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Divided Lives

The Untold Stories of Jewish-Christian Women in Nazi Germany

  • Book
  • © 2000

Overview

Authors:
  1. Cynthia Crane
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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. The Spirit

    1. The Spirit

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 1-19

  3. The Law

    1. The Law

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 21-39

  4. Stories

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 41-42
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    2. Ingeborg Hecht

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 43-66

    3. Ingrid Wecker

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 67-102

    4. Ruth Yost

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 103-132

    5. Ruth Wilmschen

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 133-168

    6. Ursula Randt

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 169-199

    7. Ilse B

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 201-228

    8. Gretel Lorenzen

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 229-241

    9. Sigrid Lorenzen

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 243-268

    10. Margot Wetzel

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 269-295

    11. Ursula Bosselmann

      • Cynthia Crane
      Pages 297-341

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 343-372
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Keywords

About this book

This book brings together the horrifying real life stories of women who woke up one day and were not who they thought they were. The government changed and they suddenly no longer had the right kind of blood, the right name, the right family background, the right physical features to be considered a member of society, city, or state. These stories are from German women who were a part of a Jewish-Christian "mixed marriage" and were subsequently persecuted under the Nuremberg laws. Hitler called them "mischling"- half-breeds, however, they have often been passed over in studies of the Holocaust - perhaps because they are often not considered "real Jews." But these women are still struggling with the nightmares of the Third Reich and the Holocaust, the loss of family in concentration camps, and with their own identity-divided between their Jewish and Christian roots. Often their Jewish background was revealed to them only after Hitler's laws were passed. These are the narratives of eight women who remained in Germany, struggling to reclaim their German heritage and their cultural and religious identity. The narratives are compelling and sensitively written, addressing questions of cultural and ethnic identity.

Reviews

Cynthia Crane's exploration of Jewish-Christian women resists simple

classification. It is at once a personal memoir of a scholar's intellectual

journey, an oral history, and a serious study of German women who

had been marginalized both by the Nazis and by previous scholars. She

writes of transgressions in the past and in the present as she and the other

interview participants grapple with the issues of identity, inclusion, and

exclusion .Crane's straightforward eloquent prose and thought-provoking yet subtle arguments make this book a delight to read. Lyra Totten-Naylor, NWSA Journal "...Crane's project is a welcome addition to such a timely and sensitive topic...." - Caroline Schaumann, German Studies Review

Divided Lives is a well-written, intelligent must-read. John E. Dolibois, US Ambassador

"...deeply human, nonconventional view of the Nazi time and of particular women's destinies. Opens new questions." -Agnieszka Holland, Director of Academy Award-Nominated "Europa, Europa" and "Angry Harvest"

Crane allows the voices of the victims to shape their own history, and therefore offers an important contribution to Holocaust studies. Marion Kaplan, Queens College, CUNY

I believe in personal testimonies as you do - they have no equal in their weight of truth and memory. Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

...the voices and stories she collects have not been heard in such detail before and are a welcome addition to Holocaust and Jewish studies. Publishers Weekly

Gives a voice to the neglected Mischlings (half-breeds) and provides a significant record of both wartime and postwar Germany. Kirkus Reviews

About the author

CYNTHIA A. CRANE is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Cincinnati, USA.

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