Women Rescuers of WWII: True Stories of the Unsung Women Heroes Who Rescued Refugees and Allied Servicemen in WWII

by Elise Baker

What bright secrets transpired during the world's darkest hours? Light shone in an era marked by tyranny and mass destruction. Kindness resurfaced when the lines between friends and foes were blurred. Hope prevailed when staying hidden and quiet was a civilian's best chance of survival. Behold, the Second World War--a ruthless period of oppression and torment that Jews and other minorities were forced to endure. To this day, this event represents one of humanity's greatest tragedies. Yet in the thick of cruelty, suffering, and loss, ordinary women secretly stood against the Nazi regime, selflessly serving as bearers of peace and hope. They risked their lives to protect the persecuted without seeking reward or recognition. Today, we honor these women for their courage, kindness, wit, and resourcefulness during the war. Here lie their unsung legacies. Women Rescuers of WWII presents the true stories of brave female heroes during the world's most perilous crisis. Marvel at the phenomenal untold rescue missions of other extraordinary women who risked it all to stand up for their beliefs! It takes good, strong women to change the course of the greatest battle in history. Now ask yourself, what truly makes a hero ?

Genres: History, Audiobook, Nonfiction

182 pages, Paperback

Published February 28, 2023

About the author

Elise Baker’s academic background (BA Hons, PGDip) and a career of searching for hidden truths in dusty libraries and archives led her to discover an area of history that has languished in obscurity for far too long; brave women heroes whose achievements have long been overshadowed by their male counterparts, silenced and rendered invisible.

Her mother’s family spent years wandering around Europe as refugees during the Second World War and its aftermath. Growing up hearing their stories gave her a lifelong fascination with this historical era.

She has a special interest in feminism, women’s history, and World War II. Elise is passionate about excavating the past to unearth the hidden histories of women whose incredible stories have been buried and bringing them out into the light of public awareness.

Reviews

[Katerina Kouloumenta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Recommend it

[Texas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Women Rescuers of WWII - My first book by this author. Six women from different births, different countries, and different work skills took upon themselves to help the Jews and others escape to freedom from Nazi persecution, without any thought of fame or gain for themselves.

A quick read, these glimpses of history show what a person can accomplish with determination and morals and ethics. Unfortunately, the author uses this book as a vehicle for her rants and beliefs, instead of presenting historical facts. A bit of lecturing and with her definitions, Ms. Baker gives the impression her readers are uneducated, or is the word, dumb? 2*

Women Code Breakers - What could have been an interesting read about one of the greatest wars and the contributions of a special group of women but is not. Their jobs as code breakers were their speciality. These were not the only women serving and making a difference during this time. I have read about these ladies and their work back in the 60s.

Unfortunately, the author did not format the book properly to make reading about these interesting ladies easy. Instead of giving the ladies their own sections, giving more whitespace, everything is paragraph after paragraph without breaks. At least, spacing between the paragraphs would have relieve the strain on the eyes.

The parts about the inequalities that have existed for millennials came off as lecturing instead of the author's attempt to show the differences between the sexes in a factual way. I am an older woman, an Army veteran and worked in a once masculine field, electronics, and having lived and experienced the changing times, I tend to laugh at the younger women and their ideas of sexual harassment and inequalities.

Learn History, it is filled with information, life and knowledge. Women have always found their ways to succeed. There are real authors who know their history and do not use their books as vehicles to rant about things of which they do not possess an indepth knowledge. 2*

Princess Countess Socialite Spy - Back in the 60s my love affair with history began and I read about many women, from all walks of life, that were spies throughout history. Unfortunately, I was turned off by the obvious emotional and untrue first sentence of this book:

"History has always been told by men and about men."

Then in the same long paragraph, this statement reinforced my lack of desire to read more of this book:

"Many of us are familiar with the well-publicized stories of people such as Audie Murphy (who falsified his records)"

To make this statement about the most decorated WWII Army veteran and not back it up with facts is unacceptable. There is a process to recommend a soldier, the soldier does not apply for medals. While working for the VA, I met a soldier that had one less medal than Murphy, a survivor of the Indianapolis, and a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, along with many other decorated "heroes" just serving our Country, doing their duty; guess they falsified their service, too? Not one of these WWII, Korean or Vietnam veterans swaggered around and bragged about their service.

There have been plenty of women in History. Catherine the Great, Lady Paxton, Molly Pitcher, the milkmaid that never caught smallpox; yes, not all had names but many did. In today's society of Me, Me, Me social media where nothing is private, including State secrets, it hard for the younger generations to understand that secrets were important and kept for the security of countries and the participants. Not everyone needed or desired to have their actions known. Many women made accomplishments that could have and did bring all sorts of problems and troubles to them.

