Stella

by Peter Wyden

Other authorsIlse Strasmann (U Bers.)

Paper Book, 1993

Status

Available

Call number

940.53163092

Genres

Publication

Go ttingen : Steidl, 1993

Description

The story of Stella Goldschlag, whom Wyden knew as a child, and who later became notorious as a "catcher" in wartime Berlin, hunting down hundreds of hidden Jews for the Nazis. A harrowing chronicle of Stella's agonizing choice, her three murder trials, her reclusive existence, and the trauma inherited by her illegitimate daughter in Israel. 16 pages of B&W photographs.

User reviews

LibraryThing member meggyweg

A biography/memoir of World War II. Peter Wyden, a German Jewish boy, moved to America before the dark curtain of Nazism spread over Europe. One of his German Jewish classmates, Stella Goldschlag, became infamous when she was "turned" by the Gestapo. In exchange for the Nazis not shipping her and

her parents off to Auschwitz, she helped them catch Jews hiding in Berlin. She was responsible for hundreds, maybe thousands of arrests and subsequent murders. In just one weekend, she helped the Gestapo apprehend 62 Jews. Interspersed with Stella's story are details about Peter Wyden growing up in Germany and the US, and his military service during World War II.

Stella was a truly fascinating character to me, and it's clear that Wyden shared my interest. Although he learned a lot of details about her life, interviewed people who knew her, and interviewed Stella herself, he never really figured out what made her tick and why she became a traitor when so many other Jews chose to die rather than cooperate with the Germans.

Bonus detail: after this book was written, in 1994, Stella committed suicide by jumping from her apartment window. She was 72 years old.

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