Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #386515 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Synopsis
In the Berlin of 1942, Lilly Wust was married to a soldier and was the mother of four children. Her quiet domestic life was forever changed when she met and fell in love with Jewish Felice Schragenheim. Aimee and Jaguar, as the two called one another, embarked on an ecstatic affair, exchanging letters and poems and even signing a marriage contract. After only a year, their happiness was destroyed by the Gestapo: Felice was taken away to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Lilly received a last letter from Felice in 1945. Erica Fisher has documented this extraordinary story after spending countless hours talking to 80-year-old Lilly, and to friends and acquaintances of the two women. Her account, together with a collection of photographs, is a witness to an unusual love in a time of extremes.

Customer Reviews

Well written, poorly lived.
Respect given where it's due, Erica Fisher has done a really good job researching this book, but the main impact of this real life story is that it was between a Jewish woman and a Natzi soldiers promiscuous wife. I agree with the author in her opinion that the couple would not have lasted had Jaguar survived the holocaust. She was merely a young, but by no means innocent, woman in search of a mother figure. She'd had her fair share of women and was probably still in pursuit of quite a few of them during her relationship with Aimee, who, from what I can make out, was just after what she could get. It's very telling how her love letters to Jaguar, who was relatively wealthy with many black market connections, are peppered with requests for furniture and other sundries, and how few letters she recieved from Jaguar during her internment. Despite all the overly mushy letters expressing undying love you get the distinct feeling that this was a relationship powered by the dynamics of lust, money and power. Aimee did a very brave thing in harbouring her jewish friends during the war, and it's appalling that Jaguar died, along with millions of other jews, and it's sad for Aimee that she spent the rest of her life making herself miserable, but this isn't a tragic love story. The real tragedy was the holocaust. I'd reccomend this book to anybody, just don't expect tears and fraught emotions while reading it.

READ THIS BOOK! IT IS A POWERFUL LOVE STORY!
EROTIC, MOVING, TOUCHING, SAD, HONEST. THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND I AM SO GLAD THAT A LOVE STORY HAS COME OUT OF A TIME IN OUR HISTORY WHICH WAS SO HORRIBLE. AIMEE AND JAGUAR ARE INSPIRING AND SHOW WHAT TRUE LOVE IS REALLY ABOUT.

Visiting the Past
This biographical work sheds light on the lives of two women living on the edge of discovery in Nazi Germany. One, a Nazi housewife, the other a Jewish lesbian. Erika Fischer's writing style does seem a bit abrupt and broken, but bear in mind that this book was translated from German. It breaks open the topic of forbidden love and awakenings and provides information from surviving family and friends to add flesh to the story that she spins. It is an intriguing portrayal and is well worth the read for a peek into a world long since dead. More informative than entertaining.