The Kommandant's Girl (The Kommandant's Girl, 1) Paperback – September 27, 2016

Eighteen year-old Emma Gershmann, meets Jacob Bau while she is working at Krakow University as a librarian. The two almost immediately strike-up a conversation, which is unusual for Emma, a quiet young women from an Orthodox Jewish home. But Jacob looks kind and honest, and obviously possesses a lively sense of humor. He is pursuing studies in physics, but his real passion is politics, and he is involved in many activist's groups. He has written several articles about "Germany's unfettered dominance" over its neighbors." Jacob is the son of prominent socialist Maximilian Bau. "Emma was surprised that a student from a wealthy secular family would be interested in her, the daughter of a poor Orthodox baker." However, Jacob never seems to notice the differences in their class status. He is apparently falling in love with this fair-haired blue-eyed Jewess. He asks to court the lovely young woman, and they wed shortly after gaining permission. The couple had only been married for three weeks when the Nazis invade Poland.Jews were obliged to take part in forced labor almost immediately after the conquest. In November 1939, all Jews 12 years or older were required to wear identifying armbands. All Kraków, synagogues were ordered closed and their relics and valuables turned over to the Nazi authorities. The Kraków Ghetto was formally established in 1941. Fifteen thousand Jews were displaced from their homes and crammed into an area previously inhabited by 3,000 people who used to live in a district consisting of 30 streets, 320 residential buildings, and 3,167 rooms. As a result, one apartment was allocated to every four Jewish families, and many less fortunate lived on the street.Young leftists, including Jacob Bau, who had undertaken the publication of an underground newsletter, joined forces with other Zionist to form a local branch of the Jewish Fighting Organization and organize resistance in the ghetto, supported by the Polish underground. The group carried out a variety of resistance activities including the bombing of the Cyganeria cafe, a gathering place of Nazi officers.Jacob disappears soon after the formation of the ghetto, after explaining to Emma that he has a moral obligation to fight their oppressors. She remains behind with her parents as the situation worsens on a daily basis, i.e., poverty, starvation, typhus, homelessness, Nazi violence and random murders. She begins work in a ghetto orphanage where she meets other young activists who work with Jacob. Marta Nederman, one of these people, becomes Emma's close friend and introduces her to other like-minded people.Jacob has Emma smuggled out of the ghetto and finds a place for her in a small village near Krakow with Krysia Smok, his Catholic aunt by marriage. Krysia is a member of Krakow's social elite, despite her waning years, and is a warm, welcoming woman who loves her nephew by marriage. Emma is given a new name, Anna Lipowski, and a new history. She is now an orphan from Gdansk and a Catholic. Krysia has also taken in a little boy, three year-old Lukasz, the only remaining descendant of Rabbi Iszakowicz, the great rabbi of Lublin. Emma is to pose as the child's older sister and protect him with her life.Krysia, as a doyenne of Krakow society, believes that the best way to hide from the Nazis is to act normally, right underneath their noses. Therefore she invites a small group to a dinner party, including Nazis, Polish sympathizers, and the charismatic Kommandant Georg Richwalder, second in command to Nazi Governor-General of Poland, Hans Frank. Emma/Anna is terrified, but Krysia reassures her, coaches her for her role, and makes the young woman a beautiful dress for the occasion. Richwalder is a striking man. Anna knows she should hate him on sight, but nevertheless is drawn to him. Unfortunately the Kommandant is also drawn to Anna, and he asks her to work as his special assistant in Nazi headquarters. The underground encourages her to take the job in order to spy for them But the situation between the Nazi and the Jewess becomes much more complex. Ann finds herself awake at night, racked by guilt.I found this novel to be riveting. Not only does it portray Jewish life in Krakow before and during the Holocaust, but it also deals with Jewish guilt...survivor guilt. Written in a first person narrative, Emma/Anna tells her story. She is a very human, yet a flawed character, quite sympathetic and well developed, as are many of the novels other personages. However, she becomes strong and resilient as the plot progresses. The emotional growth she experiences, moving from a sheltered Jewish girl to a more worldly professional woman, working for both a Nazi Kommandant, in the belly of the beast, and also for the resistance, is part of what makes this book so special. As for Kommandant Richwalder, he frequently comes across as a sympathetic figure, and the reader, just like Anna, must continually bear in mind that the man is a Nazi, who perpetrates, although from afar, the worst of war crimes. "The Kommandant considers himself a gentleman, a man of music, art and culture. In his twisted way of thinking, service to the Reich is something noble and patriotic, and the Jewish question is an ugliness to be tolerated from afar. He has sequestered himself in Wawel (Castle), ruling his dominion from a great height, shielding himself from the killing. From where he sits the ghetto is just a neighborhood where Jews are forced to live." Right! He only has to sign a piece of paper to end millions of lives, he doesn't need to shoot Jewish children, add gas to the chambers, or stoke the crematorium fires.I so enjoyed, "The Kommandants Girl," (if one can enjoy, a book like this), that I am reading the sequel. "The Diplomat's Wife." Highly recommended!Jana Perskie The Diplomat's Wife Those Who Save Us People of the Book Almost Home: A Novel Defiance: The Bielski Partisans

