Nights of Fire and Broken Glass

Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, took place in the November of 1938. It was the night that German thugs destroyed the businesses and the synagogues of German-Jews, smashing windows and setting fires. Kristallnacht changed the lives of thousands of German-Jews, including five friends who lived in a Berlin orphanage. Four of the girls had been there for a number of years while Ilsa Katz had arrived recently, right after her father was taken away by the...
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Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, took place in the November of 1938. It was the night that German thugs destroyed the businesses and the synagogues of German-Jews, smashing windows and setting fires. Kristallnacht changed the lives of thousands of German-Jews, including five friends who lived in a Berlin orphanage. Four of the girls had been there for a number of years while Ilsa Katz had arrived recently, right after her father was taken away by the German police and her mother disappeared. Aware of the impending danger to the Jews in Germany, Charlotte Stein, the director of the orphanage, accompanied the children to England for their safety although she had to return to Germany immediately.
When they arrived in England the girls were separated and their lives became vastly different. llsa had loving foster parents who introduced her to English customs and a Christian way of life. Frieda, an emotionally frail youngster, committed suicide. Maddy adjusted to life on a farm and was reunited with the young man she had briefly known in Germany. Berta was a mischievous child who grew up to be defiant and irresponsible. Hannah became embittered when she was sexually assaulted by her foster father.
After the war Ilsa was crushed to discover that her father, Jacob, had died in Dachau, once a work camp and then a concentration camp. She and her brother, Peter, went back to Berlin to find their mother, Anna. Following a series of clues, they discovered her fate. She had been hidden by Oscar and Nora Kruger who also sheltered Charlotte. Finally, Anna realized that Charlotte, as the director of the orphanage, had taken care of her daughter. Anna was killed in an air raid by the RAF. Before she died she recovered her speech and revealed her identity to Charlotte.
After a reunion for the former refugees Ilsa accidentally met Franz, her childhood friend. Even though he had fought in the war and had been a prisoner of war he had put the agony of war behind him. Ilsa had suffered from German raids and no longer felt German--she felt English. She knew the difference between a Nazi and a German but she was in conflict. Can she live with herself if she blames all Germans for the death of her parents? Can she live with herself if she forgives them?