Reviews for Paris Underground

The average rating for Paris Underground based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-02-24 00:00:00 Henry Chavez I picked up this book at an antiques store and was intrigued by the title. I had no idea what it was about or who the author was, but the title of Paris Underground interested me. I looked closer and found that the chain on the spine had little swastika's on them, so I assumed it was WW2. I then opened the cover and read a little disclaimer about changing of names to protect the innocent. I was interested, so I put the book in my pile and when I got home, stowed it on the shelf. It wasn't until recently, about 6 months later, that I pulled it of the shelf and started reading. I was blown away! After having finished the book, I would rate it high on my list of must read autobiography's. It reminded me very much of The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I was amazed at the struggles and reality of war life in France during the German occupation. Etta's struggled of fear during the time she helped her friend Kitty smuggle out more than 15o English soldiers left behind in France from Dunkirk was relatable and I found myself praying that God would give me the strength to be as brave as Kitty, should the need ever arise. "Kitty's remark stuck in my mind. It was true, I thought, that we had experienced miraculous luck again and again. Was it all luck or was it the guiding hand of Providence? And could we always count on such good chance? Or were we perhaps being led deeper and deeper into actions from whose consequences there could be no escape, by a capricious fat which would turn against us only when we were completely enmeshed in its toils? I remembered the verse from Job: "Great things He does which ew cannot comprehend." Some of the other peoples' bravery as well and their trust in God was inspiring. Father Christian's speech as he was condemned to death for his efforts to rescue soldiers from death was especially moving. "I am a priest, but in this war I have been a soldier, and a soldier who has not surrendered. For I was fighting for more than a military decision between two powers, rivals for control over the same parcel of land. I was fighting for justice, and in this war, I could see only one kind of justice, a justice partaking at the same time of the human and the divine. I do not expect to find that justice or any justice, in this court. But I know that in the end, divine justice will prevail; and the verdict of God will be pronounced, not against us, but against you, who presume to judge us." And Kitty's last words to her friend Etta before being sent to a separate prison with the promise of executions: " Don't worry about me. Promise me that you will never think of me sadly. I am not sad. I did what I had to do. I knew the price, and I am willing to pay it. I have given England back 150 lives for the one she is losing now. Think of that when you think of me. Remember that I was not one who failed, but who succeeded, who won a 150-to-one victory against the Germans. Smile when my name comes to your mind, as you used to smile at me in the old days." Etta's last words of her book struck me and still stick with me. "Yes, I am troubled by a sense of guilt. Some who at alive today may be shot tomorrow; and how can any one rest know that he might be able to contribute to saving precious human lives, if he is not doing so? Is it only quieting my conscience if I say to myself that when God desires that we should act, He shows us the way, tells us what to do--lest they die?" In short, this book was a magnificent historical artifact and I am so thankful that I decided to buy it that day! I think everyone should read this book, if only to be better aware of the history that surrounds our world, and to feel inspired by the heroism of others.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-03-18 00:00:00 Richard Mcaskill Re-read March 2013. ------ Originally read April 2012. Downloaded as a free ebook from Barnes & Noble. I found this book incredibly gripping; I began reading in the evening, read until the wee hours, and picked it up again as soon as I could. It's not the quality of the writing that held me, but the unfolding of events. This book, published in 1943, is an autobiographical account of a middle-aged American woman (Etta Shiber) living in Paris in the 1930s. After her husband died, she left Manhattan to live with a friend, Kitty, an Englishwoman who had married a French wine merchant whom she later amicably divorced. The two women live quietly but happily together for three years, busy with various social engagements and interests; then war breaks out. When the Germans succeed in their Blitzkrieg and are suddenly only a day from Paris, the women attempt to flee, but the roads are jammed with refugees, and the Germans are upon them. They witness a strafing of refugees by the German pilots; are near to having been killed themselves. Forced to return to Paris, they make a brief stop at an inn for some tea--they have been on the road for two days and nights at this point--and at this inn they encounter a British RAF pilot. This chance meeting changes their lives. The two women, Kitty in her mid-forties and Shiber ten years older, take it upon themselves to try to save this young man. They smuggle him into Paris--despite encountering four German checkpoints en route--then to their flat, and eventually are able to get him over the demarcation line; finally, he is returned to England. During this nerve-wracking time (the pilot is in their flat for weeks, and the Germans are gradually making thorough searches of each building, a block at a time) they make contacts with other young English soldiers and with people who are working to smuggle them out of the country. One thing leads to another . . . and eventually the two women help to smuggle 150 Englishmen, and about that many French soldiers, out of the country. SPOILER: The two women and their co-conspirators are eventually caught, tried, and sentenced. Shiber writes about the ghastly prison conditions and her experiences there. Parted from her friend, who has received a death sentence, she wonders what has become of her. Shiber's own health declines rapidly; eventually she has several heart attacks. In 1942 she is released as part of a US-Germany prisoner exchange program--this is where the book opens; then it goes back to explain how this journey of hers began. At the time of the book's publication, Shiber still does not know what happened to her friend Kitty. Immediately upon finishing the book, I did some Google searches to find out more about Shiber and her story, but so far all I've found is that the author died in 1948. One of the amazing things about this book is how absolutely unlikely a resistance hero this woman was. She was a Manhattan housewife, then widow, who lived a quiet and unremarkable life untouched by danger until these events and situations were thrust upon her. She is clear throughout the book that she was reluctant, anxious, frightened--but nonetheless, she did this. I have to wonder what I would do in such circumstances.