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Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago: A Story of Its Time
How could a young Protestant woman in war-torn Germany in the1940s fall in love with both a naval captain in the Third Reich, and a Jewish-American counterintelligence officer? Ruth Pein was not concerned with politics until the war forced her to face the devastating consequences for her homeland and her life, which included her grappling with two very different romantic alliances.
In Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago, Ruth tells her story based on the handwritten journals she kept of the events and emotions of growing up in her cherished hometown of Erfurt, and how the choices between love and loyalty meant attempting a daring escape.
In Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago, Ruth tells her story based on the handwritten journals she kept of the events and emotions of growing up in her cherished hometown of Erfurt, and how the choices between love and loyalty meant attempting a daring escape.
420 pages, Paperback
Published July 16, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 18, 2025
One of the greatest works of Holocaust literature ever written is Ahron Appelfeld’s 1979 classic Badenheim 1939, a gripping novel that speaks to what happened prior to the building of the concentration camps and before the Nazis forcibly acquired absolute power in Germany. In Appelfeld’s book, families live their lives normally, blissfully naïve to the fact that their households will be completely upended, their families will be torn apart, and humanity would be fighting its second world war. Appelfeld, in other words, wrote a book about what was going to happen rather than what eventually happened during the 1940’s. Within Holocaust literature, this approach is generically uncommon, but does expose life prior to fascism. Similarly, Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago is reminiscent of Appelfeld’s dramatic narrative, but told from the standpoint of Ruth Benario, a real-life woman who lived through World War II and was able to tell her story from her humble beginnings. Her work, which is edited by Peter Benario (Ruth’s son) and Carolyn Zalesne, is an exciting, honest, and stunning autobiographical testimony coming from a Protestant citizen who fortunately lived through the war to tell her tale.
Organizationally, Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago (a fantastic title) starts with Ruth living her best life as a child in Erfurt, a town in East Germany on its way to being occupied. Right from the beginning of this memoir, readers will be impressed by the abundance of concrete details provided by Benario, who used her handwritten diaries as her guide. For example, when talking about her grandmother Helene, she remembers sitting “across from her in a big blue satin armchair, eating those delicious cream puffs, while she completely mesmerized me with her stories of strange and distant lands.” Whether delving into her love affairs with Gerhard, a naval captain in the Third Reich, and Ernie, a Jewish-American counterintelligence officer, whom she would ultimately marry; or her historical discussions about the Ritchie Boys (20,000 American soldiers who trained in Camp Ritchie near Cascade, Maryland); or her family life in America after World War II, Benario’s work is rife with beautifully constructed and vividly produced passages coming straight from her diaries and onto the printed page. Ruth’s story is a complete one, a harrowing testimony of a woman who experienced the best and worst in humanity during a time of great strife and beyond.
Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago is so thorough and so inclusive, Benario and her editors even provide photos and newspaper clippings throughout the text to draw readers in further; a visual account of Ruth’s life allowing the audience to become a part of the family. And, that is the true beauty of Benario’s memoir and of master storytellers like Benario (and Appelfeld). As readers, we want to feel like we are experiencing what these characters, these people are experiencing. We want to not only empathize but also immerse ourselves in their lives to the point of almost feeling like one of the family. Benario, without question, does this in spades, providing readers with a work--an experience--that is certainly educational, emotional, and memorable.
Quill says: Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago is, by far, one of the best memoirs of the year and an absolute must read.
Organizationally, Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago (a fantastic title) starts with Ruth living her best life as a child in Erfurt, a town in East Germany on its way to being occupied. Right from the beginning of this memoir, readers will be impressed by the abundance of concrete details provided by Benario, who used her handwritten diaries as her guide. For example, when talking about her grandmother Helene, she remembers sitting “across from her in a big blue satin armchair, eating those delicious cream puffs, while she completely mesmerized me with her stories of strange and distant lands.” Whether delving into her love affairs with Gerhard, a naval captain in the Third Reich, and Ernie, a Jewish-American counterintelligence officer, whom she would ultimately marry; or her historical discussions about the Ritchie Boys (20,000 American soldiers who trained in Camp Ritchie near Cascade, Maryland); or her family life in America after World War II, Benario’s work is rife with beautifully constructed and vividly produced passages coming straight from her diaries and onto the printed page. Ruth’s story is a complete one, a harrowing testimony of a woman who experienced the best and worst in humanity during a time of great strife and beyond.
Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago is so thorough and so inclusive, Benario and her editors even provide photos and newspaper clippings throughout the text to draw readers in further; a visual account of Ruth’s life allowing the audience to become a part of the family. And, that is the true beauty of Benario’s memoir and of master storytellers like Benario (and Appelfeld). As readers, we want to feel like we are experiencing what these characters, these people are experiencing. We want to not only empathize but also immerse ourselves in their lives to the point of almost feeling like one of the family. Benario, without question, does this in spades, providing readers with a work--an experience--that is certainly educational, emotional, and memorable.
