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

Jessica’s 9th Epilogue: The Nine by Gwen Strauss

The Nine, The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany is a historical non-fiction that was written based on the true story of the author’s great aunt, Helene Podliasky who escaped a German prison camp during World War II.

The book follows the group of woman who Helene surrounded herself with. They crossed paths after having been captured later in the war and transported to the Ravensbrück Camp for women. The book doesn’t just follow the ladies in their escape from the camp during what is now known as the, Death March, but we also learn how each of them came to be there. These women have individual stories of bravery and courageousness. They all became prisoners of war after answer the calling and joining resistance groups against the Nazi regime. 

Yes, this is another haunting story of how evil and dark World War II was, it has all of the expected hard content and a few documented recountments of brutality that stopped me in my tracks. But it’s also the story of unexpected heroines and how seemingly normal people, made extraordinary decisions to rise up and fight against the Nazis and stand for good. It’s a tale of perseverance, wit, cleverness, determination and resilience.

This group of nine women exemplify how courageous that hundreds and thousands of women had to be, their story of overcoming these hardships is inspiring. Throughout the book, I often shuddered at the stark and disturbing reality of how women were treated.  I will never be able to understand this, the unrelenting, degrading hate and the actions that came as a result of pure evil. 

What I loved about this group was how well they worked together, they all offered different strengths and used them to keep one another going, they never faltered in their plan to survive, they were their own encouragers, they were witty and often thought on their feet. They kept one another looking ahead, they celebrated the small things every day, they cared for one another, crafted gifts from unexpected materials and stopped at nothing to ensure that all nine of them crossed the front lines.

What I also found intriguing of this book was how the post-war time period was driven by social status, and how society disallowed them the opportunities to speak about their experience having been clouded with bad stigmas surrounding “what a woman must have resorted” too in order to live through the camps. It’s so disheartening to realize that back then, for women, like this group of nine, after surviving, being dehumanized and demoralized in the concentration camps, they still had to face a judgmental society. It wasn’t enough that they had to endure all the atrocities but to have to return home without being able to talk or share their experiences with others was saddening. Many of these women persevered in silence, suppressing the emotions that inevitably followed such experiences. Often, they did not acknowledge or appreciate the courage they showed in their acts of resistance.

I was so happy to read that they found their voices and shared their experience with the world. It truly is a remarkable story and deserves to be told and shared. It was an honor to read their stories!

Check out Gwen Strauss at her website: https://www.gwenstrauss.com/index.htm

Her other published works span across different target audiences listed below:

Narrative Non-Fiction: 

• Milena and Margarete: A Love Story in Ravensbrück
• The Nice

Juvenile Non Fiction (ages 7-10):

• The Hiding Game

Children’s Books:

• Ruth and the Green Book
• The Night Shimmy

Poetry:

• Trail of Stones