Surviving the Fire: Mother Courage & World War II

In 1975, residents of the West German town of Heilbronn discovered that a nearby recreational area was to become a Pershing missile base. The news galvanized members of the local Women for Peace group to take a stand against future wars by recalling the suffering of German women during WW II. This book contains 28 reminiscences from women who viewed the war from various perspectives: some were part of the resistance, others served in the army, some were young children caught in the maelstrom. A number of the stories are tragic and gripping, with moving descriptions of the deaths of loved ones. But the absence of Jewish voices is disturbing; as Klug, a peace activist, obliquely notes in the introduction, their inclusion would have ``brought forth aspects which would have been valuable in rounding out the picture of this era.'' Without this element, and with only a few paragraphs discussing how the German women felt then and now about the disappearance and murder of Jewish neighbors, the book is guilty of revisionism by omission. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)