Memoir, War

372 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2000

Reviews

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of oral histories from Christian women of Jewish descent who lived in Germany during the Nazi era. Although these women didn't get the worst of it, they still suffered a great deal: they often couldn't get jobs or finish their education, most of the Jewish side of their families either emigrated or were deported, and there was the very real threat that they themselves could wind up in a concentration camp. There were plenty of Jewish-Christians in the camps and once inside they had to deal with the same horrors as their fully Jewish fellow inmates.

The author did her interviews during the mid-nineties, pretty much just before it was too late. All of these women were old; the youngest were in their seventies and there were some that were in their nineties. I wouldn't be surprised if every one of them has since died. One of the interviewees had suffered from mental/emotional problems for much of her life and committed suicide after her interview.

This is a good collection, though somewhat narrow in scope: the interviewees were all at least in their teens and often fully adult during the Nazi era, and I think all of them remained in Germany after the war. It would have been interesting if men had been included in the study, and also Jewish-Christian people who moved to other countries after the war -- that is, most of them. I think there's got to be something different about the people who chose to stay.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because the author was one of my literature professors in college. It's an interesting perspective on WWII.

[Blythe Drilling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hesitant to read this book at first, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to trudge through it. I was wrong, and this book was more than worth it to read. These stories made me think about how our current world still operates under similar pretenses and biases. I had to stop often while reading to process my thoughts and digest each woman's story. It was gut-wrenching at times to realize what some of these women endured. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to gain a better understanding of what the Mischlinge had to suffer under the Third Reich.