The Kommandant's Girl
Another personal WWII historical fiction favorite is The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff. It's the story of a young Jewish woman, Emma Bau, set in Poland during the Holocaust. Emma is newly married and barely has time to enjoy any wedded bliss before her new husband disappears to work for the Resistance. Emma is soon forced to move to the city's Jewish ghetto with her family, and it's there that she is introduced to some of her husband's fellow Resistance members. They soon manage to smuggle her out, and Emma moves in with her husband's Catholic aunt, Krysia, complete with papers identifying her as an ordinary Polish girl, Anna Lipowski.
Krysia soon decides to host a dinner party to introduce her 'niece' Anna to some of the town's top brass, all of whom are either pro-German or Nazis. Emma is nervous but plays her role well, but she's rendered speechless when a tall, strikingly handsome guest arrives late to the party. The man is Kommandant Richwalder, a high-ranking Nazi, and Emma is both terrified and fascinated by him. The fascination is obviously mutual because the Kommandant talks to her throughout the night and offers her a position as his personal secretary toward the end of the party. Emma balks at this offer, of course considering her situation, but Krysia realizes that it's an opportunity for her to contribute to the Resistance. After meeting with Resistance leader Alek, Emma too understands that taking the position could greatly benefit the Resistance, and wanting to help her husband, she accepts the offer.
The attraction between Emma and the Kommandant intensifies as they spend more time together, and soon they begin dating. Well, the Kommandant is dating Anna, who in turn is playing the role to gain information to report back to Alek. At first, Emma feels beyond guilty about 'dating' another man when she's a married woman, but it's not long before she develops real feelings for the Kommandant. I couldn't help but feel for her plight; she went into it wanting to help her husband and his cause, and in the process fell for the enemy. The Kommandant is quite taken with Anna, and despite her best efforts she begins to fall for him, too, even though she realizes that the relationship can go nowhere.
Things get really messy when Emma becomes pregnant by the Kommandant. Things go from bad to worse when, at the end of the novel, Emma's marriage certificate falls out of her jacket just as she agrees to go away with the Kommandant. Talk about bad timing, huh? The poor guy basically loses his mind when the truth is revealed, and in the ensuing chaos he is shot and killed by Resistance member Marta, who had been following Emma. The novel ends with Marta staying at the scene to distract the arriving Gestapo, and Emma making a run for her life.
This was a relatively fast paced novel that kept my interest. The characters were very believable and relatable, as was the story. As mentioned, I found myself really empathizing with Emma as she struggled with her conflicting feelings - especially with the fact that the man she had fallen for was supposed to be the enemy. I really wish there had been more development for the Kommandant, though. I get that he's supposed to be this scary, Jew-hating Nazi, but I was really intrigued by the slight backstory and development we were given, and I found myself thirsting for more. He was just so interesting and complex, and more development would have satiated that thirst.
Also...I have to admit that I really didn't like the ending. It's not that it was poorly written, because in fact it was very realistic given the circumstances, but there was this part of me that was really hoping for a happy ending. In the midst of a war filled with so much death and destruction, I was silently hoping for an ending where the love between these two characters would triumph and they could be together. Maybe I've watched too many Disney movies.
So, while the all too realistic ending left both this reader and Emma sad, overall I really enjoyed this novel. Its sequel, The Diplomat's Wife, follows Marta, and also details what happens after Emma escapes. Stay tuned for my review of that, which is another favorite.
Krysia soon decides to host a dinner party to introduce her 'niece' Anna to some of the town's top brass, all of whom are either pro-German or Nazis. Emma is nervous but plays her role well, but she's rendered speechless when a tall, strikingly handsome guest arrives late to the party. The man is Kommandant Richwalder, a high-ranking Nazi, and Emma is both terrified and fascinated by him. The fascination is obviously mutual because the Kommandant talks to her throughout the night and offers her a position as his personal secretary toward the end of the party. Emma balks at this offer, of course considering her situation, but Krysia realizes that it's an opportunity for her to contribute to the Resistance. After meeting with Resistance leader Alek, Emma too understands that taking the position could greatly benefit the Resistance, and wanting to help her husband, she accepts the offer.
The attraction between Emma and the Kommandant intensifies as they spend more time together, and soon they begin dating. Well, the Kommandant is dating Anna, who in turn is playing the role to gain information to report back to Alek. At first, Emma feels beyond guilty about 'dating' another man when she's a married woman, but it's not long before she develops real feelings for the Kommandant. I couldn't help but feel for her plight; she went into it wanting to help her husband and his cause, and in the process fell for the enemy. The Kommandant is quite taken with Anna, and despite her best efforts she begins to fall for him, too, even though she realizes that the relationship can go nowhere.
Things get really messy when Emma becomes pregnant by the Kommandant. Things go from bad to worse when, at the end of the novel, Emma's marriage certificate falls out of her jacket just as she agrees to go away with the Kommandant. Talk about bad timing, huh? The poor guy basically loses his mind when the truth is revealed, and in the ensuing chaos he is shot and killed by Resistance member Marta, who had been following Emma. The novel ends with Marta staying at the scene to distract the arriving Gestapo, and Emma making a run for her life.
This was a relatively fast paced novel that kept my interest. The characters were very believable and relatable, as was the story. As mentioned, I found myself really empathizing with Emma as she struggled with her conflicting feelings - especially with the fact that the man she had fallen for was supposed to be the enemy. I really wish there had been more development for the Kommandant, though. I get that he's supposed to be this scary, Jew-hating Nazi, but I was really intrigued by the slight backstory and development we were given, and I found myself thirsting for more. He was just so interesting and complex, and more development would have satiated that thirst.
Also...I have to admit that I really didn't like the ending. It's not that it was poorly written, because in fact it was very realistic given the circumstances, but there was this part of me that was really hoping for a happy ending. In the midst of a war filled with so much death and destruction, I was silently hoping for an ending where the love between these two characters would triumph and they could be together. Maybe I've watched too many Disney movies.
So, while the all too realistic ending left both this reader and Emma sad, overall I really enjoyed this novel. Its sequel, The Diplomat's Wife, follows Marta, and also details what happens after Emma escapes. Stay tuned for my review of that, which is another favorite.
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