Notes

447 p. : map. Summary: Based on letters, documents, interviews and research in Germany and Poland, this is the story of Maria Scholz, an aspiring young writer, from the time she arrives in Berlin in 1933 and meets sculptor Hermann Blumenthal. They become members of a community of artists at the heart of Hitler's Berlin, part of an inner circle who are opposed to the Nazi regime, and who are persecuted. The narrative describes how they try to keep their creativity and humanity alive amid the growing terror of a police state, and it explores the tragedy that befalls Maria as war brings the firebombing of Berlin and the Russian invasion