Enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. Fascinating to read what it was like for a child growing up in Hitler's Germany. The author writes well and she has certainly lived an interesting life! Definitely worth a read if you like autobiography. ( )

I didn't realise it was going to take me this long to finish this memoir, but it was my on-the-go reading on my phone and those quite frequently get done slowly. That said, I really did enjoy reading about Dorothea's life as a resourceful young woman, eventually with a growing family, in Germany and then as an immigrant in Canada. The descriptions of surviving through the war were very evocative, as were the occasional adventures of getting settled in Canada. ( )

I received a few copy of this book so I could do an early review. I read the book and forgot all about the review until I saw it again so I apologize for being late on the review.

I loved this book. It was well written and while reading it I felt like the author was there telling the story. I am a bigger fan of fiction than non-fiction so I was honestly surprised with the love I felt for this book. ( )

The language of Gutzeit's book is simple and straightforward. At the very least, Gutzeit's story is about herself starting with her earliest memories and moving through adulthood, marriage and raising and family; but more than that it is a commentary on history; a front row seat to the rise of Hitler's power (Gutzeit's family fully supported Hitler when he became chancellor.) and the early beginnings of World War II. It is fascinating to watch history unfold in this manner. Gutzeit was just a girl of twelve years old but could still remember the passion with which her mother and sister defended Adolf Hitler as a saving grace.
If the published version contains the same photographs it will be a very generous collection.

My only negative? There are a lot of blank pages with the PDF version. I realize that had I read the book in standard print, I would have skipped over those blank pages without a problem. Scrolling through them made them more obvious to me. Not counting the blank pages, this is a very short book. ( )

Be True and Serve is the autobiography of Dorothea Gutzeit, assembled and published posthumously by her daughter, based on her diaries, notes, shared conversations, as well as historical records and documents. It chronicles her life in Germany from the aftermath of the First World War, through the hardships of WW II, to her new life in Canada, for the most part through the use of vignettes and anecdotes.
My mother was active in the Dutch Resistance during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, so it was interesting for me to hear things from a different perspective, that of ordinary German families struggling to survive and whose destiny was influenced by the politics of their time.
Overall I found it an enjoyable and engaging read. My only criticism would be that the book could have benefited from a competent proof reader. ( )