Nazi slavery of non-Jews and non-undesirables - who knew?! I consider myself to have read a lot of WW2 novels and accounts but I had never come across this before. Such an engrossing story, raw and shocking, interesting characters whom you will love or hate, and the story gallops along with not a dull moment.
One of my favourites that I’ve had the opportunity to review for Netgalley in 2021.

I love historical fiction, especially about the Second world war but I have never read a story about the ordinary Polish citizens that were ripped from their lives and sold to everyday Germans as slaves.

Victoria doesn't think she is brave but with the help of Etta a young deaf-mute German she does amazing things to help others during such a horrible time.

Etta's brother is a Captain in the SS and both her parents are proud Nazi Party members while etta dislikes Hitler. On top of this her own mother believes she is defective and takes steps to make sure she can't reproduce.

I loved the alternative chapters from the two young women and their different views and experiences.

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Having studied WWII at school, read about it in numerous books (fiction and non-fiction) and watched a number of films and documentaries, I found on reading this book that there are still depths of human suffering in relation to that period of history that I had remained unaware of. This is the story of some of them.

Victoria’s war follows a young Polish woman, about to head off to university, finding her world suddenly ripped away from her as she is dragged from her comfortable home and loving family and sold as a slave to a German family, to work in their home and bakery.

This is also the story of the daughter of said German family, Etta. Etta has had the misfortune of being born mute in a time and place when this marks her out as ‘less’ and therefore open to less than humane treatment. Her double misfortune is that her own mother believes the propaganda and is willing to discard her daughter’s human rights in the name of the Reich.

Thrown together, the two seemingly-helpless girls form an uncertain friendship which solidifies into a rebellious partnership as each recognises a kindred spirit in suffering, in bravery and in compassion.

Obviously there are many very disturbing topics covered in the scope of this story and the author spares no details of everything from torture, rape and murder, to medical experiments, starvation and slave labour. The details are horrific, the stories devastating. It is clear that the author has thoroughly researched into the atrocities of the period and the respect and justice done to that information, those real historical people, is both extensive and sensitive.

In Victoria’s War, Catherine A. Hamilton has brought to life areas of World War II that I knew little about before, and now hope never, ever recur. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this part of German and Polish history, or for anyone looking for a moving, harrowing story about resilience, courage and friendship.


'Radio changed Victoria Darski’s world. It brought swing jazz and blues into her living room. And on the first of September, when she sat on the high-backed sofa and reached for the brass knob on the cabinet radio, it brought news of war.'

– Catherine A. Hamilton, Victoria’s War


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

A very good book about WW2. Written form the view of a Polish girl who goes through much trauma and show you the dirty side of war and people who are caught up in it. I recommend this book for those who want to see WW2 as it was.

So many tragic stories are abounding about WWII. this, I thought was exceptional and kept my total interest of relationships that occurred in Poland and Germany. I had never been exposed to any stories about the slave camps. Wonderful and important read.!

"Victoria's War" by Catherine A. Hamilton was a very interesting novel. I had read/heard very little about those sold as slaves during the war and found this story capturing my attention from the start. The details of wartime conditions for these women gave me insight into another aspect of the horrors of wars and this war in particular. Even though Etta was a young German girl, she too was subjected to the brutality of Nazi Germany, due to her being deaf. Etta and Victoria joining together to help others was wrought with constant fear and the peril of discovery. I was intrigued by this storyline and found myself tensing for the next possible betrayal to end the struggle of aid which was being given to their fellow victims of the war. I did find the very final moments in this story to not "ring true" to the storyline. I just didn't think a romantic "happily ever after" fit with the ending in this book. Overall I found this story to be captivating and suspenseful...a good read. (I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley for my honest review.)

This was a heck of a story. I didn't love everything about it, but I liked it and learned quite a lot. I read the whole thing in a single day.

Pros:

I learned a lot about WWII Nazi slave labor, a subject that wasn't even on my radar before reading Victoria's War.
The relationships felt real. The tension didn't feel forced. Writing was smooth.
I liked the alternating voices of Etta and Victoria. Unfortunately, Etta *SPOILER ALERT* dies two-thirds of the way through the book, so from there it's just Victoria.
What really resonated was Victoria's repeated claims that she wasn't 'brave' and then she would push herself to do courageous things in spite of her fears, which is of course what brave people do. It felt more real and more believable than if she had charged in fearlessly. When Tomas would tell her he needed something and she would initially tell him "no, I can't, it's impossible," that rang so true, because that's what a normal person living in constant fear would say.

