November 2016
While Cuba is in the news these days, and many of my friends have put it on a bucket list of places to visit, I confess to not being aware that during World War II Cuba was a desired safe haven for Jewish refugees trying to escape the wrath of Hitler and Nazi Germany. In his novel, THE GERMAN GIRL, Armando Lucas Correa tells their story and brings this little-discussed account to light.
The book has two interwoven stories. The first is Hannah’s. She is an 11-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who lives in Berlin with her affluent family; her mom comes from wealthy German lineage, and her father is a professor. Hannah looks Aryan, which would be confusing to many, as she is Jewish. In fact, she is photographed for a German magazine and called out as “The German Girl.” The second is Anna, who is 12 years old. She lives in modern-day New York with her mom. She’s never met her dad, who was killed on September 11th; he never even knew her mom was pregnant with her. For years she has grappled with who her father was, as her mom has faded into a deep depression.
Read more »
