Title: Untertauchen: A Historical Novel
Author: Arthur M. James 
Publisher: Fulton Books
ISBN: 979-8889825449
Pages: 616
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott

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Author Arthur M. James has created a panoramic view of World War II from the perspective of a German Jewish couple struggling to survive the inhumane violence and destruction of the Third Reich with grit and daily, constant diligence.

Hans is an intelligent, hardworking young man who meets and wishes to marry Anna, the relationship arranged and encouraged by their compatible families. But the couple’s happiness, or lack of it, will be increasingly defined by events in Germany in the early 1930s. Hans has allied himself with an organization set on combating the anti-Jewish sentiments being raised and fostered by Hitler and his minions. This targets him for investigation, imprisonment or worse, and after a taste of police brutality, he knows he must take sterner measures to save himself and Anna. For safety’s sake he communicates with Anna by post before leaving for his first adventure – manual labor on the island of Corsica, arranged through French connections. When Hans realizes he is still being sought by German authorities, he leaves Corsica and he and Anna gradually begin a partnership that will reshape their lives. Efforts to rise above the ugly face of Nazism to protect family and income, they will finally be forced to take the “low road” – untertauchen, the desperate attempt to disappear “underground.” James’s account moves year by year, often hour by hour, through the increasingly perilous situations the couple encounter. They will learn who their hidden allies may be, people of unusual character and not all Jewish, but simply those who sympathize with the victims Hitler has targeted for mass murder. They sleep in burned-out buildings or in the parlors of helpful humanitarians. Few arrangements last more than a few hours or days, never fully out of danger, and the toll would perhaps have been greater had these not been two young people with a will to live as strong as their enemy’s will to kill.

James is a distinguished writer and historian, a bilingual scholar who lived and studied in Austria and Germany, at some point meeting the couple whose story he has amplified in this imaginative manner to share with a new generation – lest anyone forget the horrors of Nazism and its virulent anti-Semitism, which changed the world permanently. The author’s remarkable ability to place the reader in the moment makes this a story that builds with intensity with each new page. His clear grasp of the most minute historical factors – dates, places, people and policies – are crucial and convincing without burdening the narrative, which is in essence a tale of personal love and courage posited against what seem to be insuperable challenges fostered by prejudice and hatred. Hans and Anna will be remembered through the vision and vibrancy conveyed by James, whose work should be studied and discussed across a wide range of appropriate settings. 

This book offers a unique and deeply personal perspective on a pivotal moment in history and its lasting repercussions.  Arthur M. James Untertauchen: A Historical Novel is a beautifully written and emotionally powerful story that will resonate with readers long after they turn the final page.