Cons:
The book cover is ugly, in my very humble opinion. Sorry, but it is. Maybe it's Etta's self-portrait?
The saving of the maternity moms felt gratuitous. Maybe it really happened. But it felt like it was stuck in the story to show how Victoria was evolving and Wolfgang was redeemable. Or something. It didn't work for me.
I couldn't get a fix on the character of Wolfgang Tod. Bad guy? Bad guy redeemed? No, that didn't quite fit...
The ending feels a little too pat, too happily-ever-after for a book like this. I guess it could have happened that way, just doesn't seem likely.

I received an ARC of Victoria's War from Plain View Press and NetGalley. I wasn't required to write a positive review & opinions expressed are my own. FTC 16 CFR, Pt 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements &Testimonials in Advertising.

A most enlightening and powerful novel, Victoria's War by Catherine A. Hamilton, focused on another atrocity of World War II that I was not at all familiar with. The Nazis implemented the Polish slave labor program when they invaded Poland. They rounded up many thousands of Poles, who they saw as inferior, transported them to Germany and sold them as slaves to work for free in factories, on farms, in the camps, in businesses and in brothels. Most of the Polish slaves the Nazis took were young women and often Catholic. They were taken away from their families with no notice. Many died within a year due to the many cruelties they had to endure, starvation and disease.

Victoria Darski lived in Poland with her mother and sister when the Nazis invaded her town. She was looking forward to attending University. Victoria was a good Catholic girl. The Nazis had no tolerance for Poles or Catholics. One day a group of Nazi soldiers burst into her home and with no remorse shot and killed her younger sister. Victoria blamed herself for her sister's death. The image of her sister being shot multiple times and lying in a pool of blood haunted Victoria's thoughts throughout the war. Those images proved to become the catalyst for Victoria's war against the Nazis. She was supposed to help her sister with the laundry but regrettably lingered too long to be able to help her. Victoria and her mother were forced to work in a factory for the Nazis. One day, Victoria's best friend Sylvia, convinced Victoria to attend a resistance meeting after they had worked in the factory all day. The meeting was compromised and all the members were arrested and taken to a central place where they were made ready to become slaves in Germany. Many of the women were raped. They were kept in the dark about what was being planned for their futures.

When Victoria arrived in Germany, she was sold to an SS officer whose family owned a bakery. She was led by a rope around her waist to the bakery. Victoria became the slave of the family who owned the bakery. She was forced to do all the chores the family made her do. Victoria slaved seven days a week for extremely long hours with little to eat. Her room was in the attic and she was locked in from the outside. Victoria was prohibited to venture out of the bakery or she would be shot. She was verbally and physically abused and even raped by the father,Herr Tod. The bakery owners,Herr and Frau Tod, had a young deaf mute daughter, Etta, besides their son, Wolfgang, who was an SS officer. Etta befriended Victoria and the two secretly became as close as sisters to each other.

Etta's mother despised Etta since birth because of her "deformities". Her mother was so cruel to Etta that it was almost unimaginable that a mother could treat a child in that way. Etta was a talented painter and had aspirations of attending an art school. Her mother considered this as a complete waste of time. She felt Etta had no talent and was not capable of pursuing this dream. Her mother was a loyal Nazi member and considered her own daughter to be an impure German. Luckily for Etta, her brother Wolfgang, an SS officer, tried very hard to protect her but he would not contradict or go against his mean, unrelenting mother. Etta's mother even went as far as forcing Etta to be sterilized against her own will. Her mother accused Etta of stealing bread from the bakery and had Etta committed to Hadamar, a mental institution, where she became a victim of the Nazi T4 operation.

