Mary Hunt Jentsch (1898–1972)

On one level Trek is an interesting read because of the unusual story: an American woman meets and marries a German student at Harvard in the 1920s. They marry and run student exchanges with John Rothschild, first out of Paris for 11 years and then out of Geneva for 5. When Germany invades Poland, Gerhart (the author's husband) decides to move back to Germany like a good patriot and support the war effort. What follows is the bulk of the book: the author's life in war-torn Germany, trying to avoid the bombings and hunger that plague her and her two children. At the end of the war, she like everyone else in East Germany/Prussia take to the roads trying to stay out of Russian hands. The unusual circumstances that place an American woman and her two children inside Germany during WWII provide an interesting perspective.

What I had a hard time with was the absence of any mention of Jews and their fate. I find it hard to believe that she and everyone she met were completely ignorant of the situation and that none of them were guilty of anti-semitism or even of belonging to the Nazi party or supporting Hitler. I find it incredible, especially given her contact with POWs and forced laborers, whose existance she depicts as normal and rather jolly. Furthermore, she almost never mentions her husband, his decision to work for the Reich and his subsequent stint with the Germany army on the Eastern Front, even though they lived together until 1943 and remained in contact thereafter. It seems impossible to believe that he was not a Nazi. How could she as an intelligent, well-educated American follow him to Nazi Germany? It is a mystery, and one that made it impossible for me to sympathize with her and her plight.… (mer)