On February 4, 1941, Nanda Herbermann, a German Catholic writer and editor, was arrested by the Gestapo in Munster, Germany, and became a political prisoner of the Nazis because of her work with anti-Nazi Catholics. Accused of collaboration with the Catholic movement, Herbermann was deported to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp for Women in July 1941 and later released upon direct orders from Heinrich Himmler on March 19, 1943. Although she was instructed by the Gestapo not to reveal information about the camp, Herbermann soon began to record her memories of her experiences. One of the first concentration camp memoirs to appear in print, Herbermann's book contributed to the shaping of German memory about the Third Reich and the Holocaust. The Blessed Abyss was originally published in German under the imprint of the Allied occupation forces in 1946, and it now appears in English for the first time.

Hester Baer and Elizabeth Baer include an extensive introduction that situates Herbermann's work within current debates about gender and the Holocaust and provides historical and biographical information about Herbermann, Ravensbruck, and the Third Reich. Presenting herself as both a member of the collective German nation and as a victim of Nazi crimes, Herbermann used the story of her own persecution -- despite the fact that she considered herself a "good German" -- to convince fellow Germans to break with Nazi ideology and atone for Nazi crimes. In her narrative, Herbermann presents invaluable historical information about the daily operations of the largest concentration camp for women. However, it is the ambivalence and tension at the heart of Herbermann's narrative -- her reflection on hercompeting identities and victim status -- that make her memoir not only informative but compelling.

Students and scholars of Holocaust studies, German history and culture, and women's studies will welcome this complex and unusual addition to Holocaust literature.