Eventually, Victoria was allowed to accompany Etta on her deliveries of bread to the camps and brothel until Etta was taken against her will to Hadamar. Then Victoria resumed the responsibility by herself. At one of the camps, Victoria saw her teacher, Mrs. Kosa, who had also been taken as a Polish slave and ended up in that camp. The two plotted for a way that Victoria and Etta could sneak extra bread into the camp for the starving Poles. Mrs. Kosa introduced Victoria to Tomas Kowalski, a member of the resistance, living in the camp. Victoria also discovered that her best friend Sylvia had been forced to work at a brothel as a sex slave. She also discovered that Sylvia was pregnant. Victoria was told by Sylvia what happened to pregnant sex slaves and their babies. She wanted to help her friend, Sylvia, so badly that she agreed to Tomas's plan to help him enter the maternity camp and save several mothers and their babies. Even Mrs. Kosa was recruited to help save Sylvia and the other mothers and babies. Unfortunately, Victoria and Mrs. Kosa were arrested and sent to a Nazi prison.

Catherine A. Hamilton, author of Victoria's War, based her book around the information her cousin had told her over the years. Hamilton's cousin had been kidnapped by the Nazis from her Polish village and was made a slave in Germany during World War II. Her cousin survived and implored Hamilton to tell this story and make people aware of what happened to so many Poles during World War II. In her research, Hamilton learned that almost two million people in Nazi Germany that were committed to "medical" facilities lost their lives to the Nazi euthanasia program or Operation T4. 70,283 of those that died in this program were at Hadamar. Her research in writing this book was thorough and vast. Victoria's War was written as a work of fiction but it was based on truth. It was not an easy book to read. Some parts were very disturbing. It met its goal as it brought awareness to yet another horrific crime the Nazi regime implemented. I am quite certain many were unaware of this as was I. Victoria's War was gripping from beginning to end. I highly recommend this book.

I received a complimentary copy of Victoria's War from Plain View Press through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I love historical fiction. Especially WW2 era. This book did not disappoint me. The characters would so easy to connect with. This is one of the better WW2 era historical fictions books. I absolutely loved it!

Really enjoyed this book. It's hard to read at times. The cruelty and hardship are striking. The story is thoroughly research and very well written. It good to see a different perspective on World War II as well. The main character in this book is Polish.

3.25 stars

I read a lot of historical fiction set during ww2 but this was the first time I have read one from the perspective of a Polish slave. I previously hadn’t realised that general Polish people had been used as slaves in Germany, even if they were not Jewish or other Nazi “undesirables”.

The pace is fine & the characters are well developed but the plot seemed to be busier at the end and seemed a little unrealistic that they could be caught resisting in a minor way and not face punishment there and then. Perhaps it was realistic for Polish slaves rather than their Jewish counterparts.

Overall, not bad but didn’t wow with me.

Another Historical Fiction story? YES!
Author @Catherinedvxhgcb
Takes the reader into the heart of a die-hard nazi family; where the family bible is MEIN KAMPF...and we witness a mother's unabashed hatred for her daughter.
"Etta Tod", born deaf, is a disgrace to her Arian family. Yet despite her Mother's abhorrence, Etta dreams of an artistic life...where her paintings can be heard. But for now, she paints secretly in the Attic, hiding her anti Nazi paintings.
🎨
"Victoria Darski", a young Polish girl, is"collected" by the Nazis...then sold as a slave for the Tod household.
📚
This is their story.
📚
This is also the little known story of Nazi Slavery, and dark family desire for Arian perfection as mandated by the Fuhrer.
Heartwrenching, intimately harrowing and based on true events, this book needs to be on your absolute must read list.
5⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, Plain View Publishing and the author, Ms. Catherine A. Hamilton, for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "Victoria's War". The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.

Very good insight to the problems two women Etta and Victoria had during the occupation of Poland and Germany. Etta is a German girl who was deaf and didn't agree with her family during the war.
Victoria is a Polish girl who was a slave laborer at Etta family bakery who became friends and tried to help the people in the prison camps.
great history about the time and how the people thought.
Good intense read.
Voluntarily reviewed.

I really enjoyed this book, at least as much as you can enjoy a book about the Holocaust. This book is about Victoria, who is a Polish Catholic who is sold to a German family to work in their family bakery. The Tod Family have a son Wolfgang and Daughter Etta. Etta is deaf and has been forced to be sterilized by Nazi Germany.
Victoria works in the bakery washing pans and cleaning and then Etta and Victoria become friends, which is an element that I can’t say I have read in other Holocaust writings. Which was a pleasant surprise. I was rooting for them!
Wonderful book!

On Instagram: @need_more.books_more.jesus

Victoria's War is yet another book from the currently very popular genre of Historical Fiction that centers on detailing some of the atrocities committed at the hands of the Nazi regime. Our protagonist, Victoria Darski, is apprehended in her family home during a Nazi raid because they were Polish Catholics. That was a double whammy right there - Polish and Catholic. During this terrifying encounter, she witnesses the violent murder of her sister which serves as an inspiration for Victoria's personal war against the Nazis in ways that are revealed as the book unfolds.

Victoria and the remaining family members are then taken off by the Nazis and then sold and resettled as slaves to various trusted German businesses and party members where they slave away in extremely inhumane conditions. The bakery that purchases Victoria is owned by a family who are fully brainwashed by the party to believe horrendous ideas regarding both the Polish and Catholics. That is, except for the young daughter, Etta, who is a deaf mute and despised by her psychotically cruel mother because of her frailties. Not only is Etta mute, but her biggest wish is to attend Art school which her mother regards as yet another weakness on Etta's part. Frau Tod is almost as vicious to her own daughter as she is to Victoria, the family slave. This only ends up creating a strong bond between Victoria and Etta who eventually become to think of each other as sisters.

There is one cruelty after another throughout the entire book which can make for disturbing reading. As with many from this genre, the story is Fiction but there are pieces of truth extracted from real life telling us about a part of History that we need to know. Not pleasant but important so we have an understanding hoping to never allow such atrocities to happen again. There is much more to this story than I've touched on which only serve to reach into other sorts of ways these prisoners and slaves had been continuously defiled and abused. Of course, as we know, many didn't make it out alive. This is the story of only a very few and a sampling of what they went through.

A particular aspect of this story that I really appreciated was that the author focused on several of the demographics who were hated and victimized by the Nazis other than the Jewish communities. With all of the emphasis on the anti-Semitic culture of the Nazis, so many of the others who were also targeted for elimination so often have been pushed aside and almost forgotten. Hamilton puts the spotlight on a few of those such as those of Polish decent, homosexuals, Modern artists, and the handicapped. The reach of hate was broad towards anyone who did not suit their ideal of the Super Mensch. Here we get a glimpse of how such individuals fell to harm at the hands of a very evil and psychotic mentality that had overtaken that part of Europe at the time. To take it a step further, Hamilton also portrays how the same sickness even destroyed so many of the German party members just by buying into that mindset promulgated by Adolph Hitler and his book Mein Kampf which one could say was the Bible of the Nazi party. Horrifying as it may be, the book, Victoria's War, is well worth reading, almost as an antidote to such tyranny. Just be prepared to be disturbed.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of the eBook for a fair and honest review.

VICTORIA’S WAR by Catherine A. Hamilton is a historical fiction novel that depicts the horrific lives of Polish women kidnapped by the Nazi’s for slavery in Germany during the Second World War. Ms. Hamilton’s writing paints a picture that is emotionally disturbing and heartrending with an unforgettable protagonist.

Victoria Darski is packed and ready to leave for college as the Nazis come sweeping into Poland and her whole world is changed. Her father leaves to fight with the Polish army, her younger sister is shot to death right in front of her and she must now work at the sewing factory with her mother. After two years of occupation, one night she is persuaded by her best friend, Sylvia to attend a resistance meeting and they are captured. They are sent to Germany and Sylvia is selected to work as a prostitute in a brothel while Victoria is auctioned off as slave to a German baker in Berlin.

Simultaneously, Etta Tod a deaf/mute, amateur artist is taken to the hospital by her mother for involuntary sterilization. Etta’s family are Nazi party members and believers in the cause. Her father and brother love her, but her mother only sees her deafness as a defect and hates her for it. When her brother brings the swangsarbeit (Polish slave) home to work at the bakery, Etta believes she has found a friend to confide in.
Victoria and Etta form an ever-increasing bond. They conspire with friends in the White Rose resistance to smuggle extra bread to the nearby work camp and brothel. When their conspiracy is discovered, everything changes.

