The Denazification court is in session, trying to rule over a case which is one of kind, an unusual love story of an SS Guard at Auschwitz and a Jewish girl, Helena. Is this really a love story though? Or does it simply give the appearance of one? Is this coercion?
Ellie Midwood takes onto a journey into the Auschwitz concentration camp, in the German occupied Poland during the Holocaust. It is a troubling journey, which allows you a glance at the cruel fate suffered by scores of victims. The circumstances are bleak. People are starving and being beaten and treated worse than animals. There are a lot of snippets of history in this historical fiction that will take you back to the vileness of those times and make you live through the plight of the victims. This is something really loved about this book. The story of kindness blooming within an environment filled with hatred, death and tragedy is a heartwarming expedition.
The story had such engaging characters, whose fickle emotions were intriguing. Did Frank really see through all the false propaganda that he was raised on? Was Helena fit to stand trial? Was Helena sick? Did Frank really love her or was there more to his demeanor? These kind of questions make it difficult to put the book down.
I haven't read a lot of books around the Holocaust, but there are several on my TBR. It was by mere co-incidence that I came across this book on NetGalley and the blurb instantly got to me. It was a great read for me. I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC. Loved it!
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This heartbreaking and beautiful tale of suffering, pain, love and survival is a must read.
Reviewed in India on 9 August 2021
The Girl in the Striped Dress begins with the Denazification Tribunals in 1947 where a very unusual case is presented in the court about a former SS guard at Austwiz named Franz Dahler who is accompanied by his wife Helena Kleinová, a Jew inmate under his charge. The court also consists of Dr.Hoffman, a psychiatrist; Lieutenant Carter, a lawyer and Andrej Novak, a nazi hunter who wants Dahler in prison at any cost.The story is primarily told from Dr. Hoffman's and Helena's perspective.Helena is a Slovakian Jew who arrives at Austwiz in March 1942 to be gassed the next day. However, the same night she is chosen to sing a song for a SS officer named Franz. Franz gets enamored by her and had her and the other women shift to Kanada by cancelling their gassing.Helena hates Franz with all her might and when she gets a letter from him telling "I fell in love with you", she is unable to bear it and shreds the letter to pieces.But gradually, she learns of his kindness and when he saved her thrice from the gas chamber and typhus, she couldn't control the feelings developing for Franz.In a place where people were either dead or went mad, Helena was saved by a young man's love.And, just like that love blossomed in a place where only death was meant to be.The psychiatrist assumed that Helena didn't actually love Franz but couldn't name the actual condition since Stockholm Syndrome wasn't discovered at that time but as the story progresses and the psychiatrist learn of the whole story, he is not sure.The book is a rollercoaster of emotions. I have never read about WWII or the holocaust, so this book was confusing at first. But the author did a very remarkable job in research and explanation. Elle Midwood gave me enough reasons to read about WWII.This book isn't all beautiful, it had many tearjearking incidents. The mere thought of the sufferings gave me shivers. The book talks about everything in details. The author made sure to let the reader feel all sorts of emotions whether it's hate, pain or love.This book provided me many details of WWII. The chapter named 'A Note On The History' tells us that it is a true story where most of the characters and incidents were real. The chapter was quite informative.I will recommend this book to everyone. This heartbreaking and beautiful tale of suffering, pain, love and survival is a must read.
Reviewed in India on 9 August 2021
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Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 3 September 2021
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 9 August 2021
The story is primarily told from Dr. Hoffman's and Helena's perspective.
Helena is a Slovakian Jew who arrives at Austwiz in March 1942 to be gassed the next day. However, the same night she is chosen to sing a song for a SS officer named Franz. Franz gets enamored by her and had her and the other women shift to Kanada by cancelling their gassing.
Helena hates Franz with all her might and when she gets a letter from him telling "I fell in love with you", she is unable to bear it and shreds the letter to pieces.
But gradually, she learns of his kindness and when he saved her thrice from the gas chamber and typhus, she couldn't control the feelings developing for Franz.
In a place where people were either dead or went mad, Helena was saved by a young man's love.
And, just like that love blossomed in a place where only death was meant to be.
The psychiatrist assumed that Helena didn't actually love Franz but couldn't name the actual condition since Stockholm Syndrome wasn't discovered at that time but as the story progresses and the psychiatrist learn of the whole story, he is not sure.
The book is a rollercoaster of emotions. I have never read about WWII or the holocaust, so this book was confusing at first. But the author did a very remarkable job in research and explanation. Elle Midwood gave me enough reasons to read about WWII.
This book isn't all beautiful, it had many tearjearking incidents. The mere thought of the sufferings gave me shivers.
The book talks about everything in details. The author made sure to let the reader feel all sorts of emotions whether it's hate, pain or love.
This book provided me many details of WWII. The chapter named 'A Note On The History' tells us that it is a true story where most of the characters and incidents were real. The chapter was quite informative.
I will recommend this book to everyone. This heartbreaking and beautiful tale of suffering, pain, love and survival is a must read.
This heartbreaking and beautiful tale of suffering, pain, love and survival is a must read.
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 9 August 2021
The Girl in the Striped Dress begins with the Denazification Tribunals in 1947 where a very unusual case is presented in the court about a former SS guard at Austwiz named Franz Dahler who is accompanied by his wife Helena Kleinová, a Jew inmate under his charge. The court also consists of Dr.Hoffman, a psychiatrist; Lieutenant Carter, a lawyer and Andrej Novak, a nazi hunter who wants Dahler in prison at any cost.Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 9 August 2021
The story is primarily told from Dr. Hoffman's and Helena's perspective.
Helena is a Slovakian Jew who arrives at Austwiz in March 1942 to be gassed the next day. However, the same night she is chosen to sing a song for a SS officer named Franz. Franz gets enamored by her and had her and the other women shift to Kanada by cancelling their gassing.
Helena hates Franz with all her might and when she gets a letter from him telling "I fell in love with you", she is unable to bear it and shreds the letter to pieces.
But gradually, she learns of his kindness and when he saved her thrice from the gas chamber and typhus, she couldn't control the feelings developing for Franz.
In a place where people were either dead or went mad, Helena was saved by a young man's love.
And, just like that love blossomed in a place where only death was meant to be.
The psychiatrist assumed that Helena didn't actually love Franz but couldn't name the actual condition since Stockholm Syndrome wasn't discovered at that time but as the story progresses and the psychiatrist learn of the whole story, he is not sure.
The book is a rollercoaster of emotions. I have never read about WWII or the holocaust, so this book was confusing at first. But the author did a very remarkable job in research and explanation. Elle Midwood gave me enough reasons to read about WWII.
This book isn't all beautiful, it had many tearjearking incidents. The mere thought of the sufferings gave me shivers.
The book talks about everything in details. The author made sure to let the reader feel all sorts of emotions whether it's hate, pain or love.
This book provided me many details of WWII. The chapter named 'A Note On The History' tells us that it is a true story where most of the characters and incidents were real. The chapter was quite informative.
I will recommend this book to everyone. This heartbreaking and beautiful tale of suffering, pain, love and survival is a must read.
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