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.