The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany By Gwen Strauss
In celebration of Women’s History Month we offer you this heroic story.
“At 2 a.m. on April 14, 1945, just weeks before the defeat of the Third Reich and the end of the second world war, 5,000 exhausted and emaciated prisoners working at a sub camp of the all-women’s camp of Ravensbruck, north of Berlin, were forcibly marched out of the gates heading east with no particular destination and starvation rations.
Many prisoners perished or were gunned down if they showed weakness over long distances under guard. But nine courageous women, who had already endured torture and barbarity and were now laborers making armaments, made a daring escape from the serried ranks of women marchers and managed to survive, largely thanks to their support for each other. “(The Guardian)
The Nine follows the true story of the author’s great aunt, Helene Poliasky, who was one of the group of nine who escaped together from the forced march and made a ten-day journey across the front lines of WWII from Germany back to Paris. This is their story. Six were French, two were Dutch, and one was from Spain. All had been working for some wing of the Resistance in Paris and had known one another through their various resistance work when they were each arrested and sent to Ravensbruck. It was here, in a horrendous atmosphere of torture and deprivation, where their friendship and support of each other continued to deepen.
Strauss spent five years writing the book, often filling in gaps about one of the women by consulting with a new lead in another woman’s family. She includes a brief synopsis of each woman, a map of their journey and photographs. One long-lasting detail is of how they lugged with them a heavy cooking pot, a tripod and a sack of raw potatoes. Food or lack of it, is a recurring theme.
The final chapters make for sober reading. “The nine had to count on each other to survive and that bond was something they would find hard to replicate later in normal life… the intensity of their friendships was an essential part of their experience.” Eventually the group scattered and did not stay in contact until 60 years later when they came together and finally talked about their escape. This powerful book tells their story.
Gwen Strauss is an award-winning children’s book author and poet, whose titles include Trail of Stones, The Night Shimmy, Ruth and the Green Book, and the Hiding Game. Her poetry, short stories and essays have appeared in numerous places including The New Republic, New England Review, Kenyon Review, London Sunday Times, and Catapult. She lives in Southern France where she works as the Director of the Dora Maar House, an artist residency program.