Call Across The Sea by Kathy Kacer

Sixteen-year-old Henny Sinding lives in Copenhagen, Denmark with Mor (her mother) and Far (her father).  Henny has grown up on the waters of the channel, learning how to sail before she could walk.Their boat, the Gerda III is "Henny's home away from home."

Far, a naval officer in Copenhagen, is head of the Danish Lighthouse and Buoy Service. It is his job to supply the Drogden Lighthouse, situated at the south end of the channel. Helping on the Gerda are two crewmembers, Otto and Gerhardt who have worked as engineers as long as their father has.

On a warm, sunny day, with Henny steering the boat, Far's attention is drawn to a small boat flying the Nazi flag. The Nazis have occupied Denmark, for the last three years, since 1940 when King Christian X surrendered to Adolf Hitler. He was hoping to spare his country the horrors others had experienced at the hands of the Nazis. Now in 1943, the situation appears to be changing; more Nazi troops marching on the streets and now boats in the channel.

Far doesn't want to catch the attention of the Nazi boat so he orders Henny to cut the engines. This time they are lucky, the Nazi boat does not pursue them and they return to shore safely. On their way home, Henny notices her father is unusually quiet. At dinner Far reveals that the lighthouse staff told him Nazi boats have stopped at the lighthouse and the men have been interrogated by the Nazi police.  They wanted to know who stops at the lighthouse and were considering using it as a base. Mor wonders if the Nazis are planning to take control in Denmark, as they've done in other countries. Mor and Far, like their fellow Danes, are appalled at Hitler's treatment of the Jewish people. Fortunately Danish Jews are respected and their rights are the same as everyone else. 

After dinner Henny is paid a visit by her ten-year-old neighbour, Suzanne Rubin along with Suzanne's two-year-old brother Aron. The Rubins are Jewish. Henny promises to take Suzanne sailing in two days. At school the next day, Henny meets up with her friends, sixteen-year-old Lukas, and Emma and Sophia, twin sisters. Henny is not a good student, preferring sailing to studying. When the bell rings to announce the school day, Henny notices papers that fall out of Lukas' bag, with the Nazi swastika crossed out. But when she asks Lukas what the papers are, he tells they are nothing.

The next day Henny takes Suzanne sailing after having done a run to the lighthouse with Far. She meets Mr. Rubin at the Gerda's berth and assures him that she will walk Suzanne home after their boat ride. Out on the water all goes  well until Henny spots a boat flying the Nazi flag moving towards them. Otto and Gerhardt take down the sails and after starting up the motor they head back to shore.

The next day Henny corners Lukas in the schoolyard and learns that he's part of the Danish resistance, passing out pamphlets outlining the evils of the Nazis. When Henny reminds Lukas of the extreme danger, he asks her if she's heard what is happening to Jews in other countries. Lukas challenges Henny to speak out against the Nazis, reminding her that she is friends with a Jewish family who is at risk and as the Nazis appear to be preparing to do in Denmark, what they've done in other countries. He also asks her to keep his secret. On her way home, Henny witnesses an elderly Jewish man being arrested by Nazi soldiers. When a young man attempts to intervene, he too is arrested. At home, Henny tells Far and Mor what she saw and they confirm what Lukas told her. The Nazis are attempting to tighten their control over Denmark. 

This leads Henny to consider that maybe it's time she started to get involved. The next day Henny approaches Lukas to tell him she wants to join his resistance group. A few days later, Lukas tells her to meet him later that night outside the train station. Little does Henny know, the important role she will come to play in helping save hundreds of Danish Jews.

Discussion

Call Across The Sea is the fourth and final installment in the Heroes Quartet that focuses on ordinary people who acted courageously to save Jewish citizens from the Nazis. In Call Across The Sea, the focus is on Denmark and the efforts of Henny Sinding, who is credited with saving many Danish Jews. As Kacer acknowledges in her note entitled Who Was Henny Sinding?, Henny was actually twenty-two years old when the events described in the novel occurred. 

In real life, in 1943, Henny was approached by four crew members of the boat, Gerda III. They were Captain Einer Tonnesen, and crew members John Hansen, Otto Andersen and Gerhardt Steffensen. The Nazi's had occupied Denmark since 1940 and seemed uninterested in Danish Jews. But they suddenly decided to round up all of Denmark's Jews and deport them to concentration camps in one night. This operation was leaked to a prominent Dane who then set about helping his country's Jewish citizens. The Gerda crew had a plan to get these people to safety in Sweden, an unoccupied country, by sea. But to do so would require Henny's help by obtaining permission from her father, who as a Danish naval officer, was in charge of the Lighthouse and Buoy Service. This was not a problem. They also needed Henny's help in bringing those Jewish families in hiding to the boats to be rescued.

With connections to a university-based resistance group, Henny was given a list of people, where to meet them. She set about retrieving these people, who were eventually rescued by boat to Sweden. At least three hundred Jews were secreted to safety on the Gerda III during the month of October by Henny and the crew. You can read more about Henny Sinding  at the Museum of Jewish History: https://mjhnyc.org/blog/the-22-year-old-woman-behind-the-rescue-of-over-300-danish-jews/

Call Across The Sea portrays the basic elements of Henny's amazing story in a format that is appealing to younger readers. A map showing the location of Copenhagen, Denmark relative to Sweden would have been very helpful for readers, allowing them to appreciate better the risks Henny undertook to help her fellow countrymen.

