Leaving

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa is a fascinating and powerful contemporary and historical novel that is based on facts, surrounding the voyage of the St Louis from Hamburg to Cuba in 1939. It is a dark period of history and the story is one I did not know. It is a story that needs to be told in memory of the passengers.

The novel is set in 1939 (moving forwards) and 2014. It is about life and love and loss. It is set in Berlin, on board the St Louis, in Cuba and New York City. It is about a shared history and inheritance. We need to know our past to be able to plot our present and future.

Being Jewish in Germany in 1939 was terrible, a time of persecution, horror and terror. Death was a daily occurrence. When hope was offered it was seized. The Jewish people found few willing to help them but life and birth and death still went on.