For Such a Time

By Kate Breslin

Description:

In 1944, blonde and blue-eyed Jewess Hadassah Benjamin feels abandoned by God when she is saved from a firing squad only to be handed over to a new enemy. Pressed into service by SS-Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt at the transit camp of Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, she is able to hide behind the false identity of Stella Muller. However, in order to survive and maintain her cover as Aric's secretary, she is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz.

Suspecting her employer is a man of hidden depths and sympathies, Stella cautiously appeals to him on behalf of those in the camp. Aric's compassion gives her hope, and she finds herself battling a growing attraction for this man she knows she should despise as an enemy.

Stella pours herself into her efforts to keep even some of the camp's prisoners safe, but she risks the revelation of her true identity with every attempt. When her bravery brings her to the point of the ultimate sacrifice, she has only her faith to lean upon. Perhaps God has placed her there for such a time as this, but how can she save her people when she is unable to save herself?

Book Takeaway:

While this is a work of fiction, it is my hope to offer better insight into the events of WWII and those touched by the Holocaust. Also, that love is the most powerful force on earth; that coupled with an abiding faith in God, nothing is impossible.

Awards:

Why the author wrote this book:

Reading from the Biblical Book of Esther, I was struck by similarities in the Jewish peoples' threat of near annihilation at the hands of Haman, and that of Hitler during the Holocaust of WWII. As a result, the idea to place the story of Queen Esther into a more modern venue developed and so I began research. But my heart was truly won over when I read story after story of the real people who struggled to survive in unbelievable circumstances; tales of bravery, sacrifice, and faith-keeping amidst such suffering and inhumanity to man as to leave me shaken. I knew then I had to write this book, and with God's help I accomplished it.