Kacer captures the essence of the situation in Denmark in a realistic manner. The Danish people considered their Jewish neighbours to be no different from themselves, and this is reflected in the characters of Far and Mor, Henny, Otto and Gerhardt as well as Lukas. A hint of their courageous resistance is portrayed by Henny, Lukas and other resisters but Kacer also shows that there were some Danes, represented by Henny's classmate, Erik who were not so honourable. Call Across The Sea is a fitting conclusion to the Heroes Quartet, which featured some lesser known heroes of World War II, who risked everything to help those in their most desperate hour.

Book Details:

Call Across The Sea by Kathy Kacer
Toronto: Annick Press   2021
207 pp.

The Light In Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron

The Light In Hidden Places is a fictionalized account of the real-life story of  Stefania Podgorska, a Polish-Catholic who risked her life to save her Jewish friends and neighbours during World War II.

The story begins in 1936 with Stefania living on her family's farm outside of Przemysl in Poland. Stefania or Fusia as most call her, doesn't enjoy life on the farm, with its smells and with her large, noisy family. At age eleven, Fusia had made an unsuccessful attempt to leave the farm and move to Przemysl where her older sisters, Marysia and Angia were living. However, two years later, at age thirteen, and with a bit of planning, Fusia succeeds in leaving.  

In Przemysl, living with her sisters, Fusia begins working for a Jewish lady, Mrs. Diamant who owns a sweets shop on Mickiewicza Street. While Mrs. Diamant runs the shop, Mr. Diamant, who is not well,  remains at home convalescing. The Diamant's have four sons and a daughter. There is Chaim who is studying medicine in Italy, Izio who attends university, Max who is in an apprenticeship and a younger brother Henek. Their daughter is living in Lwow.

Fusia's job is to sweep the shop and wrap parcels but soon she is running errands to the market for Mrs. Diamant. Fusia becomes good friends with Izio. She begins spending more time at the Diamants, often eating supper with them in the evening, discussing politics and topics in medicine. When Angia moves to Krakow and Marysia moves to the far side of the city, Fusia is welcomed into the Diamant's home. Fuzia's friendship with Izio gradually blossoms into the beginnings of a romance.

Then in September of 1939, war comes to Poland when the Germans invade. While President Moscicki attempts to rally the young men of Poland, the Diamant brothers flee to Lwow.  Fusia realizes they are running because they are Jews. However, the Russians and the Germans carve up Poland, taking over their part of Poland. Jews in the east part of Przemysl are safe but the Jews in West Przemysl are forced to flee to the Russian controlled areas of the city. The Diamant brothers return home but they have no idea where their sister might be.

Life returns somewhat to normal. Henek and Izio return to school, while Chaim works in the hospital and Max works as a dental assistant in the village of Nizankowice. Fusia learns that her mother and younger siblings are safe at their farm, but her older family members are scattered throughout Poland. However, the respite is short. By June of 1941, their area of Poland is once again bombed by the Germans who take over Przemysl. While the Diamant boys flee, Fusia and Mr. and Mrs. Diamant travel to the village of Nizankowice where they stay with Mrs. Nowak, a Catholic who boarded Max. However, Fusia's belief they could safely stay in the village is shattered when she witnesses the hatred of the locals towards Jews. They quickly return to Przemysl where they discover their shop damaged and looted. The Diamants learn that their bank accounts no longer exist. The Diamant's sons return, revealing that the border with Russia has been closed.

In April of 1942, the Diamants along with all Jews in Przemysl are now ordered into the ghetto. Three weeks later, as they are preparing to move, the Gestapo storms into their apartment, removing all of the Diamant's possessions except what the family was able to hide in Fusia's room. As the Diamants walk to the ghetto, Fusia notes how people who once shopped at the Diamant's store, now abuse them.

Eventually a new tenant, twenty-three-year-old Emilika, a Catholic, moves into the room on the first floor. She soon becomes a constant fixture in Fusia's apartment. Then one morning, Fusia is stunned to see Max Diamant marching in the street with other Jewish men. Risking her life, she walks alongside him and learns that he is being sent to work and that they desperately need food in the ghetto, that there are eight families to an apartment. Fusia manages to sell a silk scarf and buy eggs, butter, flour and a chicken. She is able to sneak into the ghetto and is horrified at the number of people crammed into buildings and the obviously starving children. The Diamant's are grateful for the food but warn her not to return to the ghetto. It is a promise Fusia will end up not keeping.

One night, Izio makes it out of the ghetto to visit Fusia and reveals to her that one thousand men are being sent to a labor camp in Lwow and that Max is on the list. But when Fusia next sees Max as he marches through Przemysl, he tells her that Izio went in his place. Devastated, Fusia sells as much as she can, travels by train to Lwow, and manages to get into the work camp to see Izio. He is starving and desperate to escape. He begs Fusia to help him and together they hatch a plan for his escape. But Fusia is unable to save Izio, after her train is delayed by German troops and Izio is discovered and executed.

Having lost the man she loved, Fusia decides to return to her family's home in the country. She finds their farmhouse in ruins and her younger sister, Helena abandoned and starving. Her sister had been left in the care of an elderly neighbour Mrs. Zielinski, but when she died, Helena was left with the father and son who beat her. With her sister Helena in tow, Fusia returns to Przemysl hoping to just survive the war. But soon she realizes that it is up to her to save those she cares for even though it may cost her everything she holds dear.

