I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree
Laura Hillman

I finished reading the book, I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree, by Laura Hillman. This book was about a girl named, Hannelore Wolff who was in various labor camps throughout her teenage years. Hannelore was in a boarding school for Jewish girls, but when she found out her mom and her brothers were going to be deported to the East she decided to go to Weimar and join her family so they could be together. When they got to the camp, things changed. The living conditions were bad, but not near as bad as the camps they were about to encounter. They all went into separate hiding places when the camp was liquidated. Everyone was discovered and Hannelore, her mom, and her brother, Selly were all shipped to a camp called, Belzyce. Hannelore worked in the infirmary and one day, her brother Selly was rushed in. He was in terrible shape because he had been beaten almost to death by a guard. He was treated, but soon died. After that, Hannelore was shipped away to Krasnik, a nearby camp. Hannelore was treated well there but she was tricked into sneaking out with a Nazi who instead of helping her, raped her and beat her. After that incident, Hannelore was considered too much of a risk to the camp so she was taken to Budzyn. Budzyn was a harsh camp with harder work. She met the man she fell in love with, a German Prisoner of War (POW), named, Dick Hillman. Budzyn was liquidated and Hannelore was moved to Auschwitz. She spent most of her time in that camp until she went to Brunnlitz, where Oskar Schindler was in charge. In Brunnlitz, she met up with Dick Hillam again and they rekindled their love. A short time after she arrived in Brunnlitz, the war was over. And they were released to freedom. Dick and Hannelore were married on October 22,1995 and they arrived in New York on January 4, 1947. Except for two sisters, Dick nor Hannelore ever heard from their loved ones again.