Selected to Live - Johanna-Ruth Dobschiner

Published by Pickering and Inglis Ltd.: London, 1975 (1969).

This book tells the true story of the author's life as a young Jewish woman living in Holland during World War 2, and can be roughly divided into three parts. The first part tells of the numerous close calls Johanna had with being sent to the prison camps. As the story progresses her whole family gets taken away, yet Johanna repeatedly is saved through various unexpected events such as looking after a sick child, or being rejected by a carriage full of elderly people who worry about her health. The fact that so many of these events take place when so many other people are being taken away to their death is fascinating, and ties nicely into the second 'part' of the book. 

In the second part, Johanna, now concealed by the Underground resistance in the house of a Christian minister, begins to read a Children's Bible - mostly out of boredom - and discovers to her amazement that Jesus is Jewish! As she learns this, she begins to be challenged about her response to Jesus, and, without giving up her Jewish faith ends up receiving him as her Saviour. Although the survival element of the story continues, far more focus is placed now on her spiritual life being saved.

The third part, and the least focussed, follows Johanna post-conversion and post-war. She now moves from place to place, reconnecting with people she knew before or during the war, and begins to explore what it means to live as a believer - particularly as a Jewish believer.

Selected to Live is not a 'polished' book - it is apparent that Johanna is not firstly an author. Characters are introduced as if we already knew them, different areas get different amounts of attention whether they 'need' them or not, and as already mentioned the third 'section' of the book begins to lose focus a little. However, Johanna's story of survival - both physical and spiritual - is a fascinating one, and is well worth discovering.

Read for the plot and spiritual challenge, not for the prose.

Completed 21 December 2021.

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