Daring to Be - Inge and Kitty’s Escape from Nazi Germany

Helen John

Summary

Here I am human. Here I can dare to be. Goethe's Faust, quoted by Inge to her younger sister Kitty on their arrival in Southampton, August 1939.
Born into privilege as the daughters of internationally acclaimed Berlin ophthalmologist Professor Oscar Fehr, Inge and Kitty's world was shattered by the Nazi regime. Defined as Jews under the Nuremberg Laws, their once-bright futures dissolved into fear and desperation. Fleeing Germany with only their wits and courage, they left behind the only life they had ever known.
Decades later, after Kitty's death at ninety-nine years old, her daughter Helen uncovered four hidden diaries, written in the subsequently forbidden Su?tterlin script. These pages, painstakingly transcribed, revealed a hauntingly intimate portrait of the sisters' harrowing escape and the heartbreak of being viewed as outcasts in the very country that saved them.
Daring to Be weaves Kitty's never-before-seen words and family photographs with Helen's reflections to create a powerful story of survival, resilience and identity. With emotions etched into every page, this is a gripping testament to the human spirit in the face of unimaginable loss - and a poignant reminder of the scars of exile.

Available since: 04/17/2025.

Contemporary Fiction

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