I love Pam Jenoff’s books - all of them. “The Kommandant’s Girl” is the latest that I have read. Ms. Jenoff’s portrayal of the Jewish situation in World War II is fantastic. She makes their plight known and their struggles to stay alive during this harrowing time so palpable that reading the story not-stop to the end is a necessity to the avid reader.I this novel, Emma Bau has been married to a young Jewish man for only a few months when the Nazis invade Poland. Jacob is very political and decides that he must be a part of the resistance movement, which means leaving Emma alone. She finds her way to her parents in the Jewish ghetto in Krakow and stays with them for a time. Friends of Jacob find her, get her out of the ghetto, give her false papers and take her to Jacob’s aunt, a Gentile. She is there with a little Jewish toddler whose mother has been killed and whose father has been taken away by the Gestapo. Hopefully, they will be safe there during the occupation.Krysia, Jacob’s aunt, is also a part of the resistance, but also a known socialite in Krakow. She had many links to the resistance along with seemingly accepting the Nazi regime. At a party where she is presenting her “niece and her little brother” to the Gentile community, Emma (now known as Anna) is noticed by the Kommandant. He asks her to work for him as his personal assistant. She has to say yes. The resistance leaders can now use her to ferret information from the Kommandant’s office and relay this to the resistance. In becoming closer to the Georg, she must make a personal decision whether or not to compromise her marriage vows for the greater good of the movement.Ms. Jenoff’s writing is addicting. I was unable to put this book down and after I finished it I could not stop thinking about the story. I was unable to help myself, but I found that I was sympathetic to the Kommandant and to Anna in her dilemma. I wonder how I would have handled the situation were I in their shoes. I felt that the horrors of war and the circumstances surrounding the occupiers and those fighting against them were almost understandable. The Kommandant had to follow orders and Anna was bound to honor her husband and parents in finding out information that would save her people. I read this book with mixed emotions which have really made me think about those times and the people who lived them.I highly recommend this book, especially if you are interested in stories about World War II. I purchased a Kindle copy of this book from Amazon.com and was under no obligation to post a review.

The story is very interesting and of a unique relationship that would also be rather controversial. It is nicely written and well researched, however what really annoys me is the poor attempt at Polish words and names. If a writer has enough time to gather so much research to write a historical novel, she should also have enough time to respect the language and research basic things such as differing pronouns for men and women. For example, in the first few pages, the main character, Emma (not a Polish name at all, especially for those times, but I'll let that go because of her Jewish origin) calls the boy she is looking after "kochana", which means "loved one" when translated directly, however is also a term of endearment similar to "love/sweetheart". That's all cool, except the child is a boy, so it should be written "kochany". Jenoff doesn't use the accents required on some of the Polish words she chooses to use, and sometimes spells street names and such incorrectly. Another problem is the way she presents names. Some of them are Polish, but a lot of them are not, which is pretty silly for a book about Polish people's experiences during the war. Then when giving us the surnames of Polish women, rather than putting "ska" at the end, Jenoff writes "ski"- you must be aware of these things. It really doesn't take up much time to pay attention (especially if you've been to Poland and spoke to Polish people about their experiences, for goodness sake) and definitely does make one enjoy a book more. I would not write a book about an Iranian woman and bastardise her name and language because I couldn't be bothered to take a few minutes to make sure I'm using that language correctly.Other than those annoying bits, I'm enjoying this book very much. I just wish writers would give more consideration to the language they are butchering in an attempt to make it more exotic or something. :-) detail is everything in writing!

