Marie Jalowicz Simon - Underground in Berlin: my story of hiding from the Nazis in plain sight

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year

The most extraordinary memoir of World War II Ive ever encountered. Simons story reads not like the reminiscences of an old woman but rather like a young girls matter-of-fact account of what she did yesterday. That said, there are frequent instances of delightful aplomb typical of an elderly woman who doesnt give a damn what people think. Young girl and old lady together tell a story of immense vitality and insight.

Gerard DeGroot, Washington Post

There is a piquant lack of discretion in this brutally unsentimental memoir. Remarkable. Simons memoir deserves a place of honor. In our environment of rampant and murderous racism, not to mention political intransigence, this book offers a valuable tale, in addition to being a fascinating read. It vividly illustrates that for many ordinary people, even under duress, human behavior doesnt have to follow a party line.

Lisa Katz, Haaretz

A thriller-like true story.

Megan OGrady, Vogue.com

A remarkable, unsentimental book. Jalowicz was a fighter, blessed with an even temper, optimism, a ferocious will, a clear sense of what life could offer her, and a readiness to laugh at herself. Underground in Berlin is a memorably good book, and Jalowiczs voiceperceptive, humane, determinedcomes across on every page.

Caroline Moorehead, The Guardian (UK)

Riveting. Maries gripping, suspenseful story captures the gloom and anxiety of being alone in wartime Berlin and the struggle to survive on her own. Her will and wit echo the determination and optimism of other accounts of the Holocaust, like those of diarists Viktor Frankl and Anne Frank. But the scenes of sexual commerce and gender politics illuminate an untold reality of surviving as a Jewish woman in the Berlin underground.

Claire Luchette, Smithsonian

Simons memoir poignantly demonstrates the moral ambiguity characterizing Germany during World War II.

Michael Farrell, Library Journal

Underground in Berlin has the exhilarating sweep of a good spy novel.

Claiborne Smith, Kirkus Reviews

An absolutely gripping account of one young womans struggle to escape deportation at the hands of the Nazis and of those who helped her. Marie Jalowicz Simon details for the first time with total honesty the harsh sexual politics of survival in the Berlin underground.

Thomas Ertman, New York University, author of Birth of the Leviathan

Marie Jalowicz Simon transports the reader right to wartime Berlin. Even seventy years later, her voice is young, fresh, and gripping. Her story is by turns funny, wise, and horrific. I felt like she was reaching out to me across time and I couldnt help but fall in love with her. Despite the dangers she faced living underground in Nazi Berlin, Maries story is incredibly life affirming and at times, even joyful.

Clara Kramer, author of Claras War

The woman who emerges [in these pages] is tough, ingenious, and entirely lacking in self-pity. Marie Jalowicz was a woman of extraordinary determination and courage.

Damian Whitworth, The Times (UK)

This isnt a book about noble heroes, or about silent heroes. Its not a history of the good people in the Resistance. It takes us deep into Berlin, where meanness and helpfulness, squalor and great-heartedness kept close quarters. Its a mad journey into the reality that lies beyond the radar of historys great words and broad brushstrokes.

Berliner Zeitung

Captivating. Jalowiczs story is unquestionably tragic in so many ways, but is also full of miracles, hope, and a future.

Publishers Weekly

Remarkable. Fascinating. Simon is a female voice from the horrors of the Second World War and it is good that that voice lives on.

Louise Jury, The Independent (UK)

Marie Jalowicz Smon is a born storyteller, fluently describing dire practicalities, sparing no one in criticism or praise, including herself.

Rebecca Swirsky, The Observer (UK)