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Fleeing one dictatorial, evil regime to live under another dictatorial, evil regime.\u00a0 Trying to decide whether life is worse as an ethnic German under Adolf Hitler or a native Russian under Josef Stalin, a family will go to desperate lengths to stay together and survive some of the darkest years of world history.<\/p>\n
The Martel family, with German ancestry but Russian ties, knew that their lives in Ukraine were doomed as Stalin\u2019s forces moved in to occupy the area.\u00a0 They had a choice to make; they could stay and continue farming under the control of Stalin who was famous for spying on, starving, and murdering his own people, or they could flee and claim their German lineage to live under Hitler who, up until the summer of 1944 seemed to be unstoppable in his military victories and territorial takeovers.\u00a0 With heavy and reluctant hearts, they packed up everything they owned and joined a wagon train of Ukranian refugees to attempt survival under the watchful eyes of the German SS rather than the equally evil Soviet regime.\u00a0 Their journey to German territory was nothing short of unbelievable, horrifying and, yet, truly inspiring.\u00a0 Just when you think they can\u2019t endure another atrocity on their quest for freedom, another unthinkable thing happens to them, and they must somehow muster up enough strength to overcome the newest obstacle.\u00a0 They know they are better together, but staying together might get them all killed.<\/p>\n
Why I read it:\u00a0 Recommendation in a Facebook book group<\/p>\n
Trigger warnings: language, rape, violence, young death<\/p>\n
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This book is based on a true story, so I was automatically intrigued.\u00a0\u00a0 After I finished, I ended up Googling the family and went down a rabbit hole for the next few hours reading about them.\u00a0 I have not read as much in this genre about the Soviet side of World War II, so I always feel like I learn something new when I read about this subject.\u00a0 The author does such a good job telling their real story and not adding anything.\u00a0 It made me incredibly grateful for basic freedoms that we enjoy and never think twice about.\u00a0 This is such an incredible story, and I could not recommend it more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"