---
product_id: 35385753
title: "Emilia: The darkest days in history of Nazi Germany through a woman's eyes"
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url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/35385753-emilia-the-darkest-days-in-history-of-nazi-germany-through
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---

# Emilia: The darkest days in history of Nazi Germany through a woman's eyes

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## Description

This story is dedicated to all the victims of sexual slavery in German concentration camps, who had to endure inhumane suffering under the Nazi regime.For many years after the atrocities had been committed, both sides – the abusers and the abused – still vehemently denied certain aspects of the Holocaust, and even the victims refused to admit the ugly truth about their incarceration, some out of fear, some out of shame, until several women decided to break an unofficial oath of silence, and brought their stories to life. This book is based on one of those stories. Emilia is a young Jewish woman, whose life slowly turns into a nightmare as she finds herself facing a dreadful choice: to secure her family’s very existence by offering herself to one of the men who had put her behind the walls with barbed wire, or perish together with the least fortunate ones. Only, the Krakow ghetto and her very first abuser pale in comparison to what is yet to come, as she’s being sent to a place that soon will turn into her own personal hell and that will scar her for life…

Review: This story is so jarring, but you won't be able to put it down! - This book is emotional and jarring! Maybe Ellie's most moving story yet! Told from the perspective of a Jewish woman named Emilia, her and her family are caught in the nightmarish path of the Nazi regime. To protect her family, she submits to a dreadful fate. Enduring sexual abuse and horrific violence, she holds nothing back as she tells her story. Her story is one of many, people on both sides (tormentors and victims) changing the course of history, and devastating so many lives. There were times when I had to set the book and just take it all in. And I love when a book makes me feel so affected. This story was heartbreaking for me, but I felt empowered by Emilia. She is tough and resilient, her love for her family as strong as her will. As usual, Ellie's ability to make her characters feel so real was my favorite part of this book. I felt like I was inside the story, and at times, I didn't want to be because it was traumatizing. Big props to the author for holding nothing back and spinning a well researched tale that left its mark on me. It's dark and it's gritty, and it's a story you will NEVER forget. Emilia will stick with me for a long time. Fans of historical fiction - if you aren't reading Ellie Midwood's books yet, you MUST check them out! Emilia is fantastic, and I also love Ellie's Girl from Berlin and The Austrian books.
Review: A harrowing, unflinching look into the Shoah, from a woman's perspective. - Emilia is not a traditional romance novel, historical or otherwise. It is a raw, harrowing, unflinching look into a period of time in history from the perspective of a young women (Emilia, the titular character of the novel), and while there is a romance of a fashion in the very last few chapters of this novel, it is not what you will remember. It is the events that lead up to that denouement, as brutal, gritty, and uncompromising as they are, that will stick with you. If you are looking for a light, simple romantic read, do NOT go here. This novel is so graphic, so merciless, and so inhuman (as befits the time and subject matter), that it took me far longer to finish this novel than others I have read recently. If you have any interest in the Shoah, if you’ve wondered what things may have been like for a young woman having to live in the circumstances of the Holocaust, then pick up this book and read it. But be prepared to have to deal with some arduous, agonizing, and distressing situations which will not be easy to read. Which is as it should be for the subject matter. Emilia is a young Jewish woman whose father does not take the emergence of the Nazi with much seriousness. He is a good German, and believer in his country, and he has faith that nothing will come of things that others are worried about. Through a series of cascading events his faith is proven wrong, and Emilia watches this with growing disgust and disillusionment. Events overtake everyone in her family; a move from Germany to Poland, and then further internment in the ghettos of Warsaw. While difficult, these events are mostly ones of inconvenience, until Emilia is forced into circumstances while there which foreshadow the true depths of the horrors that not only she, but the Jewish people as a whole, are soon to undergo. It is when this initial event takes place that the novel just becomes one of one bleak event following upon another. The situations that Emilia finds herself thrust into, the things she must endure to remain alive, are just unrelenting. I would say the choices that she has to make, but that is unfair. There are no ‘choices’ for her. She is simply thrust into one situation after another, and there is no choice; she must do and endure what is inflicted upon her in order to survive. That may be the single most lasting impression that sticks with you during the 2/3’rds of the book discussed here; it would be easy to judge Emilia (and others) by saying “Well, they made bad / poor choices.” But as the events play themselves out, you realize that choice doesn’t even have a part in what is happening. Emilia has been stripped of the luxury of choice. She is forced to do what she is compelled to, and at its core, the only choice she has is to either live, or die. Since throughout all of this she lives by one mantra – ‘I will survive.’ – the only option left to her is to live. In doing so, she must endure horrific conditions, and acts of depravity from her captors, that the reader, at points, almost has to take on a clinical attitude not to become depressed to the point of not wanting to continue. There is so little to find ‘enjoyable’ in these sections that you may find yourself saying “Do I really want to continue with this?” But that’s the point; there is no sugar-coating what happened in the camps, and there is no sugar-coating the actions of the perpetrators, and what their victims had to endure. If the purpose of this novel has no other, it is to remind us of that, and to give a sense of the strength that it took for a human to live through a world without choice, to endure from one moment to the next with nothing more but the will to survive to the end. It is in the last section of the novel that Emilia achieves her goal – she survives. But that does not mean her challenges are over. Once the war has ended, and she is free of the camp, there are still other circumstances which she must overcome, and all while dealing with the lingering aftereffects of her time within the camps. She manages to do so, and it is during this section where she also finds herself coming to terms with what she has had to endure and overcome, and not letting it define completely the rest of her life. As mentioned before, this book was quite difficult to read, purely from the subject matter alone. This is not a novel to be approached lightly. Emilia is a curious protagonist; she is forced into brutal circumstances, and she endures horrific situations, and she agonizes over what she is having to do to achieve her one overarching goal: to survive. There are several points where she almost succumbs to making the only other choice available to her – to die. That she doesn’t do that, but forces herself ever forward, to suffer through everything that is inflicted upon her, leaves the reader at points questioning whether it is worth it. Is her ultimate end-goal worth what she is being compelled to do? Questions like these force the reader to contemplate – through the luxury and safety of sitting and reading – how one would act if placed in Emilia’s place. These are hard questions, and can leave the reader feeling uncomfortable, especially if one is to be truthful with oneself, and not try and take a moral high ground position from the safety of distance. A book which does this to a reader is often not one that evinces a sense of pleasure in the actual reading. In the case of a novel like this, that isn’t a criticism. The subject matter isn’t such that a reader should be titillated by it, or feel the warm and fuzzy’s after having completed it. A novel of this type is here to remind the readers of just how terrible and brutal people can be to each other, and that while survival can be empowering to read about, the path to that end comes at a price that is awfully and terribly high. If I have a single criticism about this book it would be this; the author has done a fantastic job of putting the reader into this horrific world throughout the book, starting from the beginning and all the way until the last chapters. The very last few chapters of this book do attempt to lift you out of it, to show that redemption and the healing process can take place, even after hellish circumstances. However, because this does come in the last chapters, it suffers from feeling rushed. Experiences and situations are introduced at an almost breakneck speed, and it honestly felt as if the author was trying to achieve two separate goals; to give the reader a sense of a happily ever after, and also tie up any loose ends. While this is definitely achieved, it felt so forced at times that it read quite differently in pace and tone than the rest of the novel, and that was jarring. As I finished the novel I said to myself “I almost wished she’d stopped right after the war.” Again, this is not to say the final chapters are bad (and certainly not at all poorly written or anything of that nature), it’s only that compared to the chapters before them the last ones felt as if the author was speaking faster and faster to get all the last little details in before they typed The End. It seemed like that could have been done a bit sooner (at least to this reader). Is this a good book? Yes, unequivocally. Is it an easy book. No. Not at all. Is it an important book? Yes, especially if you have any interest in the history of what happened during the Holocaust, and if you’ve wondered what Jewish women in particular may have gone through during that period. If any of the latter are things that intrigue you, I highly recommend this novel. If those subjects may disturb you, or anre not the sort of reading you are looking for, I would say give this a pass. It is not going to be an easy read either way, but you will understand some things in an entirely different light.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #2,939,909 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #27,476 in Historical Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,464 Reviews |

## Images

![Emilia: The darkest days in history of Nazi Germany through a woman's eyes - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/711tZ4ibh-L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This story is so jarring, but you won't be able to put it down!
*by C***S on October 7, 2016*

