My Rating: 4.7
In 1936, the Nazis are little more than loud, brutish bores to fifteen-year-old Stephan Neuman, the son of a wealthy and influential Jewish family and an aspiring playwright whose playground stretches from the streets of Vienna to its intricate underground tunnels. Stephan’s closest companion is the brilliant Žofie-Helene, a Christian girl whose mother edits a progressive, anti-Nazi newspaper. But the carefree innocence of their adolescence is shattered when the Nazis seize control.
Based on the remarkable true story of Truus Wijsmuller, a member of the Dutch resistance, this novel follows one woman who risks her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany to the few nations willing to take them in. Her mission becomes even more dangerous after the Anschluss—Hitler’s annexation of Austria—as countries across Europe begin closing their borders to the growing number of desperate refugees seeking escape.
Known as Tante Truus, she is determined to save as many children as possible. After Britain passes a measure allowing at-risk child refugees from the German Reich to enter the country, she boldly approaches Adolf Eichmann—the man who would later help devise the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”—in a suspenseful race against time. Her efforts may be the only hope for children like Stephan, his younger brother Walter, and Žofie-Helene as they embark on a perilous journey toward an uncertain future.
It took me a little while to fully settle into this story, but once I did, it completely drew me in. The novel centers on the heartbreaking decisions parents faced as they sent their children away on The Kinder Transport, in hopes of saving their lives. The vast majority of these parents never saw their children again. Told primarily through the perspectives of the children, along with Tante Truus herself, the story captures both the horror of the time and the extraordinary courage of those determined to survive and help others.