The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa follows the life of the fictional character Hannah Rosenthal. She grew up in a wealthy Jewish family in Germany. When 1939 rolls around, she is not surprised to learn that her family must leave the country. They, along with friends, board a vessel bound for Cuba. On board the ship, the passengers all rally together to sustain a kind of delusional celebration, hosting parties and dances and the like. No one is eager to admit that their former way of life is gone. When they arrive in Cuba, they learn that only a select few will be allowed entry and the rest must return. Hannah is one of the lucky ones, establishing her own family in Cuba eventually. Leo, however, is sent back to Europe, marking the end of their adolescent romance. Years later, Hannah writes to her grand niece, Anna, and tries to help her piece together her ancestry and to understand her own situation better in light of her family's stormy history.
In Correa's telling of the narrative, Hannah becomes the representative for the thousands of displaced Jews during WWII. Her story being far from unique, she provides an avenue for the reader to empathize with a common narrative. If her privileged life could be so quickly destroyed, then what did all the money and security mean? Hannah faces a real internal crisis when she finally makes it to Cuba. Having lost everything, she is forced to redefine her values. In the end she decides that family and culture -- people -- are the most valuable, meaning parts of life. Although most people reading the book probably have not experienced the same level of persecution, they can benefit from Correa's narrative by examining their own values and learning from Hannah's experience.
