Once they become aware of the atrocities to which they are party, do Sofie and Jurgen become two of those good people who allow evil to triumph by doing nothing? This story shows that perhaps it’s not always so simple. Should loyalty to country outweigh loyalty to family and friends? The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer was poignant, gripping, emotional and riveting. I must admit that cried openly at parts and smiled at other parts. It was the kind of story that made me want to keep reading. The German Wife was about love, family, choosing, recognizing good and evil, right and wrong and having faith in others. It was an unforgettable historical fiction novel that explored prejudice and relevant questions that pertained to choices people chose to make and follow. The German Wife took a close look at what it was like for the women and their husbands living under the tyranny of the Nazis. I really enjoyed The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer and recommend it very highly. As much as I have read about the Holocaust, including survivor accounts, this book is one of the most disturbing reads I have experienced, and it isn’t even about the Holocaust.

Germany, 1930s: Edith holds the letter in a trembling hand, her eyes fixed on the eagle carrying the terrifying symbol in its claws. The summons from the Gestapo is everything she has dreaded for months. She tells herself she has nothing to fear. She has done nothing wrong.... The German Wife must be read in memory of the six million who perished, and of those who survived but were scarred. This is a harrowing read but a necessary one. This is a story of the horrors of the concentration camp Dachau, a forbidden romance, a marriage broken and three people changed forever because of the cruelty of the Nazi's. Annaliese found out what he was doing from her gardener that Hans had brought to their home from the camp. The social and political sacrifices…told through her cast …allowed for important compelling questions to be examined.A whirlwind pre-war romance filled with love and hope was dashed when Hans became a doctor for the Nazi Party.

But the Nazi party is growing in power, and her marriage comes under increasing strain. Julius is of Jewish origin—and even some of Edith’s closest family believe their relationship is an abomination, demanding she divorce him. What a rollercoaster ride through the atrocities during WWII, to love, to just trying to get by and survive. As Annaleise's husband Hans is drawn into the work at the Dachau camp he becomes darker and gloomier by the day. He never tells he tales of the camp and his work there, only that he is working on research for a cure for Malaria. She suspects it is more, but has no proof. Most such books stop just after the war. But this story continues a fair way into the post-war scenario also, thereby providing a look at a usually unseen side of the post-WWII world. Wow, what a heart-wrenching, extremely sad, and completely gripping WWII story! I was hooked from the first chapter and stayed glued all the way until the end, in one sitting!Inspired by true events, Rix gives us a glimpse into the life of an affluent Nazi family. This story follows Annaliese, the wife of Hans, a doctor that is forced to work at Dachau labor camps. I found this perspective, through the eye of a Nazi family, to be very interesting because I have often wondered how those that worked at the Nazi camps and committed so many atrocious acts could live with themselves and sleep each night!! Did they have the capacity to show empathy, love, or any kind of emotional feelings towards another human being, showing that they cared in the least for the prisoners of Dachau. As the title suggests, the reader follows the German wife from the 1930’s, through the war years and just beyond before leaping forwards to 1984. It is a powerful read as we witness a character whose goodness of heart never wavered. “It was a tiny act of kindness in a sea of inhumanity.” It was a time of mass cruelty and unspeakable horrors.

Overall, despite the minor flaws, this is still one of the better historical fiction novels as it reveals a side that is not commonly depicted in WWII books. Much recommended for lovers of this genre. Usually, when there’s an illicit romantic relationship, things go very predictably. But I liked how the romance was handled in this one; it fitted into the narrative perfectly. Lewis, Gertrud Jaron. By Women, for Women, about Women: The Sister-Books of Fourteenth-Century Germany (PIMS, 1996). In 1977, the divorce law in West Germany underwent major changes, moving from a fault based divorce system to one that is primarily no fault. These new divorce regulations, which remain in force today throughout Germany, stipulate that a no-fault divorce can be obtained on the grounds of one year of de facto separation if both spouses consent, and three years of de facto separation if only one spouse consents. There is also provision for a "speedy divorce" which can be obtained on demand by either spouse, without the necessary separation period, if it is proved in court that the continuation of the marriage would constitute an unreasonable hardship for the petitioner for reasons related to the behavior of the other spouse; this exemption requires exceptional circumstances and is considered on a case-by-case basis. [10] [11] Historical fiction fans will not want to miss THE GERMAN WIFE, but be aware readers will also learn of more horrors during WWII and the lingering effects it had on American servicemen. 5/5The story gets a little repetitive in between, so the middle part feels slightly dragged. (This doesn’t make a big difference in the audio version but might work against those reading the book.)

Although newlyweds, Hans and Annaliese talk ‘at’ one another, there is no real sense of either of them truly talking ‘to’ one other, so they spend much of their married life at cross purposes, neither realising just how unhappy the other is, until it is too late, their love has turned sour and vitriolic, and a sense of detached duty, is all that remains between them. Whilst Hans may come to feel a growing abhorrence and shame about the wartime atrocities, tortures and murders he witnesses inside the walls of Dachau, as one of Himmler’s favoured SS Officers; this is completely at odds with the commitment he has made to his medical research programme, which is where he wants to make a name for himself, and is why he manages to turn a blind eye to the effects his experiments are having on his human test subjects. These two families end up neighbors in Huntsville, Alabama where the Rhodes have been settled thanks to the US Operation Paperclip whereby the US arranged to get the best of German scientists out of Germany, regardless of their affiliation with the Nazis and put them to work in the US space program.Germany 1934 – Sofie, her brilliant scientist husband Jürgen Rhodes and their children are leading a decent life until Hitler and his Nazi party recruit Jürgen into Hitler’s ‘space’ program. While they do not agree with Hitler they know it is inviting death to refuse. Ultimately, this was rather underwhelming. The writing is beautiful, and it does make some great points about some important issues – guilt, prejudice, and discrimination in particular – but nothing much really happened. Yes yes, I see you rolling your eyes. Yet another WWII novel! But this is a bit different from the rest and if you enjoy historical fiction and flawed characters that you love to hate, you’ll probably enjoy this one. I always wanted to know the History of the other side of the concentration camps, German side. I was wondering how people could lose everything human that was in them? How could they become those beings who are alien to the feeling of pity and compassion? Were they able to love, because many of them had families, wives, children? How did their relatives and friends feel about their work and responsibilities? Did they know what was happening in the camps? I found the answers to my questions in the wonderful book The German Wife. There’s no forgetting or forgiveness for the unspeakable acts that took place at the concentration camps during WWII, but in The German Wife, Rix provides us with the innermost feelings of those forced into a lifestyle under the Nazi regime. You begin to understand some of the loss, regrets and struggles that people like Annaliese, had to face during this time, trapped in a life she never wanted, but unable to get out for fear of the dangers that loom.