Henny Hartog nee Scheuer (21 July 1897-Sep 1942) came from Frankfurt am Main and Hermann Hartog (22 February 1887-Sep 1942), hailed from Aurich. They married on 10 March 1921 and had two daughters: Lore (1924-7 February 2016) and Inge (1926-28 December 2015).

Before the family separated, they lived in Jever, and Wilhelmshaven.Because Anhalt-Zerbst had guaranteed security and freedom of business for Jews, Jever became a centre of Jewish life in Frisia, reaching its peak in the late 19th century. After that, many left for larger cities, where they hoped to find better opportunities and also to escape anti-semitism. This caused the community to shrink to only half of its former size: by 1933, there were only 98 Jews left in Jever. The synagogue (inaugurated in 1802) was completely destroyed in the Night of Broken Glass, and at least 63 Jever Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Hermann worked as a teacher and cantor, but due to the Nazi regime, both he and Henny decided to send their daughters to safety in England via the Kindertransport, and also make plans to get out of Germany to emigrate to the USA.

Henny and Hermann managed to escape from Germany in October 1939. They fled to Brussels with little money and few belongings and lived amongst other Jewish refugees. They were arrested in May 1940 when Germany invaded Belgium and then sent to Paris.From Paris, Henny and Hermann were sent to separate internment camps in the south-west of France. They were both freed when France surrendered and allowed to live freely in Arette - a village in the unoccupied zone, very near to the Spanish border and the Pyrénées – where local people such as Amélie and Gaston Derrez, and Francois Casabonne, gave them support, help, and friendship.It was a long and anxious wait to receive correspondence from their daughters and others.

In August 1942, French police arrested them as part of the collaboration between the German occupiers and the Vichy government.They were taken to a local internment camp, and then by train to the internment camp at Drancy in Paris.Sadly,
on 4 September, they were taken by train to Auschwitz, where they perished.

This is clearly a well researched book that sheds light on an area of this horrendous period in our history that I was not fully aware of.

We follow the story of the Hartog family which has been pieced together following the discovery of letters and postcards sent during that time. Henny and Hermann had to make the difficult decision to send their daughters to England and then try and survive all that was happening around them whilst trying to make arrangements to leave. I admit to struggling to understand why other countries wouldn't accept people trying to flee especially when they had an inkling of what was going on! I don't know how they could live with themselves knowing that they could have saved so many people once the full horror or what happened came to light. However, what came through strongly was that there were many people who were kind and went out of their way to support the Jewish refugees despite having very little themselves and at great risk and whilst it didn't save Henny and Hermann, it did make a huge difference to them.

This is a book that needs to be read by everyone if only so that we don't repeat what happened and that we continue to remember the names of those who didn't survive.

Thanks to the author, Pen & Sword and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts on this powerful book.

This is an extremely moving book tracing the history of a family from their roots in Germany, with vivid descriptions of the events of the period.

The author mentions that she found some letters at her mother-in-law’s place from Henny Harlog and her husband Hermann (both Jewish). Hermann and Henny are her husband’s grandparents. Henny was born in Frankfurt am Main, Hermann in Aurich. In Jever, their daughters Lore and Inge were born. The Nazi party starting gaining and the media was also getting aligned to the right wing. They moved to Wilhelmshaven which had better schools and a larger Jewish community. The antisemitism followed them there and very soon it was intolerable. They sent their daughter Lore first to England to study. In 1939, the family left Germany, went to Brussels, then France. Later, the family desperately tried to emigrate to US or England. Their daughter Inge was able to also go to England after it relaxed requirements for children. The locals in Arette helped them but Hermann & Henny were arrested and sent to the Gurs camp, then to a camp at Drancy and finally deported to Aushwitz. The author and her husband went to all the places Henry & Henny lived in, right up to Drancy. Lore & Inge had made a trip to France earlier (they passed away in 2016 & 2015 respectively).

This is a touching story and a tribute to a close-knit family. Reading the letters the parents exchanged with their daughters, and all they went through brought a lump to my throat. All events which you would find in books of that period are there – but with a very strong local context. A lot of painstaking research has gone into the writing of the book. This is a family like any other – at one point they desperately tried to gather funds to emigrate, having been already stripped of everything they had, including their dignity. A disturbing aspect of the that period was the quietness in German society on crimes against Jews which emboldened the Nazis further. The family did receive local support in France.

The last section of the book mentions Elie Wiesel’s (survivor of Buchenwald) visit to the White House in 1999. In front of President Bill Clinton, he stressed the need to be active in our remembrance. Not only was there 'so much violence', there was also 'so much indifference'. That is among the many passages which stayed with me from the book.

If I hadn't been busy and then sick. I could have read this book in one day. This is not just about a family, but about the history of that time. I have read numerous books on the Holocaust. This one touched in areas I hadn't read about before.

We follow Hermann and Henny from before WWII to the end of their life. I fell in love with Hermann and Henny. Their strength, attitude and perseverance amazed me. What a strong couple who loved their family and did the best they could long distance for their daughters in such a trying time.

