Where You Go I’ll Go
The Midwife Of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is a powerful, horrifying historical novel set during a truly evil time and in a place that is the embodiment of evil. It is also a novel of hope, bravery and love.
The action moves from Lodz to Auschwitz as we follow two midwives. Being together helped to strengthen their resolve to survive. Amazingly they delivered over three thousand babies live babies over two years, not losing a single one at birth. It gave them a reason to hope whilst in the deepest pit.
As the Nazis moved the Jewish people out of their homes and into the ghetto, it felt like even God had abandoned them. “Searching for God. He was hard to find these days.” God was there, even when He couldn’t be felt. He walked alongside His people in their darkest hours.
As the Jewish people fought to survive, very few saw their pain but “ignorance was no excuse” to turn ones back on neighbours and friends. We do follow a Christian family, who with no thought to their own safety, did what they could, even though it could lead to the deepest pit.
In Auschwitz there were pockets of kindness among the women as well as some truly shocking scenes of unimaginable cruelty. The reader wonders what sort of a person could ever think the atrocities were acceptable behaviour.
Survival was a matter of chance. Clinging to hope the women realised, “staying alive was the only weapon they had.” They needed to stay alive to tell the world of the evil they had witnessed.
Hate drags a person down. Love lifts them up. “Hate may burn brightly, but love burns far longer.” Love in a heart drowns out hate.
The names of some of the characters are important – Ester, Ruth, Naomi – all have strong Biblical connotations reminding the reader that we are placed in situations ‘for such a time as this.’ The story of Ruth in the Bible is mirrored within the novel. ‘Where you go, I’ll go. Your God will be my God.’
The Midwife Of Auschwitz will break your heart. It will fill you with admiration too, and fill your heart with love as you witness love extended even in the deepest pit. It is a powerful story set at a time of great evil.
I will leave you with a powerful quote:
“[She] had not… been sure that she would be strong enough to withstand Nazi brutality, but God had been with her in that room full of hatred and His light had got her through it.”
I received a free copy via Net Galley. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON