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Stella: One Woman's True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler's Germany

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I do not wish to hurt anyone who has suffered from the holocaust by writing this review, nor do I want dishonor anyone who was destroyed by it. I am only making an observation about what happened to this woman named Stella. Stella was a beautiful blonde girl who reached early maturity during WWII in Berlin. She was Jewish, but with her blue eyes she could easily pass for a gentile. When Hitler started his personal war against Jews, he initiated the most horrible and beastly experience that could happen to human beings. With his henchmen, and their vicious attacks on Jews and other peoples, he pushed people into emotional dungeons, and it is at these dark, these lowest levels, that we discover what we are really capable of doing. In his painful memoir of his experiences of the holocaust, Elie Weisel, shows us in Night, that when the Nazis tossed tiny bits of bread to starving Jews, many of them killed for that one morsel of food, sometimes ending the lives of their loved ones for a chance to put something in their mouths. For me, this book was about survival. No one knows what they are capable of unless they are taken to that horrifying nightmare place of doom, and unless one has been there, there is absolutely no way of knowing what our choices would be. Many would argue that Stella did not get to the extremes that occurred in the death camps. But we do know that she was beaten over and over and over again. And then she was offered a chance to have it all end by being a "catcher" for the Nazis. We know that other Jews committed suicide to avoid the beatings and the offer of becoming a catcher to stay alive. I can only thank God that I have never had to be in such a situation, because I don't know what I would do. How could I know? I do know that I have a very strong instinct to live, and I think that may have been why Stella took the path that she did. I believe, that in making that choice, she did lose her "soul." I think that is the only way that a human being could do what she did. For Stella did not only "catch" Jews for the Nazis, many eyewitnesses said she seemed to enjoy it. I think for anyone to make that "choice" you would have to put your entire being into it in order to perform those horrible crimes. In the end, I think Stella suffered far more than if she had allowed herself to die at the hands of the Nazis. At the age of about 21, she began the life of a person who is hated by virtually everyone she had ever known and anyone she would ever meet. She lives her life constantly attempting to convince herself that she didn't do anything wrong. She lives in total seclusion, with the lights always dim, year after year with no one to love her, no one to hold her, no one to console her. And still she survived into old age. Survival was Stella's strongest urge. It kept her alive to live a lifelong death, the death of her humanity, with the destruction of hundreds, perhaps thousands on her hands. Would I choose survival? In retrospect, had I been a "Stella," I can only pray that I would have had the ability to accept my death at the hands of the Nazis.

This book is well worth seeking out, even if it is out of print.

What makes it all the more fascinating is that the author grew up with the subject of the biography. The text seems meandering at first, but the interweaving of his story -- and that of Stella -- comes sharply into focus, as the writer shares his innermost thoughts.

Although he does not make Stella blameless, he does demonstrate empathy for her -- in the end, she lives but has lost her soul. She is an unforgetable character. Striking, too, are the many `supporting' characters Wyden introduces to us, brave and courageous Jews who survived in Berlin through much of the war and, in some cases, all of it. These individual stories are striking, heart-warming, sometimes funny, and always unforgetable. I found the book as engrossing as a fictional thriller, truly a `can't put down' item! Don't miss it!

Few can match the infamous Blond Poison, Stella Goldschlag, who stalked the alleys of Berlin seeking former friends, School Classmates and neighbers as as well as total strangers not out of loneliness but in order to betray them and send them to the Gas Chambers to be murdered in her place during the Holocaust. She well deserves her reputation as a Judas to the Jews of Berlin, the men, women and children whom she betrayed by the score to preserve her own life.

This book is basicly her story. Written by a former classmate.

It details much of her early life to the best of the author's knowledge. It then goes on to describe her career as a Griefer, one of the scores of Jews who openly chose to assist the Gestapo finding the Jews in hiding so to deport them to the death camps in exchange for their own survival.

A career in which Stella Goldschlag was one of the Gestapo's best.

One could compare her to the infamous Blond Irma Grese (who is not mentioned in this book) but Wyden shows her life was a far cry from nightmare that of the infamous Blond Beast's. She was not mistreated. Her mother spoiled her. Her father hardly interfered. She certainly had contact with better men in the beginning. A far cry from the horrors of Irma Grese's nightmare life that ultimately exploded with deadly fury upon the inmates of Auschwitz with all the savagery of a mistreated dog.

When one looks at the infamous Blond Poison and her Domestic Partner Rolf Isaacson one finds no reason to sympathise with them at all. They did what they did as a matter of choice. Wyden even reports the infamous Blond Poison enjoyed her work.

This is the story of one woman's choice in Evil.