Quill says: Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago is, by far, one of the best memoirs of the year and an absolute must read.
August 1, 2025
Imagine stumbling upon the pages of someone’s life—not the curated kind, polished for readers or dressed up for legacy—but the raw, intimate reflections of a person simply trying to make sense of where they came from. That’s the experience of reading Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago by Ruth Benario. It feels less like a book and more like eavesdropping on someone quietly sorting through their own past—not to tell you what to think, but to figure out what they themselves really felt.
There’s no effort here to impress, no overt moralizing, and no attempt to recast history with the clarity of hindsight. Instead, Ruth lets memory take the lead. And memory, as we know, doesn’t always come in order. It flutters—between vivid snapshots of childhood, jarring awakenings, and quiet regrets. Her writing, drawn largely from her wartime diaries and reflections in later life, is restrained and clear, yet deeply personal. She remembers not with a historian’s detachment but with a citizen’s quiet ache.
The war, which frames the entire memoir, is strangely both central and peripheral. It’s always there, a shadow shaping everything, yet it rarely shouts. Ruth doesn’t retell political events or military timelines. She recounts how a school changed, how a friend vanished, how uniforms slowly crept into daily life. The horror is not in what’s said, but in what slips by unnoticed. The reader senses the weight of what isn’t dwelled upon.
What truly emerges is a different kind of battle—the internal war between ideals and instinct, between what she was taught and what she came to question, between the identity she inherited and the one she chose. As a young Protestant girl in Nazi Germany, Ruth was not among the persecuted, but neither was she among the powerful. Her position—complicated, conflicted, and far too common—is what makes the memoir so quietly radical.
In a time where stories are often packaged to persuade or entertain, this one stands apart. It offers no grand conclusion, no perfect arc. Instead, it offers something rarer: a glimpse into how people actually live through history—not as symbols or statistics, but as individuals trying to understand the world collapsing around them.
Benario’s voice doesn’t demand empathy, but it earns it. In her modest tone and matter-of-fact memories, we find not just one woman’s truth, but echoes of many others who never wrote their stories down. And in doing so, she reminds us of something essential: once memory is spoken aloud, it no longer belongs just to the person who lived it—it becomes history.
And we, the readers, become its keepers.
There’s no effort here to impress, no overt moralizing, and no attempt to recast history with the clarity of hindsight. Instead, Ruth lets memory take the lead. And memory, as we know, doesn’t always come in order. It flutters—between vivid snapshots of childhood, jarring awakenings, and quiet regrets. Her writing, drawn largely from her wartime diaries and reflections in later life, is restrained and clear, yet deeply personal. She remembers not with a historian’s detachment but with a citizen’s quiet ache.
The war, which frames the entire memoir, is strangely both central and peripheral. It’s always there, a shadow shaping everything, yet it rarely shouts. Ruth doesn’t retell political events or military timelines. She recounts how a school changed, how a friend vanished, how uniforms slowly crept into daily life. The horror is not in what’s said, but in what slips by unnoticed. The reader senses the weight of what isn’t dwelled upon.
What truly emerges is a different kind of battle—the internal war between ideals and instinct, between what she was taught and what she came to question, between the identity she inherited and the one she chose. As a young Protestant girl in Nazi Germany, Ruth was not among the persecuted, but neither was she among the powerful. Her position—complicated, conflicted, and far too common—is what makes the memoir so quietly radical.
In a time where stories are often packaged to persuade or entertain, this one stands apart. It offers no grand conclusion, no perfect arc. Instead, it offers something rarer: a glimpse into how people actually live through history—not as symbols or statistics, but as individuals trying to understand the world collapsing around them.
Benario’s voice doesn’t demand empathy, but it earns it. In her modest tone and matter-of-fact memories, we find not just one woman’s truth, but echoes of many others who never wrote their stories down. And in doing so, she reminds us of something essential: once memory is spoken aloud, it no longer belongs just to the person who lived it—it becomes history.
And we, the readers, become its keepers.
March 22, 2026
There are stories you read… and then there are stories that stay with you. Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago by Ruth Benario is undeniably the latter.
From the very first pages, I felt completely immersed in Ruth Pein’s world, one shaped by war, uncertainty, and the kind of emotional crossroads that most of us can barely imagine. What makes this book so powerful isn’t just the historical backdrop of 1940s Germany, but the deeply personal lens through which it’s told. Knowing that it’s drawn from real handwritten journals adds an intimacy that feels raw, honest, and incredibly moving.
