THE LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly

The Lilac Girls tells a very important story based on World War II and its aftermath especially since it is based on real events and characters. As many books as I have read about the Holocaust and concentration camps (most recently, The Nightingale, which I highly recommend), the atrocities are still shocking and unbelievable. 

The Lilac Girls tells three parallel stories: Caroline Ferriday, a New York socialite who volunteers at the French Consulate and assists with French orphans; Kasia, a polish woman sent to Ravensbrück, a female concentration camp; and Herta Oberheuser, a doctor at Ravensbrück who conducted experimental surgeries on a group of women there.  These women are called the “Rabbits” because they hopped around due to the operations performed on their legs and also, because they were used like experimental animal rabbits. Sadly, the story of the “Rabbits” is true.

The book succeeds most when telling the stories of the trials and tribulations of the women held at the concentration camp. I found Kasia to be the most compelling story because through her, we learn about the day-to-day atrocities at Ravensbrück and the horrific experience of being one of the “Rabbits.” Reading about Caroline Ferriday is a more “satisfying” and gratifying as she was an extremely charitable woman who worked at the French Consulate and befriended the “Rabbits” by raising funds so they could come to the United States and get the medical care they so desperately needed. Early on in the story of Herta the doctor, she seems “human” as we learn of her disdain for the work being done at Ravensbrück and only because her family needs the money, does she stay at the job. What was lacking in her story, in my opinion, was a more detailed account of her transformation into a willing participant in the experimental surgeries. This is offset somewhat by Kasia’s ultimate confrontation of her and her Nuremberg trial. While Herta was able to return to medicine after a mere 5 year imprisonment, this injustice is ultimately righted by the joint effort of Caroline and Kasia. 

Based on the cover of the book, which featured three women arm in arm, I expected the three stories to intersect with a positive outcome. I anticipated the doctor would ultimately be a benevolent character and assist somehow in helping these innocent victims at Ravensbrück. Sadly, I was wrong at my interpretation of the cover photo. However, the book excelled at shining a light on the horrors of Ravensbrück and the virtue and generosity of an American woman.

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