Trek by Mary Hunt Jentsch - Book Report/Review Example

Order 523062 Topic: "Trek" by Mary Hunt Jentsch In the thick of war, to survive in the unknown warfronts, not knowing who is the friend and from where the enemy is going to attack, is a difficult challenge for the toughest of the soldier. Mary Hunt Tentsch was a woman with two children. She was an American married to a German. The country of her birth was at war with the country of her husband. Savage bombings continued over the city of Berlin and Word War II was not an ordinary War. She fled to the Pomeranian countryside in search of food, shelter and safety.

A desperate “trek” began to beat the advancing Red Army, and the routes of escape were being shut one after another. Steve Mumford writes, “She was caught with her two small children on the wrong side of the battle line, and was not heart from again until 1945.”(p.14) My response pertains to an important aspect of the story and one may as well feel that this is a negative response to the overall spirit and grandeur of the story. Firstly, Mary Hunt married Gehart, the German, to whom in the initial stage of the story, she was not willing to meet.

Her patriotism was a big roadblock for her personal relationship. But love is such a strong weapon, its power is matchless and its penetrating capacity is infinite. She falls in love with him and they marry. War breaks out and in such grim circumstances Gehart decides to move to Germany. The question is, is this move ethically right and did Gehart entertain intentions to support the Nazi movement? Why did he think that he would be uncomfortable in US, with his American wife and two American-born children?

Did he estimate that Germany will win the war? That Mary Hunt followed her husband’s decision shows her broad vision; she could as well have stayed back in America. It was a war-time decision by her husband. Did she invite trouble for herself and the children by deciding to move to a country, which by then had adopted a policy to exterminate all Jews from Germany and crimes of the worst order were being committed by the German army by orders from the top leader Adolph Hitler? Stephen Mumford, her grandson, gives detailed explanation in the form of a lawyer’s submission before a judicial authority as if!

It is a good explanation, but is it totally believable? I still doubt about the true intentions of Gehart. As a part of the explanation, Mumford writes quoting from the letter to E. Dulles, “Gehart has been outspokenly critical of some of the Reich’s policies, notably the treatment t of Jews. I owe to him some very interesting bits of information on this score, which are decidedly hostile to the regime.”(p.13) But this is not enough! Mary Hunt Jentsch was put in a precarious position. She faced the enemy from all sides.

Personally she was in a difficult position, she being an American. The German army would be suspicious about her movements when they discover about the time of her arrival from America, the Russian army would not spare her, and the American army would also be less considerate to her during war. She needed to support her two children. This is the political aspect of the story. She, however, misses an important issue. She does not mention that her husband worked for the Reich and had a stint with the German army, and they remained in contact even after 1943.

Why did she follow him to a Nazi Germany—this original question will always remain the original question! No convincing answer has been provided in the book. The story needs to be viewed philanthropically as well, for its great humanitarian angle. Here was a lady and two children who spoke American, and she was right in the heart of the enemy territory. The influx of forced laborers, war-time evacuees, and a heterogeneous mixture of refugees, and the villagers perhaps thought she was one of them.

She must have befriended a few elderly men and women and won them over by her personal charm. The survival instinct is very strong in any individual, and the security of her children was her prime consideration. She finally found shelter among Pomeranians after 1943. But during the war-times, when the scenario changes in quick succession, permanent safety of anyone or any section of the society cannot be guaranteed, whether the advancing Army is part of the Alliance or not. Any alliance with the Soviet Red Army by the Americans would be just a time-serving arrangement, and not the union of minds, as ideologically the Americans and Russians were the bitterest enemies.

Marty Hunt’s position was precarious on all counts. Conclusion: From the point of view of literature, Mary Hunt has given us a very interesting book. The theme of war catches immediate attention. Wartime survival is on minute to minute basis, and life is full of uncertainties. The silver lining of her life was in the Silesian country side and the Pommeranian farm village. The surprising aspect as revealed in this story is, the villagers who supported Mary Hunt are Germans and the section of the society that sent Jews to the gas chambers are also Germans!

The conclusion, is therefore, is simple and straightforward. Common people are generally good; it is the leadership that creates critical situations for the people to suffer. Wars are created by wrong leadership and the people suffer! Works Cited Jentsch, Mary Hunt(Author), Mumford, Steve(Epilogue, Foreword),Trek: An American Woman, Two Small Children and Survival in World War II Germany, McWitty Press, October 1, 2008. Furthermore, she almost never mentions her husband, his decision to work for the Reich and his subsequent stint with the Germany army on the Eastern Front, even though they lived together until 1943 and remained in contact thereafter.

It seems impossible to believe that he was not a Nazi. How could she as an intelligent, well-educated American follow him to Nazi Germany? It is a mystery, and one that made it impossible for me to sympathize with her and her plight. 5.27.2009