Ms. Baker's books about the women of WWII she writes about were classified and not public records. It had nothing to do with gender, but security. After reading two and attempting to read two more, I find Ms. Baker's mission is more to impart her emotions and rants instead of historical facts. I prefer authors that state the facts, the good, the bad and the ugly, and then allow me to make my decisions instead of telling me what I should think. Knowledge is power but stupidity goes on social media. 1*

[Janet Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Revisionist History And Real Heroes of History
I am so glad that this book is only 100 pages long because I could not have been able to read any more of this. This author writes as though she is teaching kindergarten and is holding 'our' hands throughout the stories. She finds it necessary to define words and abbreviations that any person over age 10 should know (POW, Kinder). Worse, she piles her opinions in and pretends that is honest reporting of history. There is a good deal of things that she presents as facts that do not line up with modern history as shown by Google, Wikipedia, and other online sources. The only reason I double-checked the online sources is that her version of history did not line up at all with the European history I learned in college as a History major. I have read biographies and memoirs of most of the heroes mentioned in this book. They tell their own stories much differently. The only thing she gets correct is their humility about it. She sums it all up 'nicely' at the end. Her 'Conclusion' is a multi-page rant that is not really about her topic, at all. She includes the lack of diversity of our WWII heroes. Can't you just imagine a black woman slipping Jewish babies out with SS looking on? She also never mentions the Nazi death squads that killed Gypsies, the mentally handicapped, and gay people outright, not even sending them to the death camps. She takes umbrage that the males involved have gotten more recognition for their involvement in rescues. But, nothing I have read supports her notion that these women felt slighted. I think that the author felt slighted for the women, but who knows? I will be happy never to read another thing from this author. The only reason that it received 2 stars from me is that some parts were readable.

[Amy Brownstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a fascinating read as it explored the stories of many everyday women and how they rose above and became heroes during war two they save the last of many Jewish children, Allied pilots and other innocent people.
As as often still true today, the women fought a battle against men to do what needed to be done. In at least one case all the credit was given to a man and the children that was saved are known as his children, although two women organized and much of the organization.
If you were history person, and you want to know more about women’s history in particular this book is for you.

[cdbest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting research paper. I learned some very interesting facts about some of the women that quietly did all they could to help those in need throughout WW2. Very few of them are famous or recognized elsewhere. Because it is written more as a research paper than storybook, even references are given in the narrative - though factual, it does take away from the story flow in my opinion. However, it does add authority to the facts. All in all, iI enjoyed hearing about these genuine heroines !!

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be very interesting. The courage they showed risking their lives to save others is simply astounding. I cannot imagine living through such difficulties, and I admire these women greatly. Reading about how vital these women were to the war effort is inspiring. It's sad that the majority of these women were not given the proper accolades during their lifetimes, but it's admirable that history is finally bringing their accomplishments to light.

[Rachelle Bachiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. First time reading this author and was very impressed on what women did to save so many Jews and everyone else that needed a save place during WWII. When someone writes about what happened and who had a huge influence on so many souls clutched from harms way and even death that gives us more reason to pray each day for every ones safety while chaos rains around the world.
Will be reading more from this author.

[Ami Jacobs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting, but I would have liked more of the personal stories for each woman. The bulk of this book is strictly facts told just as you would find in a history book, and, although it was interesting, I found it to be a bit on the dry side. That said, I learned about several women who I didn’t know of before, which I thoroughly enjoyed!

[Malgorzata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book contains stories of different women who were fighting against Nazis occupation, helping people who might get killed without the help of these brave women. Stories are about women who are mostly forgotten by historians and not often would you hear about them.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing Unsung Heroes

Just wow. These women deserve to be household names and read about in classrooms. These stories are more important than ever as fascism and persecution are once more on the rise. I immediately ordered a copy for my granddaughter.

[paulette dismang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women Heroes in WW11

Just finish reading 4books about women in WW11 was very interesting to me I recommend these books for anyone who is interest in this subject

[Marlize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. There are so many heroes that we do not know about and these ladies aspires me! Thank you so much for writing this book. ❤️

[Beryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting synopsis of 8 women who rescued numerous people during WWII. Moves quickly and provides a good overview of the women and their operations.

[JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great series. Learned a lot and great profiles and detailing of the different women and the context of their lives and work

[Jilly Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and thought provoking. Elise writes in a way that brings history alive. I greatly enjoyed this book.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full review: https://girlswithguns.org/women-rescu...

The desire to cram in too much here works against the book. Each chapter typically covers only 20-25 pages, and as a result, you get not much more depth about each woman, than you would find in a well-written Wikipedia article. These are more like an appetizer, and you’ll probably be left hungry to know more about the likes of de Jongh. Baker has an odd tendency to shift from factual descriptions to what reads like dramatic restagings of scenes, an awkward shift that she does not manage to pull off. Rather than letting the stories speak for themselves, she tends to belabour her point about sexism being responsible for suppressing these stories.