Irene Eckler

This book is really only about half as long as the page count says, for it consists mainly as documents in German, followed by the same documents translated into English. These primary sources stand almost alone, with very little commentary from the book's authors. They tell the tragic story of the Landmesser/Eckler family, a little-known aspect of life in Nazi Germany.

August Landmesser had made Irma Eckler pregnant. He apparently loved her and wanted to marry her, but his application for marriage was rejected because he was an Aryan, she was Jewish, and it was Germany in 1935. Although their relationship was legally forbidden, August continued his contact with Irma. Their relationship would produce two daughters, Ingrid and Irene. But the parents would eventually die for it. Irma was sent to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp and eventually gassed. August served a prison sentence for "rassenschande" (or "race defilement"). After his release he was drafted into the German Army, into a battalion tasked with especially dangerous and difficult missions, due to his "criminal history." He was killed. Irene and Ingrid grew up separated from each other and their parents, and Irene was almost deported to Auschwitz.

Although the documents are mostly written in your typical dry, bureaucratic language, they are affecting because of what they represent. Also included are a lot of photographs from both sides of the family (you can see many of those pictures here). I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the Holocaust, but in particular those who want to find out about mixed Aryan/Jewish relationships and the children that resulted.… (mehr)