The German Wife

Lizzie works on planting victory gardens for her friend Becca. Becca’s husband is deployed in the Pacific as a pilot, and Henry is still doing training exercises in the US. Shortly before Christmas, Lizzie and Calvin receive a letter from Henry saying that he’s being deployed to active fighting.

Sofie is kept in a tiny, locked room without even enough space to lie down. She is kept there for days, but because she never sees the outside, even when taken for periodic bathroom breaks, she has no sense of how long. She is given oatmeal and water once a day and isn’t allowed to speak at all. When she’s taken from the cell and interrogated by a Gestapo officer, he reveals that Jürgen may still be alive. She stays silent throughout the interrogation, after which she is taken outside and driven home. Lydia arrives at her house with the children, but she is clearly suspicious and angry. Georg and Laura are also suspicious, wondering why their mother was gone and why she looks so thin and frail. Jürgen calls and makes it clear that he’s accepted the role in the SS.

Sofie and the children go to the country to visit Jürgen. Even weeks after the arrest, Jürgen is still healing from an obvious beating. Later that night, Jürgen tells Sofie that Otto took him aside almost immediately when he returned to work. He asked about the hotel, and Jürgen was honest and said that he wanted to leave the program. He was taken into custody and tortured. He held out until they threatened the children. He explains that Karl had suggested that if Mittelwerk were destroyed, Karl and Jürgen might be able to gain favor with the Allies because of the rocket work. Otto forced them to participate in the SS because an SS officer wouldn’t be attractive to the Allies.

Felix wakes Sofie early in the morning to ask to watch TV. She pushes herself up and sees a face at the window. She screams, running from the room with Felix. Jürgen shouts, and Sofie puts Felix with Gisele in her room. She runs to the back of the house and steps into the yard as she hears a gunshot. She sees Henry standing over Jürgen’s body, and she rushes to her husband when Henry runs away. She screams for help, and a neighbor appears while she holds pressure on the abdominal gunshot. Jürgen loses consciousness as the ambulance arrives.

Lizzie is in her garden trying to organize her thoughts when she hears the gunshot in the distance. A few minutes later, Henry runs into the backyard in his pajamas. Henry says that Jürgen has been following him and that he brought his gun for protection. She takes him upstairs to try to calm him down.

Lizzie notices that his room is chaotic. She sees paint and slips of paper sitting out, and he hands her the photos he stole from Sofie. Henry rants about his paranoid belief that Jürgen and Sofie are conspiring to cause him and Lizzie harm. Lizzie looks at the pictures and the mounting evidence against Henry and sees that he likely shot Jürgen. She realizes that her brother’s life and freedom are in danger and rushes to pack his things and get him out of town.

Sofie is told that Jürgen is seriously injured. She is interviewed by the detective who investigated Henry’s claims that Jürgen broke into Lizzie and Calvin’s house, along with a second detective who seems more sympathetic. Sofie tells them exactly what happened, but the detective is skeptical, and the neighbors can only confirm that they heard arguing and a gunshot, not that there was another man there. Sofie calls Avril Walters to stay with the children, and the police take her to the station for further interrogation. The detectives reassure her that Jürgen is in surgery, but they also tell her that, based on information from Avril, they suspect that Sofie wanted to get out of Huntsville and that Jürgen was keeping her there. Sofie tells them about Henry’s harassment, and although the second detective is still sympathetic, they insist that they can’t confirm her version of events. She asks them to talk to Lizzie and Calvin.

Lizzie removes all evidence of Henry’s crime from his room, hiding the bullets, paint, and photos in a shoebox. She tells Calvin that Henry left the previous night to look for a job. Calvin leaves for work, and shortly after he leaves, the detectives arrive at the door. They tell her that Jürgen has been shot and that they’ve taken Sofie in for questioning. She tells them that Henry left the previous night. She thinks about what will happen to the Rhodes children if Sofie is accused of shooting Jürgen. She’s worried about Henry but can’t stand the idea of Sofie being punished for Henry’s actions. She stares at the box with all the evidence long enough that the detective goes and looks in it. She refuses to answer questions about it and is taken into custody. In the interrogation room, Lizzie decides that she’ll take responsibility for the shooting to save both Henry and Sofie.

