I admire 'Hidden in Berlin' and the stories in it. Each Holocaust story is sacred, and I am so glad Evelyn Grossman, child of survivors who were hidden by Christian Berliners, wrote her family story. Second generation narratives take on the responsibility of pushing Holocaust history forward into the future. Grossman's narrative follows her family from the rise of Hitler to the present day. Her journey to write the book attempts to close the wounds of history, but life will not let them stay closed. Yet Grossman tells an optimistic story, one that emphasizes hope over despair and yet does not let go of memory.

This is an important book and testimony, written by the daughter of two survivors of the Holocaust. We learn about two very different experiences of hiding in war-time Berlin, or rather being hidden by many people who made that survival possible. Two stories stand for those of thousands going underground during the time of deportations, most of them did not make it and got caught and were murdered. By the end of the war 1,500 people surfaced, but most of their stories remain hidden. This memoir is well told and thoroughly research, the story of the author’s parents, and later in the United States of the family, from the days in Weimar Berlin till when she returns with her mother to Berlin in 1995. The core of the story, as the title of the book tell us, is the very unusual story of her parents hidden in Berlin during the war, father and mother under very different circumstances, two of the very few who managed to be hidden, go underground, constantly under the threat of discovery, arrest and annihilation, and yet survive. We know so little about these few survivors of a different kind. And it is also the story of those who helped to make the survival possible. Evelyn Grossman has done all the research possible, she still meets some of the helpers, who have kept quiet because people would not believe these stories, these helpers who had the courage and daring that most people were not able to muster. I think this is a perfect book for reading groups.

Hidden in Berlin by Evelyn Joseph Grossman is a riveting Holocaust memoir. Evelyn Grossman tells the story through the eyes of her mother and father, Lilo and Ernst, and her own research about the tragic era of Hitler’s evil regime. We all know the history, but to read about this family and how they survived and persevered, through terrifying bombs dropping, hunger, loneliness, and living in small quarters, is something we all need to be reminded of to be grateful for every moment of our own lives. Seeing the photos of the author’s parents and family are a personal touch and made this terrifying era come to life. With grit and determination, Lilo, Ernst, and Ernst’s mother survived. I was amazed by Evelyn Joseph Grossman’s research in her Holocaust memoir, Hidden in Berlin. Growing up, she recalls her parents not talking much about their ordeal during Hitler’s regime and their suffering. As Jews, they were forced to hide for nearly two years. They heard about others leaving and never coming back. In fact, every other member of their families didn’t survive, except Ernest’s mother, who stayed with him in a small room for almost two years. Evelyn and her mother, Lilo, traveled to Germany in 1995 after it extended an invitation and they met up with long-lost childhood friends of Lilo, as well as the daughter of the woman who helped keep Lilo alive in 1943 through 1945. It was Evelyn Joseph Grossman’s mission then to nominate Hannah Sotschek and her daughter, Eva Cassier, to be recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, an honorary title bestowed on non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Hidden in Berlin is a story you won’t soon forget.

A riveting account of how the author’s Jewish parents survived in Berlin during WWII. Ms. Grossman beautifully narrates how against all odds, they survived. Yet after experiencing devastating losses, their lives were forever changed. The book is engaging, beautifully detailed and captures the zeitgeist of the Nazi era in Berlin.

This is not a story centred around surviving a camp but trying to live and survive in the capital city of Nazi Germany. It is about two "U-boats", Jews who went beneath the surface of German life. They were dependent upon the heroism and deception of non-Jews, who deserved the title of "Righteous amongst the Nations". It was not simply the case of finding one hiding place but many, that involved more people and the risk of being betrayed, even by a Jewish Jew hunter. The story does not end with the end of the war, Berlin was not safe even then. The family's trials and tribulations come right down to today. The effects of the Holocaust touch second and third generations. The story returns to Berlin in more modern years and re-union with those regarded as "Righteous amongst the Nations". Read and learn answers to questions which go beyond one answer.

This well written and heartwarming memoir is both emotionally devastating and uplifting as it portrays the strength and courage necessary to survive as Jews being hidden in Berlin.

Behind the simple title lies a complex, multigenerational story set in Nazi Germany and in the United States. At the center are Lilo and Ernst, the author’s parents. Through grit, courage and luck, aided by people from all walks of life, they, and Ernst’s mother, Betty, survived. It is a story of love and determination and a story of heartbreaking loss and breathtaking miracles. It is a story of an unending search to discover the fate of those who did not survive and those who faded into the background after the war. It is a story about gratitude and rebirth - where the past lives in the present and the present in the past. The narrative is interwoven with connections and trains of thought, which lead the reader from specific events to the larger context in which they occur. When in September 1942, Lilo and her brother, Hans Martin find the door to the family apartment sealed and their parents in Gestapo custody, the narrative pivots to the Wannsee Conference, Eichmann’s role in it, and then to Lilo’s reactions as she is glued to the TV in her apartment in New Jersey watching the Trial in Jerusalem in 1966. Similarly, when Lilo receives a letter from her half sister who was protected because of her “Mischling” status, the reader is lead to a reflection of what it means to be a Jew and from there to the Rosenstrasse Protest in 1943. And Lilo’s first encounter with a portrait of Theodore Herzl leads to a discussion of Zionism and from there to Joachim Prinz, a courageous Rabbi in Berlin who emigrated to the US and spoke at the MLK March in 1963. Questions about religion, race, cultural identity and shared history are raised in the context of the Nazi laws about Mischlings. The zigzag of the narrative, the extended time frame from Nazi Germany to contemporary America, and the inclusion of several generations provide a rich and unique perspective on a tragic historical period.

In this story Evelyn Grossman writes a very readable, thoroughly researched and emotionally gripping account of the experience of her parents and their families from 1932 until after the war. Some were taken from their homes in Berlin to be murdered. Others survived, hidden by angel Germans who risked their lives. As I read I knew what it was like to live every day always terribly afraid that I too would be caught and taken away to die. Be prepared. You will be unable to put this book down until you’ve finished it.