This book is emotional and jarring! Maybe Ellie's most moving story yet! Told from the perspective of a Jewish woman named Emilia, her and her family are caught in the nightmarish path of the Nazi regime. To protect her family, she submits to a dreadful fate. Enduring sexual abuse and horrific violence, she holds nothing back as she tells her story. Her story is one of many, people on both sides (tormentors and victims) changing the course of history, and devastating so many lives. There were times when I had to set the book and just take it all in. And I love when a book makes me feel so affected. This story was heartbreaking for me, but I felt empowered by Emilia. She is tough and resilient, her love for her family as strong as her will. As usual, Ellie's ability to make her characters feel so real was my favorite part of this book. I felt like I was inside the story, and at times, I didn't want to be because it was traumatizing. Big props to the author for holding nothing back and spinning a well researched tale that left its mark on me. It's dark and it's gritty, and it's a story you will NEVER forget. Emilia will stick with me for a long time. Fans of historical fiction - if you aren't reading Ellie Midwood's books yet, you MUST check them out! Emilia is fantastic, and I also love Ellie's Girl from Berlin and The Austrian books.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A harrowing, unflinching look into the Shoah, from a woman's perspective.
*by S***N on October 11, 2018*

Emilia is not a traditional romance novel, historical or otherwise. It is a raw, harrowing, unflinching look into a period of time in history from the perspective of a young women (Emilia, the titular character of the novel), and while there is a romance of a fashion in the very last few chapters of this novel, it is not what you will remember. It is the events that lead up to that denouement, as brutal, gritty, and uncompromising as they are, that will stick with you. If you are looking for a light, simple romantic read, do NOT go here. This novel is so graphic, so merciless, and so inhuman (as befits the time and subject matter), that it took me far longer to finish this novel than others I have read recently. If you have any interest in the Shoah, if you’ve wondered what things may have been like for a young woman having to live in the circumstances of the Holocaust, then pick up this book and read it. But be prepared to have to deal with some arduous, agonizing, and distressing situations which will not be easy to read. Which is as it should be for the subject matter. Emilia is a young Jewish woman whose father does not take the emergence of the Nazi with much seriousness. He is a good German, and believer in his country, and he has faith that nothing will come of things that others are worried about. Through a series of cascading events his faith is proven wrong, and Emilia watches this with growing disgust and disillusionment. Events overtake everyone in her family; a move from Germany to Poland, and then further internment in the ghettos of Warsaw. While difficult, these events are mostly ones of inconvenience, until Emilia is forced into circumstances while there which foreshadow the true depths of the horrors that not only she, but the Jewish people as a whole, are soon to undergo. It is when this initial event takes place that the novel just becomes one of one bleak event following upon another. The situations that Emilia finds herself thrust into, the things she must endure to remain alive, are just unrelenting. I would say the choices that she has to make, but that is unfair. There are no ‘choices’ for her. She is simply thrust into one situation after another, and there is no choice; she must do and endure what is inflicted upon her in order to survive. That may be the single most lasting impression that sticks with you during the 2/3’rds of the book discussed here; it would be easy to judge Emilia (and others) by saying “Well, they made bad / poor choices.” But as the events play themselves out, you realize that choice doesn’t even have a part in what is happening. Emilia has been stripped of the luxury of choice. She is forced to do what she is compelled to, and at its core, the only choice she has is to either live, or die. Since throughout all of this she lives by one mantra – ‘I will survive.’ – the only option left to her is to live. In doing so, she must endure horrific conditions, and acts of depravity from her captors, that the reader, at points, almost has to take on a clinical attitude not to become depressed to the point of not wanting to continue. There is so little to find ‘enjoyable’ in these sections that you may find yourself saying “Do I really want to continue with this?” But that’s the point; there is no sugar-coating what happened in the camps, and there is no sugar-coating the actions of the perpetrators, and what their victims had to endure. If the purpose of this novel has no other, it is to remind us of that, and to give a sense of the strength that it took for a human to live through a world without choice, to endure from one moment to the next with nothing more but the will to survive to the end. It is in the last section of the novel that Emilia achieves her goal – she survives. But that does not mean her challenges are over. Once the war has ended, and she is free of the camp, there are still other circumstances which she must overcome, and all while dealing with the lingering aftereffects of her time within the camps. She manages to do so, and it is during this section where she also finds herself coming to terms with what she has had to endure and overcome, and not letting it define completely the rest of her life. As mentioned before, this book was quite difficult to read, purely from the subject matter alone. This is not a novel to be approached lightly. Emilia is a curious protagonist; she is forced into brutal circumstances, and she endures horrific situations, and she agonizes over what she is having to do to achieve her one overarching goal: to survive. There are several points where she almost succumbs to making the only other choice available to her – to die. That she doesn’t do that, but forces herself ever forward, to suffer through everything that is inflicted upon her, leaves the reader at points questioning whether it is worth it. Is her ultimate end-goal worth what she is being compelled to do? Questions like these force the reader to contemplate – through the luxury and safety of sitting and reading – how one would act if placed in Emilia’s place. These are hard questions, and can leave the reader feeling uncomfortable, especially if one is to be truthful with oneself, and not try and take a moral high ground position from the safety of distance. A book which does this to a reader is often not one that evinces a sense of pleasure in the actual reading. In the case of a novel like this, that isn’t a criticism. The subject matter isn’t such that a reader should be titillated by it, or feel the warm and fuzzy’s after having completed it. A novel of this type is here to remind the readers of just how terrible and brutal people can be to each other, and that while survival can be empowering to read about, the path to that end comes at a price that is awfully and terribly high. If I have a single criticism about this book it would be this; the author has done a fantastic job of putting the reader into this horrific world throughout the book, starting from the beginning and all the way until the last chapters. The very last few chapters of this book do attempt to lift you out of it, to show that redemption and the healing process can take place, even after hellish circumstances. However, because this does come in the last chapters, it suffers from feeling rushed. Experiences and situations are introduced at an almost breakneck speed, and it honestly felt as if the author was trying to achieve two separate goals; to give the reader a sense of a happily ever after, and also tie up any loose ends. While this is definitely achieved, it felt so forced at times that it read quite differently in pace and tone than the rest of the novel, and that was jarring. As I finished the novel I said to myself “I almost wished she’d stopped right after the war.” Again, this is not to say the final chapters are bad (and certainly not at all poorly written or anything of that nature), it’s only that compared to the chapters before them the last ones felt as if the author was speaking faster and faster to get all the last little details in before they typed The End. It seemed like that could have been done a bit sooner (at least to this reader). Is this a good book? Yes, unequivocally. Is it an easy book. No. Not at all. Is it an important book? Yes, especially if you have any interest in the history of what happened during the Holocaust, and if you’ve wondered what Jewish women in particular may have gone through during that period. If any of the latter are things that intrigue you, I highly recommend this novel. If those subjects may disturb you, or anre not the sort of reading you are looking for, I would say give this a pass. It is not going to be an easy read either way, but you will understand some things in an entirely different light.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A compelling important read
*by L***D on September 29, 2016*

