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

Locations
Call Number: 940.531 St, Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / World War II / Strauss, Gwen
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	940.531 St	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / World War II / Strauss, Gwen	4-week checkout	Due 05-04-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / World War II / Strauss, Gwen	4-week checkout	Due 05-16-2024

The Nine Xi -- Map Of Escape Route Xi I I -- Hélène -- Zaza -- Nicole -- Lon And Guigui -- Zinka -- Josée -- Jacky -- Mena -- The Longest Day -- Return To Life -- Finding The Way Home -- It's Only A Goodbye.
"The Nine follows the true story of the author's great aunt Helene Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a ten-day journey across the front lines of WWII from Germany back to Paris. The nine women were all under thirty when they joined the resistance. They smuggled arms through Europe, harbored parachuting agents, coordinated communications between regional sectors, trekked escape routes to Spain and hid Jewish children in scattered apartments. They were arrested by French police, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo. They were subjected to a series of French prisons and deported to Germany. The group formed along the way, meeting at different points, in prison, in transit, and at Ravensbrück. By the time they were enslaved at the labor camp in Leipzig, they were a close-knit group of friends. During the final days of the war, forced onto a death march, the nine chose their moment and made a daring escape. Drawing on incredible research, this powerful, heart-stopping narrative is a moving tribute to the power of humanity and friendship in the darkest of times"-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Gripping and Inspiring submitted by apf1950 on January 12, 2023, 9:40am The publisher's description is fairly accurate, although the author finishes with sad accounts of the difficulty many former prisoners had in readjusting after the war. The saga is occasionally difficult to follow because the author mixes in many flashbacks from the women's lives. Many of the details are gory. There is also an important feminist tone because of the limits women faced, including not having the right to vote in France until 1944 and the recognition that women in the resistance failed to receive for decades.