The war is coming to an end, but the Nazis refuse to surrender. Georg receives orders to go to the Kassel to defend Hitler in Berlin. At only 15, Georg is a child soldier, and Sofie panics. She calls Lydia, who dismisses her fears. When Sofie tries to convince Georg to ignore the orders, he accuses her of being a traitor, citing her disappearance and Jürgen’s injuries. Sofie fights her desire to talk Georg out of it, recognizing that she has to protect her daughters: If she’s arrested, they’ll be at risk.

After Georg and Hans leave, the city descends further into chaos, with regular bombings from the Allied forces. Laura insists that they must have a plan to defend against the Allies, but Sofie argues that the war is lost and that they must protect themselves first.

Jürgen returns to the house. He tells Sofie that he snuck away while the team was moving to Bavaria and that Karl defected to the Soviets. The next day, Lydia comes over, demanding to know where Karl is. Jürgen tells her the truth, but she refuses to believe it. When Sofie looks outside, she sees Hans in Lydia’s car and asks about Georg. She rushes out to Hans and looks him in the eye—immediately, both Sofie and Jürgen know that Georg has been killed. Hans explains that they were trying to escape when Georg was shot. After a few days of mourning, Jürgen takes Sofie to the study and pries up a floorboard, revealing a hidden photograph of Sofie and Mayim from when they were young.

Sofie waits in her cell to find out if Jürgen has survived and whether she’ll be charged with trying to kill him. The sympathetic detective releases her, telling her that Lizzie Miller is their new suspect. Sofie asks to talk to her, and although Lizzie is defensive when Sofie walks in, Sofie recognizes something of herself in Lizzie’s eyes.

Sofie tells Lizzie that they are the same—willing to do anything to protect their family. Sofie tells Lizzie to stay true to her own integrity no matter what. When Sofie walks out, Lizzie thinks of the life she’s lived largely in service to others. Calvin comes in, and together, they decide how to handle things. Calvin gets Lizzie a lawyer, and she tells the truth. Henry is put into a secure mental health facility to await trial.

Lizzie tells Calvin that she cares about him but can’t love him as a wife. She says that she needs to pursue her own life.

Jürgen makes a full recovery. Sofie ends her friendship with Avril, and while Jürgen is recovering, she manages to tell Claudia her whole story. Henry pleads not guilty due to “insanity,” and his team of doctors agrees that his experience in war caused delusions that led to his violence. Lizzie testifies and advocates for Henry. At the verdict, Jürgen and Sofie politely acknowledge Lizzie and Calvin, who return the courtesy. Henry is found not guilty and sentenced to treatment in a secure facility indefinitely. Jürgen tells Sofie, “It’s fitting. That man needs help, not prison. This feels like closure” (421).

Lizzie goes back to her family farm. She contacts Betsy and the judge, who sell her back the property for the same amount that Henry owed back in the 1930s. Calvin gives Lizzie enough to get started, and she moves Henry to a hospital in Amarillo, with the intent to bring him home when and if he’s ready for release.

After the trial, Jürgen brings in a letter from the mailbox. It’s a letter from Mayim, who is in Washington, DC, and she has listed her phone number. When Sofie calls, Mayim tells her about her time in the Krakow Ghetto and then Auschwitz, where she lost her entire family. She tells Sofie that the boots she gave her kept her warm and alive on the death march from Auschwitz directly before the liberation. Mayim wrote to Sofie, but Laura intercepted the letter and told Mayim that Jürgen and Sofie had been killed. Mayim met her husband in the liberation camp and has had two daughters with him. Talking to Mayim allows Sofie to begin to really believe in a life beyond the war.