In 1944, Jewess Hadassah Benjamin feels abandoned by God when she is saved from a firing squad only to be handed over to a new enemy. Pressed into service by the SS, she is able to hide behind the false identity of Stella Muller. However, in order to survive and maintain her cover, she is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz.
Suspecting her employer is a man of hidden depths and sympathies, Stella cautiously appeals to him on behalf of those in the camp. His compassion gives her hope, and she finds herself battling a growing attraction for this man she knows she should despise as an enemy.
Stella pours herself into her efforts to keep even some of the camp’s prisoners safe, but she risks the revelation of her true identity with every attempt. When her bravery brings her to the point of the ultimate sacrifice, she has only her faith to lean upon. Perhaps God has placed her there for such a time as this, but how can she save her people when she is unable to save herself? [from back cover]
Kate Breslin’s debut novel For Such a Time is a compelling and beautiful story of a Jewish woman whose blonde hair and blue eyes not only allow her to pass for Aryan, but convince many Germans that she is Aryan despite the stamp on her papers that says she’s a Jew.
Breslin drops the reader into WW II at Thereseinstadt, the Nazi transit camp in Czechoslovakia, where the cold, starvation, brutality, and hopelessness are portrayed in piercing clarity. (The gift of telling a story that pops off the page and into your living room sometimes doesn’t feel like a gift when what appears is a world such as Thereseinstadt.)
Also dropped into this place is the young woman Hadassah Benjamin whose papers say she is Stella Muller. She’s forced to serve as secretary to the SS commander, resulting in her having heart-breaking knowledge and being in jeopardy of discovery if even a slight ill-timed frown is ever seen. Excruciating decisions must be made, and innocents from infant to elderly are in jeopardy.
This tale is one of surviving harsh circumstances through the power of love, will, faith, and community. Also clearly on display despite the setting are flashes of kindness, tenderness, courage, sacrifice, and of love emerging and tentatively trusting, then provoking more courage and kindness.
A satisfying ending awaits those who read Breslin’s powerfully-told story. She seamlessly weaves fact and fiction and I was grateful that she included in the author’s note which parts of the story were true and which were fiction.
Respite comes from fun, quirky characters and the pithy observations of Aunt Ingrid, the girls’ aunt who loves when she can but disappears into Alzheimer’s fog more and more often. Respite for the reader also comes from Ganshert’s skill with words. The grief she pens is achingly real, but so are the joy, faith, and encouragement that characters offer each other. And beautiful, evocative images such as this: “The clouds were dark purple bruises that stretched to the horizon.”