For Such a Time

I put off reading this book for awhile, knowing it would be a huge emotional roller-coaster. I hate this time period, yet have a fascination for how regular Germans managed to deal with their nation's sins, and how those drafted into the army dealt with the atrocities they were forced to assist. Aric is one of these; as a soldier, he is eager to prove his country's mettle on the field of battle. Then he is critically injured on the battlefield and will carry the scars and disability from that battle to the end of his days. When he is nearly well, he is given a new assignment: in charge of a camp.

On his way to his new assignment, he notices, with the zeal of a novice to his task, that there is a mistake with her papers; hers are for Stella Muller, stamped Aryan; but someone has stamped Jude over it. He saves her from a firing squad and orders her to a new assignment as his assistant, little dreaming that her papers are in fact forgeries, and that she is truly Hadassah Benjamin.

Stella slowly adjusts to her new prison as his helper, being forced to keep her secret to save her life, even as she struggles with survivor's guilt. But she begins to see that, if she gains Aric's trust, she might be able to help her people, or at least hear news of her beloved uncle Morty. But it is a fine balance, between bloodthirsty Nazis who seek to sabotage Aric's work they feel he is not dedicated enough, and Aric's slowly awakening conscience. And what will happen when Aric discovers that the woman he trusts is, in fact, a Jew herself?

In the end, it is a powerful alternate-history of what might have happened if just a handful of leaders had listened to the voice of conscience. It is a pounding denunciation of those who think it is okay to take certain actions, or avoid conflict, simply because others are avoiding what is right, or because it is too dangerous, or because society frowns on it. Just because a society sidelines a certain race does not mean that it can ever, under any circumstances, be morally right. We should all be willing to risk our lives to stand up for the downtrodden.