Emilia: The darkest days in history of Nazi Germany through a woman's eyes By Ellie Midwood It’s the late 1930s and an idealistic Jewish man, father to Emilia, prides himself in being a German and even welcomes the evil new ruler’s appointment to Chancellor. Oskar Brettenheimer believed that Hitler would make Germany strong again. That poor man’s hope was shattered when in 1938 all Jews were targeted and told to report to immigration department and wear a yellow band. Oskar fled with his wife Hanna, three sons (Ariel, Alfred and Martin), and youngest Emilia, to Poland where he opened a Jewelry shop. Once again his life was uprooted when his home was confiscated and Hitler’s Nazis took all his valuable belongings. Fearing they were to become homeless, they discovered their new living location was Krakow. The bad turns gain momentum and don’t let up until Emilia is thrown into a torturous hell of sexual abuse and exploitation. The abuse in the Krakow Ghetto are but a whisper of what is to come: a horrifying manipulative guard named Richter taunts Emilie, takes the last of her families hidden treasures (her mother’s wedding band, etc.) and doesn’t stop when there was nothing more material to for him to rob them of. No, he greedily lays claim of the only thing left, Emilia’s body and innocence. The story continues from one hell to a deeper torture and without retelling the entire plot suffice it to say that this book will stay with the reader till days after the last page is shut. Brilliantly and courageously written, Midwood holds no punches in taking the reader to places where actual survivors deign not to discuss: sexual exploitation and torture of Jewish women by the SS and Nazis. No one involved was left unscathed in this hard to believe based-on-reality story. I applaud the author for tackling a subject that was been verboten in much of contemporary literature about holocaust victims and survivors. It happened, it needs to be discussed, and it needs to be remembered. My hats off to Ellie Midwood for tackling this very difficult subject with much sensitivity and tact.

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*Last updated: 2026-06-04*