I cannot imagine the pain their children were put through being separated and never knowing if they would see their parents again. Waiting on letters to arrive and worried your parents were gone when they don't arrive.

The author put a lot of thought, heart and research into this book. I will definitely want to read this one again!

A story so well researched. What a sad time that was, but written so well. I was lost in the pages with tears in my eyes.

This was a hard journey to take. But it had such warmth and hopeful moments too! It's weird,horrid and beautiful to have so many emotions from both ends of the scale when reading these books of the time.
I often feel I don't deserve to feel the emotional wreck I often am from ww2 books. Because it's nothing in comparison nor does it do justice to what people went through.
It's harrowing to read the injustice of that time. How it wasn't all that long ago. And how in today's society there are worrying reflections of similar behaviour. Very very scary indeed. And I wonder if the people walking around in those years felt an unsettling. A pre feeling of something awful coming.
And how as one of the persecuted minority must it have felt to never feel safe. To always be looking g behind your or like our couple knowing you needed to escape. And then escape time and time again. How do you sleep at night? How would you ever keep going? And yet seemingly all these courageous people did. Right down to their final moments. So many brave people. And also the lockets of people along the way who gave them shelter and love. And who indeed must has then bolstered their strength and hope to carry on.
The journey these 2 main characters went on was so beautifully described. It could be almost fictional if it was so heartbreakingly real.

This was a book packed with information about the Holocaust. The author certainly did her research; this could be used as a textbook by high schoolers or even college students.

Author Ainsley Hepburn's husband's grandparents are heroes in my eyes. They were ordinary people who did extraordinarily things, especially during World War II. Hermann Hertog was a Jewish teacher in Germany who was married to Henny. Both intelligent and humble, they ensured a happy home for their children. But on the brink of war they made the impossible decision to send their girls Lore and Inge to England for safety. Following Kristallnacht, Hermann was taken to Sachenhausen. After a time, he was conditionally released and fled. But war has far reaching fingers and despite help from locals, he was arrested in Belgium and sent to Camp Drancy and finally to Auschwitz.

The family's history of Orthodox Judaism, Hermann's duties as the community's cantor, antisemitism which grew violent, propaganda, dispossession, dehumanization, Nuremberg laws, Jew baiting, concept of genocide, malnutrition and disease are described. People either stood up or ignored. The significance of railways at the camps, stumbling stones, cemeteries and memorials are explained.

The subject matter is dreadful and difficult but there are kindnesses and hope. Quakers played a huge part in helping Jews. One of the most poignant aspects to me is the letters and postcards from the parents to their girls. Everyday economies were encouraged such as saving wear on stockings This family was loyal, loving, steadfast and were willing to do anything to save each other. We have much to learn.

Cherished family photos add yet another personal dimension. Devastation, death and despair affected millions of innocents. Always heart rending to contemplate. We must always remember.

This book provides a unique perspective of a family during the Holocaust. Most of the books I have read have been about Jewish families in hiding or firsthand accounts of time spent in concentration camps, all of which have taught me so much about the evil atrocities committed by the Nazis, things we are never taught in school and that I could never have imagined, but this book tells the story from a different perspective.

In the Footsteps of the Holocaust introduces the reader to Hermann and Henny Hartog and their daughters, a typical German Jewish family that sees under the present regime, Germany is becoming an unsafe place to live. From making the heartbreaking choice to send their daughters away to England for safety, to their journey through Belgium and France trying to secure their own protection, this book tells of the lengths an ordinary family would go to when faced with persecution.

Through a collection of discovered letters as well as intensive research, the author has pieced together the true story of her husband's grandparents. It is a story of strength, resilience, family and community. The reader learns about the daily challenges Jewish families faced in Europe and the restrictions placed on the population from curfews to what kinds of food they can and cannot buy as well as preventing the purchase of shoes, clothes or even the materials to make them. It depicts the living conditions and physical and mental struggles people endured and the importance of relationships and community.

This book is both informational and personal and in turn both educational and personal. The reader witnesses both good and evil, happiness and heartbreak. It is an emotional account of what the ordinary Jewish family experienced during such an unordinary and horrific time.

As time passes and we lose more and more members of that generation, it is so important that we remember the atrocious events that took place during WWII and the Holocaust. We must never forget. One of the most impactful excerpts for me was:

"Ordinary people are the ones who make brave decisions to rescue, to hide, or to stand up. But ordinary people also make decisions to ignore what is going on around them, to be bystanders, to allow the genocide to continue. How can ordinary people, such as ourselves, play a bigger part than we might imagine in challenging prejudice today?"

I would like to thank Pen and Sword publishing for the ARC copy of this book for review. It gave me such a unique insight and I am so grateful for the oppportunity to read and review this book.

This is a story which cuts across multiple generations to demonstrate the lasting impact of the Holocaust. The way in which the story unfolds is fascinating, with the slow discovery of letters and a journey to the places referenced. It’s well written and sensitively covers the tragic circumstances, all with a strong sense of the hope which later generations felt.