Customer Reviews

In the Mouth of the Wolf

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Rose Zar's memoir In the Mouth of the Wolf offers a very intense, personal account of a young girl's experience as a Jewish person during the Holocaust. Unlike many memoirs, Rose, or Ruzska, details more than just hiding from German authority. She attempts and succeeds at "passing" as a Polish gentile. Because Ruzska "passes," succeeds, and survives to tell her story, it makes her memoir both unique and enthralling. I read the story of Ruzska in less than two days. Being around the same age as her, I found the memoir touching and obviously disturbing. Ruzska had to abandon her childhood, her family, and her home in an Austrian ghetto in order to survive the brutal persecution of the Jewish population. Zar does an amazing job of recapturing the moment, making the reader feel as though she is Ruzska, facing the constant suspicion of Germans, fighting to free her father and friends from the ghetto, and surviving only on her own sense of willpower and perseverence. Though Ruzska is able to survive by passing as a Pole, she is forced to wear a mask- she must change her name, alter her behavior, and directly endure the hatred of the Jewish. Though she is fortunate to have survived, she also leaves the reader understanding the impact of this heart-wrenching, life-changing experience of living through the period of the Nazi regime.

The genocide of six million Jewish citizens from various European countries is an incomprehensible number and the collaboration or passivity of a majority of their neighbors and community leaders, who aided in their murder and other crimes against humanity, is a history too monstrous to imagine then or now. However the witness of survivors like Rose Zar and the testaments left behind like those of Anne Frank and others makes it clear to the rest of us, what really did happen and for us, to be constantly on call, so to speak, to respond to brutality, because the unthinkable is possible.

Rose Zar's autobiography came to me soon after its original publication in 1983, and by the way of one of her former religious school students from Sinai Temple in South Bend, Indiana, who was a roommate of mine at the time in the American Southwest. I had heard of Rose prior to the arrival of this important book because of the fond vignettes shared by my roommate and of his circle of childhood friends who had grown up together in South Bend and who all had been her students. They were a small group of American born children and like most Jewish kids from Indiana; they had all gone away to college and with their diplomas had wandered across the state line to more cosmopolitian places. Of that small group one is a famous Beverly Hills jeweler, whose important gems adorn our favorite stars on Oscar night. My roommate was absorbed in his medical residency, when "In the Mouth of the Wolf" arrived from Indiana, and so I read the biography and each evening gave my friend a debriefing of the chapters read thereto by his former teacher.

Having known Holocaust survivors most of my life, or since I was able to acknowledge their history, I hadn't been able to comprehend their horrors. Rose made that horror palatable when portraying the night she hid in the bushes while a search patrol probed the foliage. Recalling childhood games of hide-and-seek and the heart pounding sensation when about to be discovered hinted at the horror of Rose's ordeal when her mission to remain hidden wasn't a game, but meant her survival. There were many poignant illustrations that made this tome a landmark in my personal library's shoah collection. This is a biography that I had shared with my late maternal Grandmother's retirement neighbors in Sun City, Arizona, both concentration camp survivors, who I had known all my life, but whose individual biographies including the horrors they each had suffered, I shall never know. Having read Mrs. Zar's telling story, and hearing their praises of her eloquence and motion picture recommendations, I bravely asked when they might write their own stories. Perhaps their answer was all I needed to know. They hadn't fared, as luckily as had Rose, who had indeed remained hidden in the mouth of the wolf. Israel, who had lost a young son and a previous wife, answered my query: "You have to believe what you write, and I still can not believe what happened!"

This is not only the story of a young European woman who survived the Holocaust, but that of a lady who became an educator in Indiana, and who has become a voice in the annuals of Hoosier Jewry and the 200 years of Jewish life that has existed in our state since the old Northwest period. She is one of many survivors, who found refuge in America and lives about the towns and cities of Indiana and across the land, but unlike some has a mission to teach and to tell of the genocide that befell the once thriving Jewries of Europe not so many years ago. A story that the too often isolationist heartland should know, and a tome that should be added to the `Indiana Room' collections of all our state's community libraries. I donated a copy to my town's public collection as well as to my congregational library.

This book deserves high praise! I have many holocaust books,but nothing as good as this book.I was so impressed by this book that I read it four times in a row!I really admire her courage and determination to survive. The author was very descriptive and clear. I think that everybody should give this book a read.

I had the great pleasure of knowing Rose Zar. She was a remarkable woman who lived a fascinating life. She and her husband accomplished many things in their lives, and this book detailing her early experiences in Poland during the war gives you a glimpse of the astounding capacity for the human spirit to not only survive, but to thrive. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in inspirational stories of human survival. It is a lasting tribute to a woman of valor.

