As a WWII historian who specializes in resistance movements, I often find myself enjoying the historical novels but disappointed in the romantic milieu surrounding this very dangerous work. Often, the heroine frames her story in a romantic, glamorous story. Noble, brave, and beautiful, these fictional freedom fighters lose their reality in the hazy, dangerous, dark world of spies. So when I saw the title Resistance Women I was intrigued but prepared for another superficial treatment. Instead, RW serves as a great example of blending fact and fiction to create a compelling, realistic evolution of the resistance cell, the Rote Kapelle. The three main characters, all female, are well educated and well placed in German society. They provide a glimpse into the powerful era of Nazi Germany and the destruction of civil liberties in the creation of a totalitarian state . Starting before the ascension of Hitler to power, you follow Mildred, Greta, and Sarah as they try to find themselves in an quickly changing world. Their reactions to the ever increasing shadow of the Nazi regime and how it alters their lives provides the driving narrative.
Operating an informal network based on idealism, fear, and the need to topple the government, the women gradually spin a deeper and deeper web of deceit, treason, and hatred of the Nazis. Their work is based on the actual operations carried out by their partisan group. Dubbed the Rote Kapelle by the Gestapo, this communist resistance group was decimated ranks when they were caught. The Nazi government had no tolerance for partisan activity of any type, especially by Germans. The ruthless and merciless end to their work resonates in the last third of the book.
While some of the characters have socialist leanings, their motives revolve more around bringing down the Hitler's regime than furthering a Soviet agenda. Long disgraced and forgotten due to the politics of the Cold War and one of the prosecutor's post war lies, the Rote Kapelle receives a powerful revival of its legacy in this novel.
One of the best things of RW, is how the author weaves real life events into the day-to-day lives of the main characters. Chiaverini stays true to the historical events and uses them as the driving forces to the main characters. Written in linear form, each chapter covers a certain time span and is written from the point of view of one of the women. The author does a wonderful job of keeping it realistic and never has a sense of straining too hard to create a coincidental consequences. Her story rings true. A great example of this is the ever growing disregard for Jews in German society. Instead of modeling the Germans into evil monsters or heroic helpers, Chiaverini shows how devastating German indifference was to the Jewish population. You didn't have to be cruel or a ranting Nazi to show anti-Semitism. She reveals the sheer power of collective disdain and its powerful effect on society. Chiaverini also doesn't empower her women beyond the societal norms of the times. Often they are reminded of their places as women in a man's world, even by their husbands.
Resistance Women taxes the soul and mind of freedom loving people. It is often hard to wrap one's head around the ever rising hatred and rhetoric of the Nazi regime. But viewing it through the eyes of these women provides a wonderful historical perspective that caught real people in its web of destruction.
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These women should never be forgotten.
Resistance WomenJennifer ChiaveriniHarperCollins Pub, May 2019608 pages, Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, Audio CDHistorical Novel, WWII Novel, FictionPurchased at the current priceRecommended by Donna Morse✫✫✫✫✫The cover is well-done with the two women dressed appropriately for the time walking in a rather bleak city area towards an arch decorated with banners with swastikas. It gives you a feel for what is inside if you look at it for a second. The buildings on each side and the storm clouds above funnel everything towards the dominant building at the center with the banners, the authority of the Third Reich and Adolph Hitler.The story is heartbreaking and unfortunately based on real-life experiences of women who actually lived during that time. I was quickly swept up in the lives of each of these characters, even the ones I wasn’t particularly fond of. I went through the 600 pages in just two days, so intense was my focus with this book. Mildred, Greta, Martha, Sara and the men in their lives were fighting for a better life for a country and for the Jews. It seemed that each time they reached out to someone, the connection fell apart somehow and more people died because of it, or countries got invaded without receiving their warning. In the final chapters, when their resistance cell was gathered up by the Nazis and they were all sent off to prisons or executed on the spot, it was painful to read about the hope and hopelessness that was their constant companions. How much they suffered mentally and physically through their imprisonment with the constant questioning and torture of both men and women, and never knowing if their loved ones were still alive or not. For one woman, it was two months before she found out that her husband had been executed. The minister who had been with him at the end told her when he came to her just before her execution. So much pain in such information. The men were hung and the women were sent to the guillotine. Hanging was considered more humiliating, so they hung all the men. Women were considered second class citizens and not worth the time and effort of a hanging. The guillotine was more efficient.To know that the efforts of these women have gone mostly unrecognized is sad. They did just as much, if not more, in their way than a lot of the men. They risked their lives in so many ways, big and small, to bring down the Reich, and yet history really doesn’t remember them well. The courier work, the stickers and posters, the rumors, the meetings, and hiding people. All the while, they carried on raising their families and trying to eke out enough food with food stamps in an economy that had so many people almost starving. Shame on history for forgetting these brave women and their men.The pace of the book was fairly brisk most of the time. Seldom was there time for leisure in the lives of these people. The only place time dragged was in prison and even then the tension of the unknown and constant unexpected kept the story moving. I can truly say this is a 5-star book and I highly recommend it to any fan of WWII stories or stories about strong women. This is surely a book I will read again.