I was prepared to loathe Stella. How could anyone turn in her friends to the Nazis, knowing they were going to be tortured and killed? How could anyone not see her as a horrific ogre, and damn her forever? Much to my surprise, as the book went along, I found I had more and more compassion for her. Let me be clear: what she did was wrong, to be condemned in the strongest terms. But, give this a quarter turn, and look at it through Stella's eyes: she was born in 1923, the only child of a well-to-do couple who doted on her. Stella was spoiled by her parents, self-centered, and in my opinion, a self-hating Jew. From 1918-22, Germany saw the assassinations of 376 bureaucrats and politicians, about one every four days. There were riots by right-wing thugs, and Jews were often attacked, all this before Hitler even came to power. Granted, a young, spoiled, self-centered child doesn't follow these things (or even many precocious nonself-absorbed children),
but they are definately noticed in one's subconscious. It sets the psychological stage. Mis en place. By 1935, Jews were fired from their jobs, or forced to sell out their businesses for a pittance. The Goldschlags went from well-to-do to barely scraping by. When she was 20, Stella's beloved parents were scheduled for transport. The Gestapo wanted Stella to turn in her friends (the "u-boaters", Jews in hiding). She said no. Then the Gestapo tortured her. She said yes. The author gives examples of those the Gestapo approached who refused to turn in their friends. Many said no. However, none of them was tortured. The reason I feel compassion for Stella (and obviously much, much more for her victims), is she lived an over-protected, sheltered life, and was psychologically unequipped to do anything else. Let's face it, virtually none of us has lived in her shoes. I would hope that I wouldn't make her choices. I know they aren't a part of my values. But to me, Stella was a product of Nazi and Gestapo torture and abuse. What Jew did not experience trauma in Nazi Germany? How could one not be traumatized by the situation, year after year? And to be a coddled 20 year old and tortured by the Gestapo on top of that? I in no way condone Stella's actions. I deplore them. But I cannot damn her because she was egregiously exploited by the Nazis and didn't have enough of a psychological and moral foundation to do the right thing. She broke. And although most of us would say, "Oh, I'd never do that!", we have not been in that position. Maybe most people wouldn't do that, but I feel certain a lot more of us would do that , if we had lived a life similar to Stella's. That's the key. The world is made up of different people, of different backgrounds, and most importantly different strengths and weaknesses. She didn't have the character or moral fiber to stand up for what's right. Later, some eyewitnesses said she'd smile and act as though she really enjoyed betraying her friends. There, too, I don't necessarily accept that at face value. When someone lives in horrific conditions 24/7 for years, they have to sometimes delude themselves to keep from going insane. The brain cannot handle 24 hour horror for years on end. So, I say that she wasn't smiling and enjoying it, I believe that it was merely an involuntary coping mechanism. I believe this is born out when she makes friends with an older woman who eventually draws Stella out, and helps her to see that it is wrong under any circumstances. Stella arranges to have her second husband do the dirty work. After the war Stella was convicted and served 10 years. I will grant you, that compared to her deeds, that is an insulting slap on the wrists. But for those of you who are bloodthirsty in a desire for revenge, take comfort. She has been in a crueler, far stricter prison than any government institution: the prison of her mind. She has no friends, virtually sees no one, gets no joy from life, and keeps her shades drawn. The author was peeved that she still sometimes lied about her crimes, and took it to mean she had no remorse. I took it to mean that she still psychologically has the need to try to delude others because she cannot bear to admit everything to others that which she has come to admit to herself. The life she now leads is to me loud testimony that she recognizes the horrors of what she has done, and what she can never undo. I am an informal student of post-traumatic stress disorder, and Stella exhibits all the signs. During the war years she also exhibited them, too. She was a pitiful victim. She did the wrong thing, horrible, horrible things, and she will go to her death paying for her sins. This is tragic story on many different levels. She deserves this prison of the mind, but I still feel compassion for her.

With good reason the Nazi regime is almost universally considered the paradigm and apotheosis of pure evil. Only humans are evil. Nature's killers are purely instinctual. Perhaps the greatest evil of the Nazis was their ability to turn otherwise decent human beings into slayers. Almost every nationality in Europe had it's killers of Jews in particular: The Nazis did it with their own German populace, the subjugated peoples of Europe, and even the Jews themselves.

Often the Jews were given the impossible choice of dying or killing in order to live. The depredations of the Kapos in the Concentration Camps are well-known. Incidents of children under torture killing siblings or parents are documented. More than one Camp survivor tells tales of prisoners stealing food from those weaker than themselves. In a nightmare, the wages of which were basic survival, normal ethics went by the boards.

Such is the story of Stella Goldschlag, a young Jewish girl from Berlin, a onetime schoolmate of author Peter Wyden, who was offered the Hobson's Choice From Hell. She could face the extermination of her family and herself or she could become a "Jew-Catcher." The pretty blonde Stella was put to work flushing out Jews living on forged papers. These hidden people were known as "U-Boats" or "Submarines." Most were young, brash, and "Aryan" in appearance, like Stella herself. There were several thousand "Submarines" in Berlin alone. Stella, often posing as a "Submarine" herself, managed to gain the trust of many, whom she then turned over to the Gestapo. It's said that "The Blonde Poison" caused the deaths of hundreds.

