The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany [9781250853561]

Overview

THE BELOVED NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"[A] narrative of unfathomable courage" ―Wall Street Journal

The Nine follows the true story of the author’s great aunt Hélène Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a ten-day journey across the front lines of WWII from Germany back to Paris.

"I almost didn't finish this book. Not because it wasn't extraordinary—but because it was too extraordinary. Because somewhere around the third chapter, I realized I was holding my breath, terrified that if I exhaled too loudly, these nine women might disappear like smoke, like so many others did...They made promises to each other's children they'd never met, memorized addresses of families they might never find, carried letters for lovers who were probably already dead. They survived not in spite of love but because of it." —The Book Nook

The nine women were all under thirty when they joined the resistance. They smuggled arms through Europe, harbored parachuting agents, coordinated communications between regional sectors, trekked escape routes to Spain and hid Jewish children in scattered apartments. They were arrested by French police, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo. They were subjected to a series of French prisons and deported to Germany. The group formed along the way, meeting at different points, in prison, in transit, and at Ravensbrück. By the time they were enslaved at the labor camp in Leipzig, they were a close-knit group of friends. During the final days of the war, forced onto a death march, the nine chose their moment and made a daring escape. Drawing on incredible research, this powerful, heart-stopping narrative by Gwen Strauss is a moving tribute to the power of humanity and friendship in the darkest of times.