Discussion

Sharon Cameron's The Light In Hidden Places brings to young readers the story of Stefania Podgorska's heroic actions during the German occupation of Poland. Stefani or Fusia as she was called, was a young Catholic girl who was living with a Jewish family, the Diamants, at the beginning of World War II. The Diamants became a second family to Fusia. She also found herself falling in love with Izio Diamant. As the war progressed and it became apparent the Diamants, as Jews, were in grave danger, Fusia began helping them in any way she could. But while the Diamants seemed to be aware of the danger they were in, Fusia initially did not understand what was really happening. However, Fusia was soon to be educated in the ways of the world during the war.

Fusia's education begins with her learning about Jews. Because of her friendship with the Diamants and their kindness and generosity towards her, Fusia viewed the Jewish Diamants as simply people like herself. At Mass with her sister Angia one Sunday she "...thanked God for the Diamants. Moses was in my Bible, too, after all, and I felt certain that God liked him." She eats dinner with the Diamants, works in their shop, and eventually moves in with them when her sisters move away. This is the first part of her education in Przemysl.

The second part of her education in Przemysl teaches Fusia that sometimes there is only yourself to take action. While leading Mr. and Mrs. Diamant out of Przemysl to Nizankowice and hopefully to safety, Fusia begins to believe the entire situation is ridiculous. "Mr. and Mrs. Diamant had to stop and rest about every forty-five minutes, even though I was carrying all our supplies in the knapsack...What was I doing? How could I take care of two people old enough to be my grandparents? Someone else should have been doing this job. Making these decisions. Only there was no one else. There was only me."

Unlike many of her neighbours, Fusia is able to see the Diamants, not as Jews but simply as people like herself, for whom she has a responsibility towards. After learning about the conditions in the Jewish ghetto and how they need food Fusia decides to act. "...How was anyone in the ghetto supposed to live? Were the Nazis planning to starve every Jew in Przemysl? I put my clean feet into some socks and tied my shoes. Maybe they were. But they weren't going to starve mine."

After the first Aktion which claims the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Diamant and many Jews, the rumour of a second one makes Fusia act. When she tells Emilika that she is thinking of doing something to help Izio's brothers who are now in danger by hiding them, Emilika is critical. "Do you want to die? Do you think you've lived long enough....I won't throw my life away for some Jew I've never even heard of!" Emilika tells her, "These people, Fusia. It's awful. It's sad. But you didn't make these things happen, and it's not something you can fix. They're not your responsibility..." Struggling with her inner conflict as to whether to act or not, Fusia enters the cathedral to think and wonders, "If I live through this war, can I live with having done nothing, or will my life be poisoned with regret?....But who else is there to save them but me? Oh Great God. Lady Mary. Give me the answer."  When so many people were like Emilika and did nothing, Fusia knows she must act, even if she is the only one to do so.

But deciding to act is not without fear and conflict. The Light In Hidden Places certainly captures the danger and inner conflict Fusia experienced in deciding to help the Diamants. What starts off as bringing food to the Diamants in the Jewish ghetto soon sees Fusia unsuccessfully attempting to rescue her fiancé, Izio Diamant from a death camp. But even this heartrending failure doesn't stop Fusia. She ends up hiding thirteen Jews in the attic of the house she's living in while four Nazi's live on the ground floor, and the neighbour in the front apartment has  her son, an SS officer visiting. Their house is situated across the street from a German hospital!

The third part of her education begins when leaving the ghetto Fusia witnesses a girl being beaten to death with the butt of a rifle. "But the SS man smiled while he did it, then left her body and her blood on the street." With this Fusia experiences "...the joy of hate. The happiness of causing another person's death and pain."  She finally understands now the evil she is facing and that some people enjoy evil. Just prior to witnessing this brutal murder, after having taken a great personal risk by sneaking into the ghetto, Fusia was warned by Mrs. Diamant about the evil they were all dealing with and she urged Fusia to be careful, not to underestimate it. "You are a good girl, ketzele,' she whispered. 'But you do not understand. How could you, when I did not understand? But you listen to me now.' She held my face and looked me in the eyes. 'They will kill you. And they will like killing you. Do not give them the chance.' "

The fourth part of Fusia education occurs when she is bringing Helena back to Przemysl to live with her. Helena faints due to malnutrition and exhaustion in the street. They are picked up by German soldiers and Helena is treated kindly by a German doctor, Dr. Becker who comes to the apartment the next day with food and medicine. Fusia realizes that one cannot categorize people. "It was wrong to paint all men the same color. Whether they be Jewish or Polish. Or even German. " It is a lesson she will have to keep in mind in the coming months and years, in order to survive.

Fusia states that ultimately her education in Przemysl had taught her "...that people like to divvy up one another with names. Jew. Catholic. German. Pole. But these were the wrong names. They were the wrong dividing lines. Kindness. Cruelty. Love and hate. Those were the borders that mattered."

Cameron watched Stefania Podgorska's oral history interview when it was aired on PBS in the early 1990's. It was something that she would remember. In 2017, Cameron, who never forgot Podgorska's story, found her full interview on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website and wanted to tell her story. She was able to contact Stefania and Max's son Joe Burzminski (Max took on the new name of Ed Burzminski after the war) and was given access to Stefania's unpublished memoir.

Cameron portrays Fusia's intelligence, ingenuity and courage as she meets one challenge after the next. Her younger sister, Helena is no less resourceful and quick thinking. And despite tragedy amidst so much evil, Cameron at times infuses her story with touches of humour. Stefania and Helena, by the grace of God and their own determination were able to save thirteen Jews.

