Ebook: Escape into danger: the true story of a Kievan girl in World War II

pt. I. Spring of youth. Full of Spunk ; "Let It Rot!" ; Politics ; Internationalka ; An Omen Fulfilled -- pt. II. The Steppes Aflame. Partings ; Flagship Stalin ; Narrow Escapes ; Flight to the East ; The Turning Point ; My Purse! ; Stranded ; Waiting for the Enemy -- pt. III. German Occupation. Facing the Invaders ; To Register--or Not? ; A Promotion ; "You Haven't Lost Everything." ; German Studies ; A Lamb in Spring ; Rescued -- pt. IV. Eye of the Hurricane. On a Nazi Train ; "Good Little Farmer" ; A Red Silk Camisole ; Lord of the Manor ; Red Cross Nurse ; The Truth Comes Out -- pt. V. Inside Nazi Germany. Nemesis on Horseback ; Found! ; A Proposal ; Beethoven's Fifth ; Hope ; Half-Crazy, or in Love ; Crisscrossing the Third Reich ; "Imagine, Running into You!" ; Off to the Alps -- pt. VI. Postwar Germany. Liberated by the Americans ; A Changed Man ; Ten Centimes Short ; Pedaling through the Slush ; A Twenty-Mark Fine ; In the Cards ; Bird in a Maze ; A Double Rainbow.;"Escape into Danger tells the remarkable story of a young girl's perilous adventures and coming of age during World War II. Born in Kiev to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, Sophia Williams chose to be identified as Jewish when she was eligible for a Soviet passport, mandatory at the age of sixteen, little realizing the life-changing consequences of her decision. Only seventeen when Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Sophia left Kiev, unwittingly escaping the Babi Yar massacre. On her journey into Russia, she fled from flooding, dodged fires and bombs, and fell in love. At Stalingrad, Sophia turned back in a futile attempt to return home to her mother. Stranded in a Nazi-occupied town, accepted as a Russian, she found work with a sympathetic German officer and felt secure until a local girl recognized her as a Jew. Within days, Sophia's boss spirited her to safety with his family in Poland. Soon, though, Sophia was on the run again, this time to Nazi Germany, where, befriended by Germans and Hungarians, she somehow escaped detection through the rest of the war. She met and married a like-minded German soldier and started a family and business. The business thrived in post-war Germany, but the marriage deteriorated. She divorced her adulterous husband, but the vindictive, even homicidal Guido continued to dog her steps. Throughout, Sophia maintained her grit, charm, and optimism, the qualities that saved her as she time and again made her "escape into danger." "--Provided by publisher.