It's said she did this with some glee; but this 'glee' well may have been a sense of relief, for the more successful she was as a Catcher the less likely that she would be beaten, raped or put on a train, or, alternately, see her mother deported. In the end, it didn't matter. Mrs. Goldschlag was deported anyway. And although Stella survived the war, she was forever branded with the mark of Cain amongst both survivors and Germans. She was despised by both. After the age of twenty, she lived the life of a persona non grata, isolated, lost and lonely. In closing, Wyden wonders rhetorically if she dreams of trains . . .

It's easy to despise Stella. However, it should be remembered that she was young, immature, spoiled and narcissistic when the war began, often compared to the Hollywood starlets of the time. How many teenagers can make profound decisions, especially when the choice in the balance is an almost-certain death? Most adults could not choose so well. It's easy to say what Stella's choice "should" have been, but until I am faced with such an ultimate decision, I will withhold judgment.

Wyden mixes personal reminiscences about his youthful schoolboy infatuation with schoolmate Stella with a history of the persecution of Jews in Berlin and Stella's ever duplicitous role in it. Ultimately, he portrays a pathetic, lonely and isolated woman who refuses to acknowledge any guilt, real or alledged, or personal responsibility in betraying Jews to the Gestapo.

This book is history and personal anecdote while concurrently begging thought provoking questions about guilt and capitulation. One could easily conclude that had Stella been born in a different place at a different time she would have been a totally ordinary person living out an uneventful life. Sometimes it almost seems that Wyden wants to believe this too. For her part, she claims that even had there been any cooperation with the Gestapo it was to spare the lives of her parents. Is she guilty out of concern for her parents (they ultimately perished) and therefore somewhat forgiven by the "I was just obeying orders" defense so frequently echoed throughout World War II and VietNam; or is she guilty because an ordinary person was born into and negatively impacted by the truly bizarre and cruel world of 1940s Berlin?

Stella is ultimately a disturbing portrait of a truly personal human tragedy; her own and those who suffered for it.

When I first read this book I was sickened that someone could do this to their own people. It also shows the weaknesses of the Nazis and their "ideal" person because many Jews fit the profile of the "perfect Aryan". In the end God works in wonderous and mysterious ways. Stella got what she deserved when her daughter was taken from her by the Jewish community of Berlin and raised as a Jew. It is a must read for those interested in World War II and the Holocaust.

"Stella" is the fascinating tale of a lovely, young and blond Jewish woman given an incredible "Sophie's Choice." 'Die along with your family or cooperate and save both yourself and your loved ones.' Cooperation, of course, meant cooperation with the Nazis at the lowest level. Stella would have to search out and betray hidden Jews to the Nazi death machine.

Stella made her choice and I do not judge because, never having lived through the horror of arrest and threatened extermination, I don't know what I would have done. I'd like to think I would have chosen "honorable" death over dishonorable life...but...I really don't know. Nobody knows what they would do if faced with a similar fate and a similar choice. Christ said, "Let he who is without guilt throw the first stone." I wouldn't and won't throw that stone.

Stella made her choice and it was a horrific one. She became a griefer and was responsible for hundreds of arrests. Hundreds died who might have survived had Stella never existed. The story implies that Stella may have taken some satisfaction in her skills. I don't doubt it. Once a person gets pointed in a certain direction she usually gains satisfaction from a job well done. Besides, there is the Stockholm Syndrome where the victim identifies with her victimizer.

This story is valuable at seveal levels. It is a study of human nature under remarkable stress. It is also a study of the complexities and inconsistencies of the Nazi extermination system. Stella lived but her family died. Would she have also been killed if the war had gone on longer and her source of victims dried up? Or would she have lived like a lovely butterfly in a bottle? Would she, with her blond good looks and charm, become an honorary Aryan?

I'm reminded of a story told on Heinrich Himmler. He is walking outside the wire of one of his camps one day and spots a goodlooking blond man behind the wire. He called him over so he could talk to him, "Are you a Jew?" "Yes." the clueless man answers. "Are your parents Jewish?" asked Himmler. "Yes." replied the young man. "Are your grandparents Jewish?" "All Jewish." the man replied again. Himmler shook his head, "Then I'm sorry I can't help you."

This story is fascinating because it implies that Himmler may have saved the man had he proved less than completely Jewish. Likewise, Stella might have survived the Holocaust even if Hitler had won the war.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God" on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Stella is my kind of history. First person who was there, through their own eyes. When I majored in American History I wondered what happened to the Jews who were my age during the war. Thinking that I would not have fallen in the Nazi traps which led to the camps. This book helps explain where the 20 year olds went during the war. The author was in Berlin before the war with many school friends and neighbors. The follow-up with his friends and the stories of their lives during and after the war is amazing. Riveting. I couldn't put it down and would recomment this book to anyone interested in Berlin history during the war.

This is a really good book on a subject that is not talked or written about very much, Jews working with the Nazi authorities to apprehend and deport other Jews.Although the author goes off on a tangent much too often to frame the historical and personal perspective, it is nonetheless a really good read.