The Light In Hidden Places is a magnificent testament to the human spirit's ability to overcome great evil. Stefania's story reminds us that we all have a responsibility to fight hatred, division and cruelty. Her story is timeless and for our time. Cameron has included an extensive Author's Note complete with photographs, that tell what happened to Stefania and Max and Helena after the war as well as the Jews who survived with them.

Book Details:

The Light In Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
New York: Scholastic Press    2020
 377 pp.

Resistance by Craig Simpson

Set in Norway in 1943, Resistance tells the story of young Norwegian boy's coming of age during the

turmoil of the Nazi occupation of his beloved country.

The novel opens in September 1943, with Marek Olsen and his older brother Olaf on a hunting trip in the Hardanger Plateau, a vast "uninhabitable wasteland freckled with lakes and meandering rivers and streams". Olaf and Marek have grown up in the (fictional) village of Ulfhus on the shores of the Sorfjord where their father is the schoolmaster.

 After shooting a reindeer, Marek helps Olaf skin and butcher the deer and they take the meat to their Borsobu - a small hut. On the way they are buzzed by a Luftwaffe plane which fires at them on its second pass. Terrified, Marek pushes Olaf to the ground saving his life as the bullets pass through Olaf's rucksack and into the deer meat.

In their hut, Marek and his brother Olaf eat the reindeer stew, drink potato whisky and smoke an English cigarette. It is Olaf's possession of the forbidden cigarette that makes Marek realize that despite his brother's great intellect, he is a risk-taker. He realizes that Olaf "enjoyed the thrill and revelled in the danger." The two young men talk about their futures; Olaf is planning on studying medicine in Oslo but he worries that the Germans will not allow him to go. Marek likes to fix cars and machinery but his father wants him to study law.

On their way home they meet three men, one of whom is a Norwegian and likely a member of the Norwegian resistance, MILORG. When Marek and Olaf return to Ulfhus, they are shocked to see guards outside the Johanssen's guest house and watch as the Gestapo take their father and Mr. Torstig and the Johanssens away in a truck, their hands bound. Marek and Olaf's mother collapses when she learns of her husband's arrest and Marek is sent to fetch Dr. Haskveld.

Hans Tauber, one of the older Germans stationed in Ulfhus tells Marek not to worry if his father has not done anything "wrong" and that his father has been taken to the police station in Odda. Olaf decides that they must go to Odda to see what can be done about their father. He and his friend Lars decide to steal petrol from Tauber's car while Marek works on repairing the engine of their father's car, nicknamed Josephine.

Lars and Olaf steal the gasoline and the three drive to Odda with Marek's mother. At a checkpoint, they encounter a German soldier named Hartwig Lauder who is enamored with their father's French Citroen. Hartwig insists on driving them to Odda and even offers to buy the car from them which Marek refuses. Although Marek wonders about killing the German, he notes that Hartwig seems to be quite a reasonable man. Their trip in Odda is unsuccessful; Marek has an uncomfortable "meeting" with Wolfgang Stretter, a Gestapo agent while Olaf and his mother learn that father will likely not be released any time soon.

Hans Tauber is sent to the Russian front and a new German is sent to Ulfhus, Lieutenant Klaus Wold, a young soldier intent on making his mark and harassing the women of Ulfhus and surrounding villages. Wold' first encounters Agnete Hilting, Olaf's girfriend, at her seventeenth birthday party and then one night insists she accompany him for a walk. When he sexually assaults Agnete, Olaf tries to intervene but is badly beaten by the German soldiers. Determined to seek revenge and punish Wold, Olaf plans to ambush Wold's car on his weekly trip to Odda. Wold's car is forced off the road but he survives the accident and Olaf shoots him dead. However, an unknown passenger in the car escapes. Dr. Haskveld happens upon the accident and when he is told what happened he advises Olaf and Marek to flee into the wilderness, promising to take care of their mother and get her to safety.

Olaf and Marek ski up to the Hardanger Plateau, intent upon reaching the Johanssen's hut. During their flight into the Hardanger, Olaf reveals to Marek that their father was a messenger for the resistance and that the Johanssens also work with the resistance. They soon become lost in a blizzard and weakened by lack of food and sleep, both Olaf and Marek collapse. They are saved by a man named Jorgen Peterson from Tromso - the same man Marek and Olaf met on the journey home from the Hardanger weeks ago. With Jorgen at the Johanssen's hut, are five other resistance members; Harald Larsson and Leif Brekke who found Marek and Olaf, Ingrid whose husband, a resistance member was shot and two British men, Major Tim Fletcher, an engineer and Sergeant Eddie Turner, a stonemason. Jorgen and the others reluctantly allow the brothers to stay at the hut until they recover and can decide what to do next. With an important, secret mission pending, the resistance wants the brothers to move on because they know the Germans will be looking for them.

Feeling badly about using up the group's food supplies, Marek and Olaf go out on the plateau to hunt reindeer. Their trip is cut short when they are surprised by two German soldiers. Hoping to kill them, Olaf fires his rifle but repeatedly misses and they are only saved when Eddie arrives. Because the Germans managed to contact their base, Jorgen and the others know they must now leave the hut. The group decides to travel to Kinsarvik on their way to Jondal on the coast of the Hardangerfjord. Olaf agrees to guide the group as far as Kinsarvik. Marek and Olaf learn that Jorgen and his group need to get to Jondal to meet up with their men and supplies without taking the Kvanndal ferry across the fjord. They also find out about the "Shetland bus", the nickname for the boat service used by the resistance between Lunna Voe on the Shetland Islands and Bergen, Norway.

