A Place to Hide by Ronald H. Balson

 

Theodore “Teddy” Hartigan is the scion of a wealthy Washington, D.C. family who place him into a comfortable job at the State Department and a placid diplomat’s career. In 1938, as Hitler’s inexorable rise continues, Teddy is re-assigned to the US Consulate in Amsterdam to replace fleeing staff.

Teddy’s job is to process visa applications, and by 1939, refugees from Nazi-conquered Poland, Austria, and other countries are desperate to secure safe passage to America. As Hitler sweeps through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Holland, the screws tighten and law after virulent law is passed to threaten the lives, indeed the very existence of the Jewish people. When Teddy and his girlfriend Sara are introduced to an orphaned young girl named Katy, who has been abandoned on the grounds of a nursery school, they agree to adopt her. Teddy comes to realize that he holds the key to saving lives, whether five, fifty, or five hundred—and makes the dangerous and selfless decision to join with underground groups and use his position at the Consulate to rescue those with no other avenue of escape.

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About The Author

 

Ronald H. Balson is the author of Once We Were Brothers, Saving Sophie, Karolina's Twins, The Trust and The Girl From Berlin. Ron is an attorney practicing with the firm of Stone, Pogrund and Korey in Chicago. The demands of his trial practice have taken him into courts across the United States and into international venues. An adjunct professor of business law at the University of Chicago for twenty-five years, Ron has also lectured on trial advocacy in federal trial bar courses.

During the early 2000s Ron spent time in Warsaw and southern Poland in connection with a complex telecommunications lawsuit. While in Poland Ron was profoundly moved by the scars and memorials of World War II, which inspired him to write Once We Were Brothers, his first novel. Extensive travels to Israel and the Middle East provided the inspiration for Saving Sophie, his second novel. While on his Once We Were Brothers book tour, Ron met Fay Waldman, a survivor of multiple Nazi prison camps. Her remarkable story inspired and provided the backdrop for Ron's third novel, Karolina's Twins. Research in Berlin and Tuscany resulted in the haunting novel, The Girl From Berlin.

 

My Review

 A must read, a tragedy, and deep hatred for people of the Jewish faith. It is almost unbelievable that so many people died, and this book gives us a glimpse of the insanity that was going on.
We put faces to the people in this mist of the invasion, and occupation, but before the invasion, and people not being granted visas to get out of Europe.
This story also focuses on survivors, and keep reading, we do find out what happens to some, not all.
This is a fictional read, and be sure to read the author's notes, there are some real people here, and some that a fictional character was based on. I loved knowing what happened to one of the very evil ones!
While this historical book is not easy to read, I think we need to not forget!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher St. Martin's Press, and was not required to give a positive review.