LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly is without question one of the most moving and well written books I have had the privilege of reading on this subject matter. LILAC GIRLS has an innocuous enough title. I thought it was a book about women during WWII and of course, lilacs are so fragrant so it must be fairly pleasant. Great, interesting. I was wholly unprepared to be plunged into the horrors of the Holocaust and one of the most disturbing aspects of the Holocaust in my opinion - the medical experiments. There is a reason for lilacs I will get to later in the review.
The beauty of this book is in its truth. It is based upon real people. I think if I would have known this at the beginning of my read, I may not have been able to complete it. The book is very realistic and graphic. You truly feel the anguish of these women. Having said that, I believe it is our duty to stay fresh and current on this subject matter and never forget the atrocities that occurred during that time as there is always more to learn and there is always something that we forget.
The story was easy to follow as it was told about three different women and would alternate between their different storylines and points of view each chapter. Most of the story is centered around Ravensbruck, the all female concentration camp where many medical experiments were performed.
Kasia is a determind young Polish woman. She was put in the camp because she was caught working with underground resistance in Poland, along with her mother and sister. She was imprisoned at Ravensbruck and she was one of almost 50 women who were operated on. It is hard to write to much about her and her story without giving too much away. You must learn of Kasia on your own.
At the beginning of the book, Caroline, is a New York socialite working with the French Consulate in New York. She is living on an allowance from a small inheritance so she is able to do her charitable work for free. She is well known among the society people so she is a successful fund raiser. She also puts together much needed boxes of clothes and other care items for the orphaned children in France.
As the story progressed, Caroline became directly involved with the rabbits. She contributed by raising funds to help rehabilitate their withered limbs and increasing public awareness about the plight of the formerly imprisoned Polish women who survived. Caroline was able to get wealthy donors to bring a number of the women to the United States for costly operations to repair their limbs, effectively restoring physical balance. The deep emotional scars were harder to remove.
Herta Oberheuser is the devil of the trio. She is a young German doctor and the sole female doctor at Ravensbruck. Herta is a full believer in the Final Solution. She volunteers to be one of the doctors performing the monstrous experiments on the healthy prisoners. Many were selected because they were such healthy specimens, then the "doctors" would introduce bacteria and other foreign objects into their legs and bodies to mimic battle wounds to theoretically better learn how to handle war injuries.
It is no surprise that the prisoners that were operated upon suffered unimaginable pain and did not even know what was happening to them. In addition, they were given no medication for pain or treatment. They were called rabbits because after the surgeries they hopped around camp like rabbits on their one good leg. Another reason they earned this nickname was because they were the Reich's experimental rabbits.
The women who survived the experiments, the rabbits, were so strong and amazing. A better name for them are the Lilac Girls because a lilac will only bloom after a freeze. These women survived the heinous acts at Ravensbruck but also raised public awareness about this matter. They also helped bring justice to those that harmed them but speaking out against the doctors that perpetrated these war crimes so that they were charged with crimes against humanity.
The book is heart wrenching and I encourage you to read it.
Many thanks to Martha Hall Kelly, Net Gally and the publisher for this ARC in exchnage for an honest and unbiased review.
No comments:
Post a Comment