When the group reaches Kinsarvik, they split up with Ingrid leaving to visit a friend to find out what the Germans are up to, Leif and Harald reconnoitering the town, and Jorgen, Eddie and Fletcher waiting in the forest. Olaf and Marek now leave the group but have a surprise encounter with Agnete in Kinsarvik. During their talk with Agnete, Marek sights the Gestapo officer, Herr Stretter. They see Ingrid captured by Stretter so Marek runs to tell Jorgen while Olaf attempts to warn Leif and Harald. Jorgen, Fletcher, Eddie and Marek decide to walk through town where they meet up with Olaf who tells them that Leif and Harald have also been arrested. In a strange coincidence, Marek recognizes Hartwig driving a German army truck onto the ferry. Convinced he can get a ride out of Hartwig, Marek approaches him and asks for a lift to Jondal. The ferry takes them across to Utne and Hartwig, not suspecting they are resistance, happily drives Marek, Olaf and their friends to Jondal.

Once in Jondal, the group manages to meet up with the Shetland bus, captained by the crusty Kurt Torvic. Now shorthanded, Jorgen decides to take on Olaf and Marek as members of the resistance and reveals to them their plan to sabotage German submarines in the Atlantic. Unfortunately at the last moment, Marek and Olaf learn the operation has been compromised, setting in motion a chain of events that thrust Marek into a dangerous confrontation with the hated Nazis. Both Marek and what's left of the resistance learn the shocking truth behind their betrayal.

Discussion

Resistance is an exciting, well-written historical adventure filled with thrilling escapes and tragic loss. The novel vividly portrays, in a realistic manner, the true nature of war. In this novel,  the cruelty of the Nazi regime, the fear people in occupied countries experienced and how occupation divided the people in nations that were previously united against an aggressor are shown. It also portrays the high price many civilians paid to resist tyranny. War is characterized by murder, rape and the imprisonment of people in labour camps, where men look "as though there very souls have been stolen."  All of this is portrayed in Resistance, but not in an overly graphic manner.

The main character in the novel is fourteen-year-old Marek Olsen. No longer a child, but not yet a man, Marek struggles to be taken seriously by his brother Olaf. When their father is arrested and Olaf defers attending university to help out at home, Marek argues unsuccessfully for quitting school to work. Physically he can't keep up with Olaf or the other men, but his quick thinking and knowledge of engines saves him and his brother and the resistance several times over and earns him the respect of resistance leader, Jorgen.

Resistance invites young readers to consider the morality of certain actions undertaken in war, specifically when a country is occupied by a brutal aggressor  as Nazi Germany was. Several of the secondary characters in the novel commit murder. The first is the murder of Wold in retaliation for the sexual assault of Agnete and the brutal beating of Olaf when he tried to protect her. Rape by German officers was extremely common in all occupied countries during the Second World War. Seeing the effect the assault had on Agnete, Olaf is determined to kill Wold and formulates a plan to blow up his car. Marek doesn't give the plan much thought, eagerly participates in its development and even helps Olaf carry it out.  After Olaf shoots Wold, Marek recalls the pity he felt for the reindeer Olaf killed on the Hardanger and states, "Towards Wold I felt nothing, despite him being a fellow human being. I suppose he represented to me all the evil of the Nazis. And somehow that rid me of guilt or shame." 

Much later on, when Marek, his brother and other members of the resistance are being driven to Jondal by Hartwig, Marek struggles against his feelings of friendship towards the Nazi. Hartwig states that "Underneath, we're just like everyone else. And we want an end to the war as much as you. I think people forget that we're not here by choice. They forget that we did not ask to wear this uniform or carry guns. Most of all, though, they forget that the very idea of shooting a fellow human being is abhorrent to many of us." It is Marek's ability to identify with a man he should hate that ultimately saves Hartwig's life.When they are leaving Hartwig's car, Marek recognizes that Jorgen is going to kill Hartwig. But he finds he cannot allow Jorgen to do this evil act. "We can't let Hartwig go in case he reports us. He had to die. And that struck me as wrong. I reached out and seized Jorgen's arm. He glared at me. I shook my head. 'It's OK,' I said quietly."

When Olaf kills a second man, a German soldier, during their daring rescue of their desperately ill father, Marek recognizes how war has changed his brother. "I saw only hatred in Olaf's eyes, hatred in its purest form, cold as ice diamonds and without remorse. Who was this standing before me? Could it really be the same brother as the one I thought I knew, the one who'd wanted to study medicine and dedicate his life to helping his fellow man?"

As the resistance's plan begins to collapse and some members are arrested, Marek comes to realize the terrible choices war forces people to make. When they suspect Harald of having betrayed their plans, Marek tells Ingrid he would never cut a deal with the Nazis. Ingrid however tells him not to judge Harald too severely "Faced with a firing squad and the promise that your whole family will be arrested and tortured, most human beings would understandably seize any offer, however treacherous." This scene is a foreshadowing of the larger and more personal betrayal Marek will confront near the end of the novel.

Likewise, when Jan and the other resistance members are captured in Ork, Marek and his group once again faces impossible choice. "Do nothing and Jan and his fellow Jossings would face execution. Liberate them and an equally horrid fate might befall the good people of Ork. The enormity crushed me and I had to sit down, glum-faced. Any sense that we were trying to do something brave or heroic vanished...It boiled down to a simple fact. We were deciding who would live and who would die -- or, at the very least, who would suffer most..." Marek begins to realize in war, people face difficult choices that challenge their deeply held beliefs and that people often act very differently from what they might do outside of war.

