Anna and Dr Helmy
Der Muslim und die Jüdin: Die Geschichte einer Rettung in Berlin

steinke cover
Piper Verlag
July 2017 / 208pp
Non-Fiction

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We are delighted that this book has now been published in English translation.

Get information on the English version here (UK).

review

Set in Nazi Berlin, this is a remarkable account of how a Muslim doctor, Mohammed Helmy, succeeded in rescuing his young Jewish patient Anna Boros from the clutches of the Gestapo. 

This is a true story compellingly told, written in the style of a fictional thriller, and involving several twists throughout. In his gripping retelling of how an Egyptian doctor risked his own life to save Jews, Steinke has vividly reconstructed Nazi Berlin and its atmosphere of constant terror. The engaging narrative style will ensure the book reaches a wide audience. Particularly effective are the passages describing how Anna was disguised as a Muslim using a headscarf, and the hold-your-breath accounts of her days in hiding. 

Mohammed Helmy’s story is reminiscent of the case of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist immortalised in Schindler’s List, who saved Jews working at his factory in Poland from the Gestapo. The recent success of Hans Fallada’s Alone in Berlin, along with last year’s film, guarantees a receptive English-language audience for rousing stories of resistance to Nazi rule. 

about the author

Dr Ronen Steinke wrote the biography of Fritz Bauer, the German- Jewish prosecutor who brought the Auschwitz camp guards to trial in Germany in the 1960s. This thrilling non-fiction drama was made into an award-winning feature film in 2015 (The People vs. Fritz Bauer, released in twelve countries including the US) and is being translated into English, Polish and Japanese. Steinke works as a political journalist for Germany’s leading broadsheet, the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Previous works:
Fritz Bauer (2013)

rights information

Piper Verlag GmbH
Contact: Elisabeth Wiedemann
Tel.: +49 893 818 01735
elisabeth.wiedemann@piper.de
www.piper.de/rights/foreign-rights

translation assistance

We are delighted that this book has now been published in English translation.

Get information on the English version here (UK).

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