Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide
March 2004
The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust
by Edith Hahn Beer
Born to a middle-class, nonobservant Jewish family, Beer was a popular teenager and successful law student when the Nazis moved into Austria. In a well-written narrative that reads like a novel, she relates the escalating fear and humiliating indignities she and others endured, as well as the...
- Edith refers to herself and others as U-boats. Have you heard this term before? What situations have you been in where you pretended to be someone you were not to fit in? Can you imagine being in Edith's position at all, and what do you imagine you would have had the strength to do?
- What were some of the economic and social factors in Austria and other countries that allowed the emergence of the Nazi party?
- Who were some of the people that aided Edith on her journey, and how surprising was it that several were from the Nazi party?
- Edith wrote:
"The soul withdrew to a rational silence. The body remained there in the madness."
What kind of characteristics did she take on in her disguise and what were some of the effects on her body and soul?
- What characteristics of Werner attracted Edith (Grete) to him? Compare him to Pepi and his personality.
- How was Edith naive about the ability of the men in her life to take care of her?
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