Gone to Ground : One Woman's Extraordinary Account of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany

Berlin 1941. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a nineteen-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary decision. All around her, Jews are being rounded up for deportation, forced labour and extermination. Marie takes off her yellow star and vanishes into the city. Always on the move, never certain who could be trusted and how far, it was her quick-witted determination and the most amazing and hair-raising strokes of luck that ensured her survival. ** Berlin 1941. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a nineteen-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary decision. All around her, Jews are being rounded up for deportation, forced labour and extermination. Marie decides to survive. She takes off the yellow star, turns her back on the Jewish community and vanishes into the city. In the years that follow, Marie lives under an assumed identity, moving between almost twenty different safe houses. She is forced to accept shelter wherever she can find it, and many of those she stayed with expected services in return. She stays with foreign workers, committed communists and even convinced Nazis. Any false move might lead to arrest. Always on the move, never certain who could be trusted and how far, it was her quick-witted determination and the most amazing and hair-raising strokes of luck that ensured her survival. This is Marie's extraordinary story, told in her own voice with unflinching honesty after more than fifty years of silence Berlin 1941. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a nineteen-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary decision. All around her, Jews are being rounded up for deportation, forced labour and extermination. Marie takes off the yellow star and vanishes into the city. In the years that follow, Marie lives under an assumed identity, moving between almost twenty different safe houses. She is forced to accept shelter wherever she can find it, and many of those she stays with expect services in return. She stays with foreign workers, committed communists and even convinced Nazis. Any false move might lead to arrest. Always on the move, never certain who could be trusted and how far, it is her quick-witted determination and the most amazing and hair-raising strokes of luck that ensure her survival. This is Marie's extraordinary story, told in her own voice with unflinching honesty after more than fifty years of silence. Copyright Page; Contents; Introduction; Prologue, 1942; Part One: I was to learn to assert myself: Childhood and Youth in Berlin; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Part Two: Alone in the icy wastes: Forced Labour for Siemens Forced Labour for Siemens; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Part Three: A rainbow of unimaginable beauty: Attempts at Flight; Going to Ground; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Part Four: The enemy is doing all this to us: The First Winter in Hiding; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7