Resistance was British author Craig Simpson's first published novel and was written after considerable research into life in Norway during the Nazi occupation of World War II. The precarious existence of all who were part of the resistance movement against the Nazi's is well presented in Resistance. Few people knew all the details of specific operations and many paid the ultimate price in the attempt to fight back against the Nazi occupiers. Simpson includes a map of the setting for Resistance and an excellent Postscript that fills in details about the Nazi occupation of Norway.

While Resistance will definitely appeal to boys, anyone with an interest in World War II will find this novel well worth reading. And that definitely includes adult readers.

Book Details:
Resistance by Craig Simpson
London: Corgi Books    2007
353 pp.

Underground Soldier by Marsha Skrypuch

Thirteen year old Luka Barukovich has escaped from a work camp by hiding in the back of a truck loaded with corpses. Luka has reluctantly left his friend, Lida Ferezuk behind, to whatever her fate will be. He can only hope that one day they will see each other again. Luka had been a slave working in a metal factory making bombs but was wounded in the thigh during an attack on the factory.

Luka intends to walk over the mountains and back to Kyiv where he hopes to reunite with his mother and eventually with his father who is in Siberia. He sets out for the mountains in the distance but while walking through a farmers mucky field, Luka badly cuts his foot. Cold, hungry and not properly dressed for travel, Luka manages to find shelter in the farmer's barn. His luck changes the next day when he is caught by the farmer's wife attempting to steal food from their well stocked pantry.

The farmers, Helmut and Margarete, are Germans who were given the farm by the Nazis when they overran this area. They have two sons, Claus, who is serving at the Eastern Front and Martin, whom they mention nothing about. Luka learns Helmut's farm is near Breslau, in what used to be Poland, but is now part of the Third Reich. All of the Polish people who lived on these farms have been forcibly removed and the Germans moved onto them.

Helmut and Margarete clean Luka up,  treat his wounds, feed him and lock him in one of the bedrooms for the night. Luka wants to escape and continue his journey to Kyiv, but Helmut and Margarete insist that he stay. Weighing the risk of having him stay at the farm against the chances of him dying on the way to Kyiv, they decide he should stay until he has recovered his health. They advise him that with winter coming on he will not likely survive the journey.

Luka stays with them for a time but when their son Martin pays an unexpected visit to the farm, they decide it is too dangerous for Luka to remain. Luka hides while Martin visits but he quickly places Martin's voice as that of Officer Schmidt from the labour camp. If Schmidt finds him, Luka knows he will be shot on sight.

Helmut and Margarete pack a rucksack of food and warm clothing for Luka and take him to the forested area along the Oder River where they drop him off. They tell him to follow the river south to reach the foothills. For Luka this journey will ultimately bring him to safety but it will not be without tragedy. Luka manages to make it to the Polish-Czech border, avoiding the German bandit hunters who kill those hiding in the forest. By mid-December he has reached the mountains and there he encounters the people working in an underground Red Cross hospital. It is here that he learns about the Ukrainian Insurgent Army which is fighting both the Germans and the Russians. Luka decides he wants to be a part of this underground army. But he soon realizes that he is better suited to healing than killing. When the war ends, Luka is persuaded to go to the refugee camps in the hopes that he will be able to find his mother and also Lida.

Discussion

Underground Soldier is the third short novel in Skrypuch's trilogy of novels which includes Stolen Child and Making Bombs For Hitler. These are companion novels which explore events that occurred in Poland, Russia, Germany and the Ukraine. Stolen Child introduces young readers to the horrific Lebensborn program which involved the Nazi's removing children (with "Aryan characteristics") from their non-German parents with the intent of Germanizing them. Five-year-old Larissa Ferezuk is stolen from her family and "adopted" into General Himmel's family and renamed as Gretchen Himmel. However, her sister, eight year old Lida is sent to a labour camp. We read about her situation in the novel, Making Bombs For Hitler. On the way to the labour camp, Lida meets a young man, Luka, who befriends her.  Now in Underground Soldier, we learn of Luka's fate.

Luka is a strong character, determined to find his father and mother and also to be reunited with his friend, Lida. He is loyal to his country and devastated to learn that Kyiv has been destroyed. Eventually he comes to realize that his plan to find his father is probably impossible.  Luka represents all those people, young and old, who survived the war only to learn they are the sole survivors- that their families perished or were incarcerated in Soviet Russia and are likely never to be freed.

In addition to being a well written story, Underground Soldier provides readers with information about certain aspects of the Second World War in Eastern Europe that they might not necessarily know. For example, for people living in Eastern Europe,(Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, and Ukraine) the Nazi's were but one of two enemies - the other being the Soviets. For people in the western world, the Soviet Union was considered an ally working towards the destruction of the Nazi regime. But both Joseph Stalin, who was the leader of the Soviet Union, and Adolf Hitler of Germany oppressed the people living in Eastern Europe when they came to occupy land in these countries. Liberation from one meant oppression by the other; the Gestapo was simply replaced by the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police) when the Russians "liberated" areas held by Nazi Germany and vice versa.

Another interesting fact is how the Soviets treated the survivors of the Nazi-occupied areas of Russia and Eastern Europe. These people were hunted down by the NKVD and sent to camps in Siberia by Stalin who considered them traitors for being captured! Luka was one such person and his youth was no excuse for not being sent to a labour camp. Readers also learn through the characters of Helmut and Margarete how families in occupied countries like Poland lost their farms to Germans who were settled on the land taken away from these people. Often these families were sent to work camps or simply murdered.

A map of the area Luka traveled through would have been a helpful addition so that young readers could more easily place the events in the novel. There is an Author's Note at the back which provides short notes on several important historical events such as the Bykivnia massacre. Bykivnia was a large village in the northeastern part of Kyiv, where over one hundred thousand Ukrainians were massacred from 1937 to 1941.

Skrypuch has crafted yet another excellent novel that deals with a very dark part of history without being too graphic. Historical novels allow us to examine and to think about the past, and hopefully to learn about tolerance and living peacefully with those from different cultures and beliefs.

Book Details:
Underground Soldier by Marsha Skrypuch
Toronto: Scholastic Canada   2014
192 pp.

Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus

Fourteen-year-old Espen is biking along a mountain road when a car full of German soldiers pulls up alongside him and asks him to stop. His identity card is checked and he tells the soldier that he is going to visit his uncle who is unwell and lives near Fossen. As he waits for the soldier to check his rucksack, Espen spies his friend Kjell in the car.

Last April, he and Kjell had raced up the hillside into the woods to watch the Germans, their motorcycles, trucks, tanks, cars, wagons and soldiers as they marched along. Kjell was mesmerized by the sheer numbers and strength of the Wehrmacht. However, Espen, using the metaphor of the Norwegian trolls, tells Kjell that once accepting the troll means submitting to its power. In June, when Espen and his sister, Ingrid returned to Lilley from their stay in the countryside, he found Kjell changed. Norway was also changed - now a country occupied by the Nazis.

Espen's rucksack is returned and he arrives at the fox farm. There he meets a woman who calls herself Tante Marie. He gives her the papers he's hidden in his long woolen stockings. The newspapers reveal that the Reichskommissar Terboven has removed Norway's king and government, dissolved parliament, and lists incidents involving Nazis attacking people who are resisting. Espen offers to help, so Tante Marie tells him the resistance is now very organized: Milorg is the military branch, Civorg is the civilian branch and XU is the intelligence.

While he's gorging himself on waffles, Tante Marie explains how dangerous the work will be. The newspapers he brought are illegal as is criticizing the Nazis. She also tells him that the Nazis have abolished the oath of silence of the clergy and can threaten imprisonment if they refuse to give the names of those who oppose the Occupation or Jews who have converted to Christianity. Still, Espen is determined to help and he is given the code name of Odin.

When Espen returns home, he finds Ingrid writing in her journal and warns her to be careful what she writes as the Nazis are searching homes. Ingrid is determined to discover what Espen has been up to since he won't reveal where he was.

While waiting for the ferry to take Espen and his soccer mates down the fjord to Tyssedal where they have a soccer match,  Kjell arrives. As they are ridiculing the German soldiers, Kjell encourages his teammates to consider joining the Germans. He tells them that the Germans are here to protect Norway from the British and the Bolsheviks. An argument quickly develops with Kjell accusing the king of Norway of running away and being a traitor. These leads to a boy named Stein giving Kjell a bloody nose. Kjell tells Espen he really believes the Germans are here to help but when Espen asks him what he was doing in the car with the Germans, Kjell claims he doesn't remember. As Kjell is Espen's best friend, this makes him wonder what is happening because he's certain it was Kjell who was in the German car.

At the soccer game, one of the players, Aksel takes over. He is furious when Espen allows a goal and sends him to get the ball out of the waters of the fjord. Angry at Aksel's abuse, Espen retrieves the ball which is covered in jellyfish and throws it to an unsuspecting Aksel, further angering him. When Espen returns home from a soccer victory, he finds the town policemen there to retrieve Espen's scout uniform and he is informed that all scouting is now banned.

In town, Espen tells Kjell that they won and are moving onto the championships. The two boys are watched by Aksel, who is determined to get revenge on all the boys from the soccer team, but especially on Espen. Revenge comes quickly in the form of the soccer team being made into a Nazi team, and Aksel being made captain by a Nazi Brown Shirt. Espen is furious and has no intention of playing on the Nazi soccer team. He follows Stein's example and walks off the field, along with his teammates.

As none of the other Norwegian teams join the Nazi association, the soccer players still plan to play the game in secret, just as the Boy Scouts continue to meet in secret. Leif warns Espen not to reveal anything to Kjell. Stein is determined that the five boys who include Per, Ole, Stein, Leif and Epsen work on "saving Norway from the Nazis". The begin constructing a hideaway which they name Oleanna.

In November 1940, Espen is given his first real assignment by Tante Marie: to retrieve a revolver left behind in a cabin in Hurlringen, an area filled with Germans. Hurlringen is a resort that has been completely taken over by the Germans including the ski lodge, farms and even family homes.  To do this, Espen must ski into the mountains which is not a problem as he is an experienced Nordic skier, used to long distances. Espen's mission is successful but he also has to fight the urge to stop and tell Kjell what he's done.

The story jumps ahead to the winter of  1942, with the German's fighting in Soviet Russia. More and more rules are put in place: books are banned, concerts are censored, dancing is illegal and teachers, like Mr. Henriksen are arrested. Meanwhile, his former best friend, Kjell is now attending the hird school, the Rikshird and he encourages Espen to join, so that he will be given a good assignment when they are forced to fight. At the train station, Espen's father tells him that eleven hundred teachers were arrested to set an example after many thousands of teachers refused to join the Nazi teachers union. Espen realizes that his father is helping the resistance in his own way and when he overhears a conversation in the station, Espen is given a difficult new assignment.