In The Mouth of the Wolf by Rose Zar is a suspenseful story about the life of a young lady who escapes from the Piotrok Ghetto during the holocaust to live under false papers as a Pole. Courageously, strongly and smartly she outwits anybody and anything that gets suspicious or tries to turn her in. Astonishingly, she lands a great job for a Jew on the run in Krakow as a nursemaid for the S.S. Kommandant, his wife and their newborn. She very often remembers the things that her father told her about his life. For instance, the safest place is In the Mouth of the Wolf. Working for a Kommandant in the SS Army put her directly in danger but this is why most people would not even consider the fact that she was Jewish. She constantly craves companionship and friendship but she realizes that she cannot trust anyone and although she wants to talk with and be friends with fellow Jews on the run she again remembers what her father said and that a single Jew is less noticeable than two or more Jews. She and her brother were luckier than many Jews because they did not look Jewish and therefore it was much easier for her to pass as Polish. Her boyfriend and good friend were not so fortunate and they had to stay behind in the Ghetto. She goes back to see her father and is surprised by how much he has aged during her short time away from home. Her relationships with the people she meets and runs into along her journey made this book a great read from beginning to end.

In the Mouth of the Wolf was a great read and by far my most favorites. Some of the things Rose Zar explains during the course of the book almost make you feel like you are there and make you realize really how much of a JOB it was to get away and live through the Holocaust. This book was a very remarkable read. It was very descriptive and most times always filled with action. I would recommend this book to young adults because it is not the hardest book to read but has its challenges and keeps you interested throughout the whole book.

This book was wonderful. My...sister brought it home for a book report. I was astonished that I finished it in under three hours. I couldn't put it down. I will also admit I cried in joy at the ending. As much as I appreciate the hardships and grief associated with the Holocaust, I liked hearing about someone who made it and found an amazing and courageous happiness even within her plight.

"In The Mouth Of The Wolf", is a book of a young jewish girl on the run through Nazi controlled Poland. Ruszka Gutterman flees her home in the Piotrokow ghetto under the false identity of Wanda Gajda. She is tough, witty and outsmarts every man who would seek to turn her in. Ruszka works her way through Poland working for the S.S., a shoe shop, and eventually a maid/nanny for a german colonel in the S.S. This is a story of secret's, deciet and love wrapped up in a package so enticing you are hardly able to put it down. Rose Zar does an excellent job creating an unbelievable bond between character and reader, when Ruszka is in danger you often find yourself becoming more nervous. Many books leave you with that "Icant believe it's over" feeling at the end, but "In The Mouth Of The Wolf" gives you a sense of relief knowing that you made it through the thick and the thin of the holocaust hand in hand with Ruszka Gutterman.

I have just finished this true story. My son brought it home from school one day, as it was required reading material for him (of course, I didn't read it until he was done!) and I couldn't put it down. It makes you feel, deep down in your soul, for the Jews who had to survive during the Nazi reign. You feel like you are right there along side the main character as she tries to constantly be on the guard for the slightest mistake, all the while trying to make friends here and there. Those friendships never last long though, because she would have to move on yet again. She is literally living in the mouth of the enemy. She says it is the best place to hide and the last place they would look. You feel her agony as she tries to come to terms with what has happened to her family members, yet forcing herself to look past it in order to continue living one more day. It is outstanding and I highly recommend it.

Carrie Lynn Jones
Author of It All Began... When Jesus Gave Me Sneakers

In the book in the mouth of the wolf the runaway Jew Wanda had many close encounters with the German police and others while trying to hide out from being another victim of the holocaust. She used the knowledge that was passed down from her father to her to survive on the run. most of the book was her tring to stay out of the way and incuspecuas but she tends to get herself into loads of trouble and somehow gets lucky enough to have a friend to run to or for someone to not notice a small detail.i thought that the book was very captivating in the fact that it kept your attention through the majority of the book with little sub stories and confrentations. Although the author kind of lost track of an important character (her brother) i found it too be very reilistic the fact that she could not keep contact with anyone from her pervious life or even become intimate with anyone. But i did think that the end kind of fizzled out the ss officer caught her and let her go after 3 days in aprehention then she just lost my attention. i would encourage anyone and everyone to read this book to get a more solid understanding of what its like to be on the run for being you.

This book is about a teenage Jewish girl that is forced to run for her life when the word gets out that the Germans will start killing Jews in the ghettoes. Armed with only fugitive skills passed on by her father and an enormous will to live, she courageously runs from enemies all around her and eventually finds herself hidden "in the mouth of the wolf" as a maid for an SS officer.

The book is a great read, with just enough detail to be interesting, but not to the point of becoming boring like, say, Lord of the Rings can be. The stories told are all true, as the main character is actually the author, making the book partially an autobiography. The result is that the story is more believable and heartfelt. The ending of the book is very depressing, as she goes back to the Ghetto, where she grew up, after the Russian Army had ripped through. She walks up the stairs to her old house, and she notices that everything has changed around her, but the one stair in front of the house is ironically still loose, just like she remembered.