I picked up this book at our local Polish Arts Club and couldn't put it down once I started reading it. It's like having the author in your living room telling her story. The pictures in this edition help to cement the images in the text. The decision to leave Poland for the safety of her children is one only a mother could make.
I highly recommend this book as a reminder of the horrors of war. ( )

Originally published in 1942, Aquila Polonica has reprinted this in a stunning new edition. The first thing that jumps out at you is pictures! Lots and lots of pictures, particularly focused on the Siege of Warsaw, which is the focus of the book. In addition, maps and timelines assist in understanding the events before and during WWII.

First off, the female author adds a unique voice to the usually male-dominated subject of wartime. She also explains immediately why her story is different from what a war correspondent for the news might write. Her presence as a mother with an extended family gives her a different viewpoint:

"A war correspondent, when he runs to that gigantic fire (her example), does not leave his own children behind in his hotel room. When caught in an air raid, he doesn't tremble for the life of his own old mother. His brother has not vanished somewhere on the crowded roads...it isn't his own house, the house in which he was born and has lived for years, that has been set on fire by an incendiary. And if he himself goes through the agony of mortal fear, none of his readers will ever know about it."

As a narrator of the horrors, Langer is ideal. For a time before all this occurred, she had lived in the United States and had attended Vassar, and then became a copywriter for an advertising agency. After marrying and having a child, her husband became the Commercial Attache at the Polish Embassy. Eventually he resigned and they went back to Poland, but in 1938 he had another opportunity to work in the US. She remained in Poland, on a temporary basis, planning to rejoin him. However, as WWII heated up, she ended up in a small town with her mother and extended family, hoping to wait out the storm.

The book goes on to detail the fears that residents had, as well as the thread of suspicion that wove through daily life. At one point, when she travelled to try and find a way to get to Warsaw, she was arrested by a band of women with pitchforks who assumed she was a German spy (her missing passport didn't help her case). While many Warsaw residents had fled the city, Langer and her mother actually decided to return there, because the refugees who fled were equally endangered, and the prospect of travelling with small children seemed questionable. They returned to an apartment thoroughly shelled, without windows, and with its contents turned to rubble. Here they tried to reclaim their life and wait out the Siege.

It's this personal aspect that makes the book most involving. As a mom, hearing how she attempted to feed her children and create some semblence of normalcy, no matter how fragile, was amazing. Entertaining them, distracting them from their fears, and still maintaining a sense of calm is hardly imaginable. When a fire began on their roof, it took 48 hours to get help. Without panes of glass in the windows, they nearly froze in their apartments. Small details jump out the most: how a copy of Gone with the Wind seemed to inspire her to hold on to her old clothes lest she have to use the drapes for fabric. How rumours and gossip made fear escalate even more. And how, even in extreme danger, women will still bicker over the price of produce!

Another intriguing part of the book involves her creation of a new business to try and make money. Since newspapers no longer circulated, and the Poles desperately needed items that would normally be offered in the classified ads, Langer used her advertising background and a friend's help to create posters of small items for sale. Despite interference from the German's occupying Warsaw, they still found a way to post these and make a small amount of money.

In all, her family suffered greatly during the Siege and family members was tragically killed. But Langer and her children survived and were able to get to Vienna. Soon after, they left for America. I'm most amazed at how readable this is compared to other books about the war experience. Suitable for all ages, it would make an excellent resource in a classroom and a stepping stone to further study on the Siege of Warsaw. Hearing from a survivor about the human capacity for resilience and inner strength is motivating, especially in a time when nothing made sense. ( )

Rulka Langer was visiting her family in Poland when Germany invaded in 1939, setting off World War II. Her husband was in America, where they had been living, but she had taken their two children back to Poland to visit her mother, her brother, and other relatives. She and her children remained in Poland through the German siege of Warsaw, before finally escaping back to America in 1940.

Langer’s account of the German invasion and siege was first published in 1942. The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt has now been re-issued with fresh editing; more than a hundred new photographs, maps, and other supplemental documents; and a new Epilogue written by her son.

This is an incredible book. Subtitled “War Through a Woman’s Eyes, 1939 – 1940,” it reads like a novel, dragging the reader through the burning streets of Warsaw as German bombs drop on the city, on perilous train and cart trips through the war-scarred country-side, and through the treacherous and increasingly evil post-siege German administration. Her writing is crisp and honest – revealing her prior experience as a journalist.

Full review posted on Rose City Reader. ( )

The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt: War Through a Woman's Eyes, 1939-1940 is the personal account of Rulka Laner, a Warsaw resident, who survived the World War II Nazi invasion of Poland.

This book sat in my TBR pile for a bit, mainly due to its imposing girth (a rather imposing 467 page hard cover.) Silly me, I had no idea what a marvel I was pushing off.

From the second I began reading The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt, I could not put this book down. Rulka Laner's story is so real, so honest, and so compelling- it is easy to quickly lose oneself in the pages.

While history interests me (after all, it's important to know from whence we came,) I wouldn't say I'm a "history buff" or that generally, I would gravitate towards a "war" novel. But The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt called to me, perhaps as all mermaids do. What I discovered in the pages was life-altering. One cannot read this book and walk away unchanged.

Ms. Langer wrote The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt in 1942 as part of her effort to explain to Americans the devastation of World War II for the average, ordinary human beings caught in it. The updated version of this book includes maps, pictures, and an afterward from Rulka's son, George, that adds a "vivid" enhancement to this mesmerizing account.

What I appreciated most about the The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt is Ms. Langer's ability to view not only her surrounding world with impeciable candor, but to offer us an open and honest account of her own frailties.

The tale is certainly an arduous one, at times, difficult to to read through the glimmer of tears and sympathy you will have for the citizens caught in the throes of war and the gratitude you may have for not having to live through such hell in first person. Yet, the pages are also a celebration of human life and the brave men and women who rose above their circumstances to deal with the best and the worst of their own humanity.

An eye-opening, riveting read. ( )

This book came to me through the Early Reviewers program. The author is a Polish woman who finds herself in Warsaw during the German Invasion and occupation. It should be kept in mind however that the book is focused on the years 1939-40, and as such there is not very much mention of the treatment of the Jewish people. Which was interesting in itself as it opened my eyes a bit to the difficulties of everyday life of all people in Poland during this time. Daily air raids, food shortages, and people being deported. Anyone who lived through war like this is a testament to survival. ( )