Book 4 - The Final Journey

 The Final Journey by Gudrun Pausewang

This novel was started on May 15, 2024, and finished on June 4, 2024; it was 154 pages. This was chosen by my Auntie Ern.

This was a very short novel with only 26 chapters and 154 pages. Although it was short, it took me a long time to finish compared to other novels, mostly because of my own busy life. But, the content of the events was a lot to take in. Which is common for me when I read anything with heavy subjects. I gave this book a personal rating of 4-stars.

Summary (SPOILERS!!)

    This novel follows the journey of an 11-year-old girl named Alice. Alice is traveling by train to an unknown destination with only the clothes on her back and a small rucksack of what she can gather when the guards come for her and her grandparents in the dead of night. She has no idea what this journey holds for her, but all she can be glad for is leaving a basement that she hasn't left in almost 2 years. Her parents wrote to her saying that they would meet her later in the East, but she didn't know why she hadn't heard from them for weeks. 

    Her grandparents are separated at the station where she and her grandfather board a train and her grandmother is taken to a separate car because she can't walk well and keep up with them. Maybe they will meet again wherever the train stops. Grandfather holds Mousie, a nickname for Alice, close to him aboard a train stuffed with people. The train doesn't have proper seating, a lavatory, food, or water; the families huddle together, holding onto each other for dear life. They all have yellow Stars of David on them and look as sullen as you'd believe. You'd think they were all in a basement without sunshine and fresh air like she was. 

    The train begins its long journey and Alice meets other children and their parents, older people, couples with families just starting, and single men with twinkles in their eyes; but they know more than Alice thought. Her parents and grandparents worked hard to keep Alice's world small. It is among strangers that she learns the truth about the times she is living. She is the enemy of Nazi Germany, and her parents might have not escaped to the East but were most likely taken-never to be seen again. 

    Learning this truth brings a horrible revelation to Alice and she blames her grandfather. After exposing him for his lies and deceit, she reprimands him, and all the stress, sorrow, sadness, everything comes hard for him, and he dies. Leaving Alice alone among strangers, she must make the rest of this journey alone. She is on a train that may lead to her and her companions' demise. But, of course, they couldn't kill her for being something she didn't choose. She didn't choose to be Jewish, so it's not her fault. Why would someone kill someone else for no reason?

    A single mother takes pity on her and makes it a point to take some form of responsibility for her after her grandfather dies. When they reach their destination at a place called Auschwitz, she leaves the train and is led by men in striped uniforms to a place to be processed. They make promises of food, water, and showers for everyone. They make orderly lines; men in one and women, children, and the elderly in another. Being asked to de-clothe and head to the showers begins a confusing journey to a very crowded and cramped room with spouts that surely couldn't clean all of them. She opens her arms to the water that's to come and is ready to start life clean and fresh.

Favorite Quote

"She stood up and looked at him from above, at a greater distance, and from there the strange landscape of the dead face turned back into familiar features of her beloved grandfather."