The emotional tension between love and loyalty is portrayed with such nuance. The idea of being torn between two entirely different lives and two very different men felt both heartbreaking and real. It’s not just a story about romance; it’s about identity, survival, courage, and the quiet strength it takes to make impossible choices.
I also found the setting of Erfurt beautifully brought to life. Even in the midst of chaos, there’s a sense of nostalgia and attachment that makes Ruth’s journey even more poignant.
This is the kind of book that reminds you history isn’t just dates and events; it’s people, emotions, and deeply human experiences.
Absolutely unforgettable. I’d recommend this to anyone who loves historical, biographical fiction with heart, depth, and emotional weight.
From the very first pages, I felt completely immersed in Ruth Pein’s world, one shaped by war, uncertainty, and the kind of emotional crossroads that most of us can barely imagine. What makes this book so powerful isn’t just the historical backdrop of 1940s Germany, but the deeply personal lens through which it’s told. Knowing that it’s drawn from real handwritten journals adds an intimacy that feels raw, honest, and incredibly moving.
The emotional tension between love and loyalty is portrayed with such nuance. The idea of being torn between two entirely different lives and two very different men felt both heartbreaking and real. It’s not just a story about romance; it’s about identity, survival, courage, and the quiet strength it takes to make impossible choices.
I also found the setting of Erfurt beautifully brought to life. Even in the midst of chaos, there’s a sense of nostalgia and attachment that makes Ruth’s journey even more poignant.
This is the kind of book that reminds you history isn’t just dates and events; it’s people, emotions, and deeply human experiences.
Absolutely unforgettable. I’d recommend this to anyone who loves historical, biographical fiction with heart, depth, and emotional weight.
September 28, 2025
So many WWII books but few told through the perspective of a teenage protestant girl experiencing the beginning of Hitler's rise, through the entire war. What is chilling to me is how the population of this small town chose to ignore the signs of what was occurring. Ruth's young love was killed on a submarine, believing so strongly in his duty to Germany; and yet she fell in love and escaped East Germany with an American soldier. No judgement here, but what strange times. I am incredulous by how easily the German population "bought in" to sending off their loved ones to fight for the good of Germany. What? But then I look at the political apathy in America right now... The lessons and parallels of the rise of this fascist government to current times here in America is most disturbing.
I am glad I read this memoir. I can't stop thinking about it.
I am glad I read this memoir. I can't stop thinking about it.
August 2, 2025
A beautifully written, deeply human story of love, identity, and impossible choices in the midst of war. Ruth’s journey is both heartbreaking and inspiring—torn between two men from opposite worlds, she brings to life the emotional turmoil of a young woman caught in history’s darkest chapter. Her reflections from Erfurt, drawn from her personal journals, feel honest and immediate. Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago is a powerful reminder of how personal the consequences of war truly are.
August 20, 2025
Ruth Benario's memoir, Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago, is highly recommended for all WWII fans and history buffs. It shows us how one young woman survived war and succeeded in life. She dared to fall in love with two soldiers who fought on opposite sides of the war. Ruth was indeed an extraordinary woman who lived an extraordinary life. Her first-hand account gives us a glimpse into the lives of German civilians during WWII. Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago is indeed a must-read.
March 2, 2026
Every American should read this book!
This real life account of a young woman’s coming of age in Germany during World War 2 is spellbinding in its depiction of love and life amidst the horror of war. All Americans who are demanding autocracy for American government should read this book! The writing is powerful in its simple truth. I truly was honored to read this beautiful story and feel it will live in my thoughts for a very long time.
This real life account of a young woman’s coming of age in Germany during World War 2 is spellbinding in its depiction of love and life amidst the horror of war. All Americans who are demanding autocracy for American government should read this book! The writing is powerful in its simple truth. I truly was honored to read this beautiful story and feel it will live in my thoughts for a very long time.
August 1, 2025
An incredible read! 'Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago' is a beautifully written, emotional, and powerful story. I couldn't put it down. Highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique and moving historical fiction novel
August 4, 2025
Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago" is a thought-provoking book that weaves together personal stories and historical events. It's a powerful exploration of memory, identity, and the human experience. A compelling read!
August 1, 2025
Interesting
August 1, 2025
amazing book, absolutely recommended
August 2, 2025
I love it
August 2, 2025
A deeply moving memoir. Ruth’s voice brings history to life with honesty, strength, and an unshakable spirit.
August 2, 2025
A powerful story of love and survival in Nazi Germany, based on a real-life journal. Emotional, intense, and deeply human.
August 3, 2025
i really had a good time reading this one! makes my time more enjoyable ✨
August 3, 2025
Recommended
Nice
Nice
Read
August 4, 2025A great read! WW II comes to life!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews