MURIEL'S WAR : AN AMERICAN HEIRESS IN THE NAZI RESISTANCE
by Sheila Isenberg

Do you remember when Lillian Hellman wrote Pentimiento back in the early 1970s? It was a collection of stories that included a portrait of a woman named "Julia" who was purported to be a friend of Hellman's. "Julia" was involved with the Austrian resistance during World War II. Hellman never knew this woman, was never a friend of hers yet she took the liberty of borrowing a life to write about it to make herself look good. Luckily, the real woman had more class.
Muriel Gardiner was born into wealth. The family of Swift and Morris were involved in the meatpacking industry in Chicago. Muriel did not know anything about the business; nobody at home ever talked about it. When she was twelve, her father died and Muriel became a millionaire inheriting $3 million (this was in 1913). By the time she went off to college and entered Wellesley, she disengaged herself from her life of luxuries. When Muriel graduated, she took a trip to Europe, studied at Oxford and then went to medical school at the University of Vienna. She became interested in psychoanalysis and although she never met Sigmund Freud, she went into therapy with a protege of his. War clouds were gathering by this time and when Hitler marched into Austria, Muriel began to help both Jews and anti-Fascists escape using both her unlimited stores of money and connections. She risked her life many times, but she had incredible courage. When she left Europe for New York, she continued to help rescue hundreds of people still trapped behind enemy lines.
Muriel Gardiner was an incredibly selfless woman and quite a hero to everyone she saved. She kept on giving to others until the day she died. Muriel financed education for aspiring students, bought homes for people in need, paid for vacations for friends and relatives; the list goes on.
Although she rebelled against her family for their wealth, she finally realized that by having an inordinate amount of money she could accomplish much more by passing it on to others in dire straits.
Sheila Isenberg has produced a book about a virtually unknown woman and has done a terrific job. Her writing is fluid and absorbing. Between the extensive number of people she interviewed who knew Muriel, the amount of archives she perused (twenty-six pages of Notes) and over one hundred books and articles, Isenberg has brought the tale of a very gutsy woman into the limelight.
Not many libraries own this book. (Pennsylvania has four copies.) I made a special request at my local library having read about it on the Internet. It's worth your while to read it.
Recommended.