Drawing from aspects of her own life and background, Elisabeth Hesse has crafted a compelling first novel that simultaneously breaks and warms your heart.
Cathie Bliss, Contributing Author, “365 Soulful Book Series”
The Beginning…
When Elsa, a young Dutch nursing student, arrives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, Dr. Mengele, a doctor fanatical about medical experiments on twins, notices Elsa’s disheveled nurse’s uniform. He assigns her as his nurse in preparing terrified twin children for his horrific studies to mold the perfect Aryan race.
Dream or Nightmare?
Elsa soon forges a powerful bond with a high-ranking Nazi officer and a young Jewish man who works in the crematorium, both part of the resistance. Together they launch a secret rescuing operation of the young twins and a euthanasia plan to end the lives of those children who suffer the most but cannot be saved.
“They are suffocating in those trains. Cattle cars meant for animals. They are in total darkness. Some cry out hysterically. Others pray aloud. No water. No food. They cry out for help, and we ignore their cries.”
From “FINAL REFUGE” – the book
Medical Experiments on Twins
Mengele ordered Pieter to the autopsy table where the tiny girls lay.
“You don’t think I noticed they are still breathing?” Mengele asked.
Pieter’s heart dropped. What did Mengele have in mind?
Lovable Trix
Trix whimpered as she watched Elsa disappear around the corner. Trix was no longer welcome at practices because she had a naughty habit of invading the soccer matches. It was great fun tackling Elsa and taking the ball for herself, then pushing it across the field with her black snout. Spectators laughed and clapped while Trix hunkered down on her forelegs, her entire hind end wagging back and forth until Elsa caught up with her and dragged her off the field.
How did this end up in this horrible place?
As soon as she turned, Elsa’s feet stopped as her eyes widened at the sight of a marvelous yellow butterfly flying in her path. Its’ motion was hypnotic. Like a child, she reached up to cup the butterfly in her hands where it landed and felt its’ delicate wings flap. How did it end up in this horrible place? Where might it have come from?
A Legend
Legend has it that the stars were once given a special mission from God. A mission meant to guide those deceased souls that endured the unspeakable. Each star was to accompany a spirit on its journey to a dimension outside of the created universe, to an invisible spiritual realm. A place where their soul could at last rest in peace.
There was a place in the east, a land once known as Auschwitz, where these stars hovered the most. They would slip away and move across the sky at lightning speed with what appeared to be their last reserve of fuel.
Some stars would hover for hours, others for days or even years before they’d shoot straight up, exploding into streaks of white lights, like silver showers, that could be seen from miles away. People would journey from faraway places to come and see this extraordinary sight.
If you looked closely between the larger stars, you might see the occasional pair of smaller matching stars—perfect little stars that shared the same elements; two separate but interacting parts. During the ascension process, these little stars confidently strutted their way into orbit, like little girls doing a sassy hair flip while strutting off stage. Their twin flames would whirl up in a spiral together, whisk back and forth, and dazzle the crowds, followed by the expected ooohs and aaahs. What was once a vast dark canopy with thick plumes of smoke became a glowing dome of dancing colors.
The stars had, at last, led all the chosen spirits to a special Utopia where all social evils had been cured, a final refuge. Home. Their task was completed.