Laureen Nussbaum, through Karen Kirtley, shares her experiences through the times before, during, and after World War II. She shares this, along with the timelines of Hans Calmeyer, and her friendship with Anne Frank and her family.

There are moments of levity, as well as heartbreak.

I truly enjoyed this book. I teach ELA and Social Studies. While I teach from the "beginning" of civilization to the early 1400s, and this does not fit my curriculum, I can use it as an example of a biography and/or autobiography for my English Language Arts students.

I was given the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review, by NetGalley.

Highly enjoyed this one! It kept me engaged throughout and was a joy to read, would certainly recommend!

I enjoyed the book of WWII. Plot takes place in Holland. The writing is interesting but sometimes too dry. Perhaps that is because of the topic covered. Perhaps not.
It was just fine reading. Nothing else.

Shedding Our Stars is the true story of Lauren Nussbaum and how she survived WWII as a young girl in Holland. I found this a very interesting story and I loved the parts when the author talked about her own experiences during the war. However I found the chapters on Hans to be like reading a report and I lost interest at times.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC

The actions of Hans Calmeyer, a lawyer working for the Nazi regime, proved to save 1000s of Jews from death, including the family of Laureen Nussbaum. Much more than historical fiction, this book gives detail and insight into the abilities of one man to affect so many. Recommended reading.

Hans Calmeyer helped to save thousands of jews from sure death even while staying in the system and working for the germans. This is his story and how he saved the author, Laureen Nussbaum, and her family along with several others. This book was riveting for it is an account of not just how Laureen saved her boy friend's life but, also of how life turned out after the war. There are more details here than what we got from Anne Frank's diaries (a contemporary) about Amsterdam. In fact, Otto Frank, the only survivor from Anne Frank's family stayed a friend with this family.
Calmeyer was instrumental in helping to keep thousands of jews from the concentration camps. He was a german bureaucrat and did whatever he could by way of providing appropriate paperwork to save as many as he could. The book is his biography while also being Laureen's memoir of those times and beyond.
It was fascinating to read so many details of lives at a time when neighbours and friends had turned on each other. Humanity goes on because there are decent and morally upright men in the mix. We will always need stories like these to give us hope for a future that is increasingly become narrow minded and selfish. It is a must-read for that.

Shedding Our Stars tells the story of Hans Calmeyer - a German lawyer working for the Nazi administration in the Netherlands between 1941 and 1945 - and how his actions helped to save thousands of Jews from deportation, including the author and her family.

This was a fascinating read. I have studied and read much about this area of history but do not recall coming across any mention of Calmeyer, and so was really intrigued by the story of this man who had such an important, life-saving impact on generations of Jews. The way Nussbaum interweaves her narrative on Calmeyer with her own personal story turns what could be classed as an academic text into a compelling part-memoir which is accessible to both historians and casual readers.

I also particularly liked how the account continues after the Holocaust and the author recounts her experiences and memories of living in various different countries during the Cold War up to present day. At times she observes the similarities in the ways various groups are treated compared to her own experiences coming from a Jewish family living in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. It serves as an important reminder that we should not forget the lessons of the past lest we end up repeating them.

All in all, an interesting read that I would definitely recommend.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Sorry for the delay in my review, life has gotten in the way.

this is definitely one of the harder topics to read about.. this author did a great job at telling us about his life and the realism of what was experienced.

As someone who loves to delve into the history of resistance fighters of WWII, I was intrigued by this story of both a survivor and the indirect link to a rescuer high up in the ranks of occupied Holland. Nussbaum's tale of her family's ability to survive thanks to the work of Hans Calmeyer is captivating, but I'm not sure if the transfer of his biography from the original German to make sense for US audiences works well. It can work for someone who appreciates the nuances of the history of the resistance movement in the Netherlands, but for the average American? Not so much.
Maybe gathering some other stories from other people who survived with his help would have made the book flow a bit better, I'm not sure. It is a great tale, and one I enjoyed immensely, but I don't know how well this book will relate to mainstream readers.

A heartbreaking story of a family forced to move from Germany to Holland during WWII. Reading memories of their, and other people's, extraordinary attempts at survival was terrifying. The thing that struck me the most was when Laureen detailed the dwindling numbers of fellow students in her classes. What struck me most about this book was the resilience of people - when their family, friends, neighbours etc were all disappearing, being forced to go to labour camps, trying to find shelter or people to hide them from the Nazis, or starving to death - the glimmers of hope and humour were like little lights in the darkness. I'm not ashamed to admit that the book made me cry in parts when another meaningless death or betrayal took place. I am neither German nor Jewish but I believe books like these should be read by everyone to understand the horrors of war. More books like these need to be published, not just about WWII but about other, more recent wars e.g. Yugoslavia or Afghanistan etc, so that people who are removed from the battle zone understand what our fellow humans went through.

This book is a great read for anyone interested in the social history of Jewish persecution in Holland.

There are many stories of those who bravely saved Jews during World War II, but among the least heralded is the story of Hans Calmeyer, a German bureaucrat in Holland during the War. His actions in declaring people exempt from deportation and his liberal interpretation of directives concerning the Jews is documented to have saved over 3,700 Jews and protected another 9,000 who were in mixed marriages. Laureen Nussbaum, from one of the families he saved combines his biography with hers in this moving book.

The book alternates her story with his. While only about half the book is spent on WWII, the remainder of the book concentrates on the events and the consequences of what happened then. I found it most interesting to learn how Calmeyer's actions could be interpreted, and misinterpreted so differently.

Nussbaum writes well and this book is a moving and important account.

Shedding Our Stars is a terrific read. The author knew Anne Frank and her family, but survived the Holocaust in the Netherlands due to a German lawyer who arranged paperwork for thousands of Jews In order to avoid deportation. I had never heard of Hans Calmyer. His life was an I teresti g part of this dual biography, but I was more fascinated with Laureen's personal narrative. It's a great contribution to the expansive canon of Holocaust memoirs.

I received this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I have to say that I just liked this book. The author has had an eventful life, as did others in this book. I think, for me, that it just didn't flow. And that could be because the book wasn't just about her, but also about others. It seemed choppy and therefore I had a hard time following the story.

“Shedding Our Stars” gives new insight into a bleak time in Dutch and German history. Before reading this, I had never heard of Hans Calmeyer, and the book does a wonderful job of providing a full history of the man, while interweaving his story with that of the author.
Nussbaum’s inclusion of post-war proceedings, though (necessarily) a bit law-speak heavy, help the reader to see the after effects on the population, which is a part of the Holocaust/ war story that is often left out.
I would recommend this book to anyone, as it also gives a stark warning of what may happen in our future if we do not heed the past.

This was a wonderful memoir of a man who saved lives, even the authors and her families. It is a story that needs to be told. We should never forget this time in history and make sure it never happens again.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Sorry to say I really didn’t like this book. It was an informative memoir of a sad time but it read more like a term paper than a story. Too much extra information and connotations not needed. I would not recommend. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.

This was a beautifully done memoir that really makes you think about things, the author was able to convey everything that they needed to. It was a pleasure to read this and read about the journey that this author had.