The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who wants to insight a personal experience during World War II. These women were brave beyond comparison.

'The Nine' offers a deeply researched account of a remarkable story. It skillfully blends intimately personal stories of nine courageous women with historical information that we must not forget. Even though more than seventy-five years have passed, reading the story we are returned to an immediacy of human bonds that transcend the decades, dedication and generosity that translated into survival in a time of unimaginable hardship and trauma. I appreciated the way that the author not only held up the story of these nine women, but also illuminated the way that women shouldered so many acts of heroic resistance, endurance, pain and healing in the years of Nazi fascism. I had to read to the finish in three days, unable to set the story aside, eager to learn as much as I could about all of the women whose stories are told so carefully.

Overall an interesting read but not a 5 star book. The book bounced around a bit between time periods which seem to hurt its continuity. The book also includes a lot of very specific dialog and considering this was written many decades after the actual events I can only conclude that much of this dialog is simply made up.

Well written. With what we are seeing in our world today, this stands as a warning of where we may be headed again if we do not review the past. I just wish these women had known the lord Jesus personally bas their Savior and Lord. They would have had the comfort of the Holy Spirit to help them through this perilous time and to heal them and their families in their futures. A "must read" so we do not repeat the past.

Great author, great writing.

The Nine by Gwen Strauss is a vivid portrayal of the true events of nine female resistance workers- captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in a concentration camp. To counterbalance the brutal inhumanity of the camp, these women performed small but deeply meaningful acts of kindness. The timeline relaying global cataclysmic events as WWII overtook the globe stood as a counterpoint to the intimate tales of these nine. This book was a gripping and powerful read, which taught me more about World War II than any of the many others I’ve read on the subject. I highly recommend this book.

This book is absolutely fantastic! The author tells each individual woman's story in a really interesting way and then relates it to how she worked with the group. These women were so strong and brave. They were so concerned with their country and helping win the war against the Nazis. This is a must read if you are interested in WWII at all.

I have read a lot of WWII historical fiction with women heroes. But this is the first nonfiction I’ve read. The suffering the nine women endured not only during their time at the Nazi concentration camp, but as they made their way back to France is sometimes hard to read. Their escape from the camp toward the end of the war, although amazing, is not as heroic as the rest of their journey to freedom. In the aftermath of war camp survivors were doused with DDT and showered to avoid the spread of typhoid caused by lice. It was necessary but traumatic for them. I never realized all the work volunteers did to help survivors get back home - if their home and families had survived the war. The saddest part for me was the author’s description of how these young women lived the rest of their lives. Some successes, but most suffered with mental illnesses from the trauma that they endured and was passed on to their children. Most of them never talked about their experience. That is why this story is so important to share. We must never forget.Note: This would make a great Netflix movie focusing only the women’s escape and journey home.

A very hard gritty read. It left me feeling full of admiration for these women and their journey. If you are interested in this period of history on a very human level then I am sure you would "enjoy" this book. Sadly "enjoy" is not the right word, but I do feel you will be aghast at the strength of sheer human spirit and will power.

I have read many books about the first and second world wars and the Holocaust. This book rates as one of the best because it talks about personal experiences, absolute tenacity and the sisterhood of women tested under the worst circumstances. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

All the nine women spent time in prison and/or concentration camps for their resistance to their Nazi occupiers. It concentrates on the lives of the women pre and post capture and tells of the long term impact the torture, malnutrition and starvation they experienced had on them. I amazed at their stamina, perseverance and fortitude in the face of repeated adversity. A most remarkable group of tough women. But what they went through!!

I enjoyed reading about these women. What they endured during the war and their life after WWII was provided too.

THE NINE by Gwen Strauss.It’s the astonishing story of survival, guile, wit and intelligence and the incredible courage, resilience and comradeship of the nine woman whose tale is told in this excellent book.Gwen Strauss’s amazingly detailed and faithful piecing together of the journey has extra veracity as she is a family member of the lead figure in the story: Helene.The nine women, rounded up by the Nazi’s for being members of the French and Dutch resistance, all end up in the same forced labour camp for women.In the camps they are subjected to horrendous, de-humanising treatment, but of course it could have been worse if they were Jewish Sinti, gay or a gyspy. Despite the depravation within the camp all women pooled whatever resources they could scrape together to ensure every woman had a chance of surviving selection for the gas chambers.Strauss details the sheer brutally, and desperation of the situation they faced in the camps then manages to release us from the horrors by superbly weaving in the individual stories of how they came to be rounded up.There are plenty of beautiful moments distracting us from the gruesomeness of the situation: our heroine, Helene, had be-friended a kindly German who supervised the forced labour in the munitions shed. During an Allied Air raid, they took cover: “in the darkness he took out a photo of his son. His grief was palpable; the sadness made the wisp of a photograph fell as weighty as the panzer shells that passed through Helene’s hand”It’s a beautifully evocative passage of prose that reads like poetry, repeated throughout the text by Strauss.The unremitting horror of the situation they faced in the camps is almost forgotten as you root for these nine amazing women when they embark upon their escape as they are forced on to a death march as the allies close in on the Germany.The trials and tribulations didn’t end with escape from the death march as they traversed and successfully conned jittery German troops at various check points. Strauss’ vivid writing allows us to feel the despair and hope experienced by these remarkable women as they escape to freedom. I was so caught up in the story, I almost cheered and had a tear in my eye when they encountered the American soldier.How the hell did they survive? They survived because “they were the nine that didn’t want to die”.Of course, after such an ordeal, their pain and suffering didn’t end with liberation. Strauss eloquently describes how the “transmission of trauma across the generations” went on to effect the children of the Nine and the various ways they processed what had happened to their relatives.On the face of it an horrific subject told with compassion, humour and hope. I highly recommend this book. I can see it now as a movie. THE NINE: ESCAPE FROM RAVENSBRUCKJASON SALKEY