This is a very interesting book on many levels. Poignant, moving, unexpected and full of historical facts I shamefully knew little of. I knew nothing of the Polish resistance and the ghettos as described in this book and oh! when when Emma did what she had to do. The lying, the cheating to save yourself and your family.There was an interesting angle also done by writing the emotions and feelings of the Nazi Kommandant of the title. He knew of what was going on in the ghettos and the camps of course but it was the emotional side to him, the interaction with Emma on one hand and his officers on the other which really got to me. There's also a story to find out about him and it is also poignant.The angle of the Polish people and the resistance in Poland was unique and nicely done. I felt involved with the anguish and fear of what happened to each and every one of them. The end was 'neat' but I didn't mind as I'd been through quite an experience getting the

- SPOILERS----I really enjoyed this book! It was the perfect balance of tension and romance, even if it was romantic in a way it shouldn't have been.Jenoff writes in a way that had me rooting for 'Anna' to confess her true feelings for Kommandant and for them to be together, even though I shouldn't have been rooting for them. I felt it was much easier, though, to empathise and enjoy the developing feelings between these two, than it was to develop the same empathise and enjoyment for Emma and Jacob's relationship. This meant it was easy for the reader to understand exactly how Emma/Anna felt, and the frustration she is going through, as I felt frustrated rooting for a Jew/Nazi relationship when I should have been rooting for Emma to find a way back to Jacob.The twists in the novel were sporadic and unpredictable, and the way Jenoff describes the scenery allowed me to easily paint a picture of Krakòw in my mind, having never been there before. The tension of Anna sneaking around was almost too much to bare, I was terrified of what would happen if she were to be caught.The ending was sad, as in Kommandant's death - yes, for someone who was working under a regime that swore to kill Jews, it is beyond understandable of his frustration and heartbreak he cannot be with the woman he loves because of his regime. I wonder if Emma has been honest with him in the first place, or much earlier on, maybe they would have escaped together and been able to have their love affair play out properly?I did root for Anna/Emma and the Kommandant, as he truly did love her and she did love him, but the tragedy of the Nazi regime meant this was not a love story that would ever work out.I've never read books like hers before, the way she writes is the perfect balance of romance, description, and tension.

The book was recommended by a friend, who loved it. As she reads a LOT and is someone whose judgement I trust, I thought I'd give it a go. I enjoyed it up until about half way through, but a lot of things irked me - Emma displayed very little angst, there was no sense of agony regarding her decision to sleep with her Nazi boss - every "difficult" situation was faced with a kind of "I can't do this... Oh well, I just have to". Also, from the middle of the book onwards there were just far too many convenient plot devices - seeing her father through the crack in the wall at the ghetto was just FAR too incredible! Jacob bumping into her and placing the stone in her pocket, running into the Kommandant on the bridge, Marta following her there - all just FAR too big in the coincidence department.The love scenes with the Kommandant were embarrassing - she's a young, innocent girl, new to marriage, very new to sex - the way she jumped on and had hungry sex with her boss just didn't ring true. So many things didn't ring true. The Americanisms and casual language didn't help.The end was rushed and I'm afraid, for me, the way the story was written didn't do justice to the people who actually lived through these terrible times. I was very surprised to learn that the writer has a Master's in History.So... An easy read that will probably satisfy most, but if you're at all worried about plausibility, give it a miss or you'll be shouting at the author at frequent intervals, like I did.

While I loved reading this book I couldn't escape the fact that all the way through I felt that I shouldn't. There's something slightly exploitative and almost shameful about a story that is so based on a love story between a Jewish girl whose husband is in the Polish Resistance and her Nazi boss. And I struggled with the fact that Richwalder himself is so sexy and attractive while being a Nazi who oversees Sachsenhausen and Auchwitz, however ambiguous his own emotions.Despite (or, worryingly, because of?) the political and power hierarchies, this is an immensely compelling book that really draws you in to Emma/Anna's life and story. The chemistry between her and the Kommandant is tangible (at least at the beginning, it fades somewhat towards the end), though I think her struggle between her attarction to him and her hatred for his position is too simplistically drawn and very unnuanced, and seems almost superimposed for the sake of moral tone.Despite that, this is a compelling if disturbing and uncomfortable book (and I'm not completely sure whether the author intended that) which kept me up till 4am, and which I finished in two sittings. So I loved it (with ethical reservations) and am fascinated to hear what other people think.