I was completely engrossed in Victoria’s story the minute I started reading. Sometimes we are so focused on the Jewish Holocaust, that we forget that the German Aryans believed they were superior to and hated everyone who was not of their race. This story portrays the atrocities perpetrated against Polish women and German’s with disabilities in a fictional history novel that brought the places and time to life and left me distressed, thoughtful and emotionally drained. All the characters were realistically written and I felt completely engaged in their life and death struggles over the six year time period of the book.

I highly recommend Victoria’s War. It is a beautiful story that is a tribute to all the women the characters represent.

Victoria and Etta are two women whose lives will be greatly impacted by World War II and they will completely impact each other. Victoria becomes a prisoner due to her heritage, she is Polish and that is seen as an "other" in Hitler's eyes. Etta is a prisoner to her family due to her being born deaf and that being seen as a complete defect. When these women come together they end up doing some real good for the community.

Both Victoria and Etta's stories had moments that were so so hard to read. From abuse to rape, the things these women went through just trying to live were beyond anything I could imagine enduring. These women visit Polish prison camps and even a maternity ward and are able to sneak in extra supplies, but they are looked at as the lucky ones which I couldn't wrap my head around!

With all of the World War II books that are out there to read, this one was really hard for me to read. I understand that the parts that were hard to read were based in truth, but they were just to graphic which made the book unenjoyable for me. If you are a reader who has read a majority of the books that take place during World War II and are unafraid of reading about graphic scenes then this book would be right up your alley.

Slave Labor Nazi style

I had never heard of this part of WWII until I read this book. I did not know that the Nazi's rounded up thousands of Polish people when they invaded Poland and forced them into slave labor. They used them for free work in their factories, in camps, in brothels and sold them in the marketplace for business's to buy to use as servants. If they resisted they were murdered by the Nazi's. Those women under Nazi occupation with any type of disability, deaf, blind, or other disability were sterilized against their will. Residents of the Hadamar mental institute and other medical facilities in Nazi Germany were euthanized under the Nazi T4 operation .

This is a fiction story that is written about real historical events. It was hard to read because of the horrible treatment the characters were forced to endure under the rule of the Nazi's. I did love the characters and the story was well written.

This story is about deaf German girl Etta whose parents were Nazi's and owned a bakery. She is sterilized against her will when her mother orders it done. Her brother Wolfgang is a member of the SS. He tries to protect his sister but will not go against his mother. She makes friends with the new slave girl Victoria until she is sent to Hadamar by her mother.

The story is also about a catholic Polish girl Victoria that is forced to work in a factory with her mother after the Nazi's kill her sister and force them to go to work in the factory. She attends a resistance meeting with her friend Sylvia and the Nazi's arrest them. Sylvia is sent to a brothel and Victoria is put up for bid at the market and purchased by Etta's brother Wolfgang to work in the family bakery. She is treated very bad by the mother but Etta and her become friends in secret.

Etta and Victoria deliver bread to the work camps until Etta is sent to Hadamar for stealing bread from the bakery for the people in the camps and the girls in the brothel. Then Victoria delivers the bread. When Tomas and Victoria decide to help the brothel girls escape they are caught and sent to prison.

It is not an easy book to read but it is a good book and it is a part of history that need to be told. I am glad a read it . It is a page turner, it has action right from the beginning and holds your interest until the last page is done.

After the book there is explanations of the history and facts leading to this story. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to Catherine A. Hamilton, Plain View Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of the book for an honest review.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This is a heartbreaking story told from the points of view of two women. It shows their strengths and fortitude as they fought the atrocities of the invading Nazis. Even though they are in impossible situations, they do what they can to help others.

Victoria’s War is a novel about slave labour that 1.5 Million Polish people were forced into during World War II.

In Victoria Darski, you have a protagonist who bears loss after loss, of her sister, her guardian angel, Etta Tod, and her mentor, Mrs. Kosa. She lives through survivor’s guilt to find peace at the end.

Hamilton’s book is well researched and the narrative feels authentic. She sensitively excavates several incidents of history whether it is in the history of the potato farming slaves in the Magdeburg area or the death by guillotine of German and Polish protestors, neither of which I was familiar with. These narratives diversify the master narrative of the Holocaust and WWII.

It’s a good read, sensitive and easy, complimentary to Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris. Read it if you like historical fiction.

My only regret about the book is the cover design. It feels dated but hopefully readers will look beyond it.

Thanks to NetGalley for sharing the ARC in exchange of a fair review.