Good-Bye to the Mermaids: A Childhood Lost in Hitler's Berlin

By Karin Finell

Book Overview

Good-bye to the Mermaids conveys the horrors of war as seen through the innocent eyes of a child. It is the story of World War II as it affected three generations of middle-class German women: Karin, six years old when the war began, who was taken in by Hitler's lies; her mother, Astrid, a rebellious artist who occasionally spoke out against the Nazis; and her grandmother Oma, a generous and strong-willed woman who, having spent her own childhood in America, brought a different perspective to the events of the time. It tells of a convoluted world where children were torn between fear and hope, between total incomprehension of events and the need to simply deal with reality. In one of the relatively few recollections of the war from a German woman's perspective, Finell relates what was for her a normal part of growing up: participating in activities of the Hitler Youth, observing Nazi customs at Christmas, and once being close enough to the F hrer at a rally to make eye contact with him. She tells of how she first became aware of the yellow star that Jews were forced to wear, and of being asked to identify corpses from a bombed apartment house. She also depicts the lives of people tainted by Hitler's influence: her half-Jewish relatives who gave in to the strain of trying to remain unnoticed; a favorite aunt who was gassed because she was old and had broken her hip; and a friend of the family who was involved in the abortive putsch against Hitler and hanged as a traitor. When American and British forces intensified air raids on Berlin in 1943, Finell observed the stoical valor of women during the bombings, firestorms, and mass evacuations. Not yet a teenager, she witnessed the battle for Berlin and the mass rapes perpetrated by conquering Russian and Mongolian troops. Order was restored after the American and British troops arrived. The Marshall Plan jump-started an economic recovery for West Germany, provoking the Russians to blockade Berlin. From 1948 to 1949 the Americans and British kept Berlin's residents alive with the airlift. But even though food was flown in, the people of Berlin continued to go hungry. Deprivation forced Berliners to look inward and face their collective guilt as they withstood the threat of Soviet occupation during these postwar years. This eloquent and touching story tells how a decent people were perverted by Hitler and how a young girl ultimately came to recognize the father figure Hitler for the monster he was. From a time of innocence, Karin Finell takes readers along a nightmarish journey in which fantasies are clung to, set aside, and at last set free. Good-bye to the Mermaids presents us with the revelation that human beings can survive such times with their souls intact.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826223532
• ISBN13: 9780826223531
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: University of Missouri Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 9.2"
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Brave, beautiful, deeply moving, and very necessary.

A heart-wrenching story lovingly told by Karin Finell. She relates what was for her a normal part of growing up while participating in activities of the Hitler youth, watching friends disappear, and daring to question. Good-bye to the Mermaids is beautifully written, with gorgeously remembered details, providing a deep, rich look into life in wartime Germany that we have not seen before.

Beauty inside the ruins

Karin Finnell's memoir of her childhood in Berlin is a thing of beauty amid the rubble displayed on the cover of her book. I felt almost as lost as the narrator when her beloved grandmother died after the worst of their ordeal was over. The allusions to a beautiful gathering on Christmas Eve "with one foot in a soon to be forgotten age" or a masked ball at Mardi Gras give the reader a feeling for what was destroyed by Hitler's tyranny. Finally, the heavenly packages of candy and food staples dropped from American planes during the Marshall plan bring to life why America became the dream sustaining young Karin and her grandmother during those fearful years. "Goodbye to the Mermaids" is a love letter wrapped inside an important history lesson. In Ms. Finnell's case, to remember is not only heroic, it's a kiss blown back to dignity and humanity under the most appalling circumstances.

Long live the Mermaids

This book really helped me understand what life is like in the middle of a war zone; the struggle to find food and to feel safe while chaos is all around. I admit I have always held Germans resposible for letting Hitler get away with it and I was able to see how little control the people had over what was happening in their country as well as how a young child believed what she heard. The book is very personal and I was impressed by the author's ability to remember her childhood and to portray it so vividly. It is an excellent and engrossing read.

A Child's Perspective of Hitler's Germany

An insightful, rich and textured, heartfelt perspective of life in war-torn Germany, and the rise and fall of Hitler's Third Reich, through the eyes of a sensitive young girl, suffering the loss of her father following a family split. For those readers who are interested in modern European history, Ms. Finell's work offers a unique and timely account of WWII Berlin, and the extent to which Hitler was able to use his powers of persuasion and influence over the populus during this era. Ms. Finell says, at one point, that Hitler's public persona,"Father" of the great German Fatherland, meant to her, the hope that he could be the father she was missing, who had abandoned her mother to marry again and start another family, leaving her feeling quite bereft. The author's growing awareness of the Nazi lies, falsehoods and, indeed, crimes against humanity, are as painfully touching and heartbreaking to Ms. Finell as if the betrayal were not only against humanity, but also against childhood lost. Ms. Finell's memoir describes the fear, the bombing, chaos, suffering, periods of hunger interposed with times of barely scraping a living, nights filled with the screams of sirens followed by trips into air-raid shelters, and they are, indeed, very personal accounts of Ms. Finell and the strong women in her life, her mother, her Grandmother, and Great Aunt. Although having intense relationships with these women who played tremendously important roles in in their survival during this time, Ms. Finell does not let the reader forget that their story is, in a way, the story of those who are the truly forgotten - the children who lost their childhood in Hitler's war.

A Book of the Human Spirit

We in this country know so little about what it is like to live in the middle of a war, the deprivation, not knowing what's next, trying to keep some semblance of family life and surviving each attack. Ms. Finell has done a remarkable job of telling her story including many chilling moments, giving the historical background and making us feel as if we are experiencing her life. Yet, through the book, there is a strong sense of the human spirit prevailing over the most artocious people and events. I finished the book appreciating what I had, the present moment and admiration for Ms Finell, her mother and her grandmother. What a gift she gives the reader.