Meanwhile, Aksel believes that his old soccer group is involved somehow in illegal activity, possibly having formed a Milorg group and he's determined to crack it. He is now part of the Stapo, the Norwegian secret police and possibly soon to be part of the Gestapo. What he needed was to find someone whose family needed medicine.

Living in the fictional village of Lilleby with his parents and his younger sister, Ingrid, Espen is fourteen years old when the Nazis occupy Norway. Although the Germans at first are friendly, Espen watches as his way of life gradually disappears. Gone are scouting and his beloved soccer team. Hoping to undermine the Nazi occupation in any way, Espren joins the resistance as a courier. As he becomes a trusted member he is given more difficult tasks and drawn into the inner circle of the resistance.

Working against Espen are a few of his fellow Norwegians who have decided to side with the Nazi occupiers. Aksel a former soccer team member, who wasn't well liked, is determined to make a name for himself, no matter what the cost may be. There is Kjell, another soccer mate who struggles with cooperating with the Nazis so as to obtain medication for his grandmother. Preus uses these two characters in particular to explore the reasons why some people cooperated with an evil regime and what motivated them to do so.

As the Nazi occupation drags on, and Espren grows up both physically and emotionally, he learns not to hate his occupiers, but to "move toward the light", to shun the emotions of hatred, anger and bitterness that encompass the Nazi ideology. Espren is helped in his work by Ingrid and also a neighbour, Solveig, whom he has a crush on. When Espren's group is compromised and with the Nazi net tightening, Espren must make a choice; stay in Lilleby and risk the lives of others in the resistance or make the dangerous journey to freedom in Sweden. Preus does a wonderful job of building the novel to its exciting, climatic ending.

Discussion

In Shadow on the Mountain, the experiences of Espen are based on those of real life Erling Storrusten, who was a teenager in Lillehammer, Norway during the Nazi occupation. 

On April 9, 1940, Nazi Germany invaded an unprepared Norway, a peaceful country whose people looked like the blond haired, blue-eyed Aryan's Hitler thought should rule the world. The people of Norway tried to fight the invasion of their beloved country but were ill-prepared, with a small armed forces, to organize much of a military resistance. A puppet regime was installed, headed by Vidkun Quisling, head of the Norwegian Nazi party after King Haakon and his government fled to England. Since they were unable to overthrow their Nazi occupiers, the Norwegian people began to resist in other ways.

Shadow on the Mountain is well written historical fiction that will appeal to younger teens who enjoy war fiction with a touch of excitement and romance, and at times a dash of humour. The story is told from the perspective of four characters, Espen, Ingrid, Aksel and Kjell.

Author Margi Preus opens the novel with a prologue to help orient and familiarize her young readers with the situation in Norway during the Second World War. The prologue explains how neutral Norway was overrun by a large German military contingent. A map of the fictional town of Lilleby orients readers to the setting of the novel. The Author's Note at the back sets out more information about Erling Storrusten, and about what is fiction and what is fact in the novel. Also included is a photo album at the back of the novel that includes pictures of Erling, a timeline, a detailed bibliography and suggestions for further reading.

Espen is a courageous, principled character. Having courage doesn't mean being fearless but doing the right thing in spite of feeling fear. Espen experiences this when he follows Stein off the soccer field. Later on, Leif tells him he would never have acted if Espen hadn't followed Stein because he is afraid of the storm troopers, something Espen also feels.   

Espen is determined to save his friend Kjell who he sees transforming before his eyes. As he is drawn deeper into the Nazi fold, Kjell begins to believe the lies about the Jews. He tells Espen, "All great cultures were created by the Germanic race, and of all the people in the world, we - the Nordic people -are the ones with the purest Germanic blood. Against us stand the Jews, who want to destroy us. If we don't win this war, Espen, it will be the end of the Germanic race, and the end of Norway as we know it."

The short chapters and sectioning the story into years using separate black pages containing interesting and relevant quotes helps engage the reader. Shadow on the Mountain is highly recommended, both for its quality of writing, and for telling the story of a lesser known aspect of one country's resistance to the Nazi war machine.

Book Details:
Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus
New York: Amulet Books 2012
286 pp.

The Occupied Garden

The Occupied Garden: Recovering the Story of a Family in the War-Torn Netherlands by Karen Den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski is a compelling read filled with both tragedy and hope. Written by sisters Karen and Tracy, this book details the Den Hartog family life commencing immediately prior to the start of World War II and throughout the occupation of the Netherlands by the Nazis. The book opens with the marriage of their grandparents,Cor and Gerrit den Hartog and their establishing a home and market garden.

The Occupied Garden tells the story of Cor and Gerrit as they struggle to raise their young family amid the Nazi occupation and pillage of the Netherlands. Cor, deeply devout tries to understand why God would allow such suffering. Other members of the family are also affected, each in their own way, despite Cor and Gerrit's attempts to protect them.

An unexpected tragedy, the family's resilience in the face of their own and their neighbour's terrible suffering make this story both poignant and tragic. The authors also tell the story of the Dutch Royal Family's sufferings during this time.

Book Details:
The Occupied Garden: Recovering the story of a family in the wartorn Netherlands
by Kristen Den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski
Toronto: McCelland & Stewart 2008
328pp