Escape into Danger, The True Story of a Kievan Girl in World War II (Innbundet (stive permer))

Sophia Orlovsky Williams was born in Kiev to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father and chose to be identified as Jewish on the eve of World War II. Narrowly escaping Nazi capture during the war, she moved to the United States in 1952. Working as a draftsman, she was the first female to break into the traditionally male territory at EBASCO, then at Ford, Bacon & Davis, both of New York. She moved to San Francisco in 1955, where she was associated with Bechtel for thirty years until her retirement in 1985. She lives in Texas.

Escape into Danger tells the remarkable story of a young girl's perilous adventures and coming of age during World War II. Born in Kiev to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, Sophia Williams chose to be identified as Jewish when she was eligible for a Soviet passport, mandatory at the age of sixteen, little realizing the life-changing consequences of her decision. Only seventeen when Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Sophia left Kiev, unwittingly escaping the Babi Yar massacre. On her journey into Russia, she fled from flooding, dodged fires and bombs, and fell in love. At Stalingrad, Sophia turned back in a futile attempt to return home to her mother. Stranded in a Nazi-occupied town, accepted as a Russian, she found work with a sympathetic German officer and felt secure until a local girl recognized her as a Jew. Within days, Sophia's boss spirited her to safety with his family in Poland. Soon, though, Sophia was on the run again, this time to Nazi Germany, where, befriended by Germans and Hungarians, she somehow escaped detection through the rest of the war. She met and married a like-minded German soldier and started a family and business.The business thrived in post-war Germany, but the marriage deteriorated. She divorced her adulterous husband, but the vindictive, even homicidal Guido continued to dog her steps. Throughout, Sophia maintained her grit, charm, and optimism, the qualities that saved her as she time and again made her "escape into danger."

Part I: Spring of Youth 1 Full of Spunk 2 "Let It Rot!" 3 Politics 4 Internationalka 5 An Omen Fulfilled Part II: The Steppes Aflame 6 Partings 7 Flagship Stalin 8 Narrow Escapes 9 Flight to the East 10 The Turning Point 11 My Purse! 12 Stranded 13 Waiting for the Enemy Part III: German Occupation 14 Facing the Invaders 15 To Register--or Not? 16 A Promotion 17 "You Haven't Lost Everything." 18 German Studies 19 A Lamb in Spring 20 Rescued Part IV: Eye of the Hurricane 21 On a Nazi Train 22 "Good Little Farmer" 23 A Red Silk Camisole 24 Lord of the Manor 25 Red Cross Nurse 26 The Truth Comes Out Part V: Inside Nazi Germany 27 Nemesis on Horseback 28 Found! 29 A Proposal 30 Beethoven's Fifth 31 Hope 32 Half-Crazy, or in Love 33 Crisscrossing the Third Reich 34 "Imagine, Running into You!" 35 Off to the Alps Part VI: Postwar Germany 36 Liberated by the Americans 37 A Changed Man 38 Ten Centimes Short 39 Pedaling through the Slush 40 A Twenty-Mark Fine 41 In the Cards 42 Bird in a Maze 43 A Double Rainbow