A Child in Berlin

The Poignant Story of Heidi Posnien and Her Mother During the Fall of Germany

De: Rhonda Lauritzen

Narrado por: Lizzie Roberts Morse

A gripping true story of childhood mischief and deprivations in Nazi-infested Berlin, a mother’s courageous choices, and a young girl’s ultimate resilience to survive alone.

A Child in Berlin is the true story of a mother, a daughter, and their courage in the face of Nazi terror. Käthe is a mother who must choose between her dreams as a rising star in the opera and her conscience. She discovers the truth about her Jewish friends around the time she attends a dinner party presided by Adolf Hitler himself. She realizes she cannot remain among Nazi society and makes the gut-wrenching choice to leave the opera. To support herself and young Heidi, she joins Berlin’s black-market network and ends up dealing with more than just food. As others evacuate the capital, Käthe harbors a secret that anchors them in the epicenter of danger.

While Käthe becomes ever more preoccupied with survival, Heidi and a roving pack of friends make mischief in Berlin’s rubble. The war devolves, and Heidi braves hunger, cold, and feelings of abandonment as shuttles between Berlin and the Polish countryside. Heidi’s ultimate test comes when she must survive alone in a bombed-out apartment during the final weeks of World War II. Her moxie shows how children are capable of far more than adults realize.

©2024 Post Hill Press (P)2025 Ascend Audio LLC

Great story and storytelling

A mother in World War II Germany is forced to make many difficult life decisions for herself and her daughter. They are not Jewish, but still are highly affected. Lizzie's reading voice is very clear, quite nuanced, and she tells the story with just the right amount of emotion when needed. Great job with the German and Polish words and names.

A young girl in Berlin at the end of WWII

The first half is rather dull, but the 2nd half gets very exciting and reveals some of what is going on in Berlin and Germany at the end of the war.

engaging true history that comes across like a historical fiction

The author and the protagonists ability to relate details of a small child were so engaging that it never felt like a biographical story, but rather a historical fiction. The narrator was able to communicate the feelings of all the characters in both English and fall asleep, transitioning into German words without making the English reader feel insignificant for not knowing the German words. The author's use of well researched footnotes drove home the historical narrative and fulled in some of the historical gaps flawlessly that a child simply could not be able to remember, and gave the book and additional aura of credibility. I’m not a huge fan of war time biographies but a child in Berlin opened my mind to the viewpoint of a child going through World War II that was enlightening and heartwarming and relatable. Again, I can’t say enough about the choice of words that made this biography so easy to catch the vision of the details Heidi experienced yet was readable for high school levels while also using challenging diction to intrigue advanced readers and perhaps even recommended reading for moderate to advanced non-native English readers to enjoy and get a snapshot of history.