Lovely Green Eyes
Fifteen-year-old Hanka Kaudersova must make a choice. Does she seize the opportunity to pass herself off as an Aryan to work in a German military field brothel? Or does she remain at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp to face an almost certain death? Hanka chooses life, but her decision is not as clear-cut as it seems. She exchanges forced labor, starvation, and the looming probability of being sent to her death in the gas chamber for the constant fear of being discovered, the appalling working conditions and inhumane treatment of the prostitutes, and the anguish of existence under the deadly tyranny of the brothel¹s callous, volatile commanding officer.
This is Hanka’s story, a powerful, unsettling, and unconventional Holocaust tale about the human desire for survival under the bleakest of circumstances. The book documents Hanka’s dismal experiences and her methods of coping with the unimaginable. But it also offers insight into the minds of Hanka’s “clients,” some of whom are kindly, lost, and lonely soldiers amid the insanity of war, and others who are chillingly brutal and sadistic, representing the elite of the Nazi regime.
The language is sparse and poignant, each sentence loaded with meaning and emotion, yet at the same time, quiet and thoughtful. Due to the nature of the subject and the dark and disturbing imagery, Lovely Green Eyes is difficult to immerse oneself into for long periods of time. Yet it is worth the time and the expenditure of emotional energy to ponder the complex issues this book raises.
