About:
The Nuremberg Women: The Untold Story of the Eight Women Who Brought the Nazis to Justice by Natalie Livingstone consists of short mini biographies of eight women who shaped the Nuremberg trials. Ms. Livingstone is a historian and writer of non-fiction books.
- 432 pages
- Publisher : St. Martin's Press
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1250345189
My rating for The Nuremberg Women - 4
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Thoughts:
We all heard a lot about the famous and infamous men at the Nuremberg trials, but like many successful people, it's those that do the grinding work behind them that often make a huge difference. In the male dominated world of occupied Germany, the author brings to light eight women who have been lost to history, but their presences and contributions were felt at the time, and some are still felt today.
The book is published during the 80the anniversary of the trial. Instead of focusing on the "stars" of the trial, the author shines the spotlight on the overlooked constitutions of eight women. According to Ms. Livingstone, about 300 women, from reports to linguists, helped with the proceedings.
The strength of The Nuremberg Women by Natalie Livingstone lays in that it humanizes the trial, the people and the surroundings. The author doesn't dwell on the tedious postwar justice and trial procedures, but weaves the narratives with individual backstories in between, and during the court proceedings through female eyes navigating a men's world in a ruined city.
Through the eyes of the women, we see mass criminal as pathetic creatures, still evil but without power. Each of the women had to fight for her job, and recognition, as well as chauvinism and misogyny which were part of the culture at the time. They did it with their heads held high, doing their job to the best of their ability.
Books like this usually have the same issue, some sections are exciting and informative, others weigh it down. But it is a highly readable book and an indispensable look at women whose efforts must be recognized and remembered, and more important - women deserve a voice in our history.
Given how many vital figures at Nuremberg worked behind the scenes as translators, researchers, and chroniclers, do you think we place too much historical emphasis on the judges and prosecutors in major trials, or is high-level leadership naturally where history's focus belongs?
Synopsis:
The book consists of short sections about eight women during their time in Nuremberg and how do got to be included in that very inclusive club. The women are:
Harriet Zetterberg - A young American attorney, a brilliant woman preparing crucial legal briefs.
Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier - Auschwitz and Ravensbrück survivor, a French resistance member whose stirring and chilling firsthand testimony still reverberates today.
Laura Knight - an English artist who was commissioned to capture the trials through oil pains. Her painting documented not just the trial but captured the ruined city reminding people of the surrounding atmosphere.
Tatiana Stupnikova - a Russian interpreter who managed to balance political pressure during her work in real time.
Ingeborg Kálnoky - a Hungarian aristocrat with Hollywood looks who ran a house, and played host, to concentration camp survivors and war criminals under the same roof.
Erika Mann, Rebecca West, and Ursula von Kardorff - all three are journalists covering the proceeding but with a different lens, perspectives, and complexities.
Buy The Nuremberg Women from Amazon.com*
More books by Natalie Livingstone*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free
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