for fifty years anna schlemmer has refused to talk about her life in germany during world war ii her daughter trudy was only three when she and her mother were liberated by an american soldier and went to live with him in minnesota trudys sole evidence of the past is an old photograph a family portrait showing anna trudy and a nazi officer the obersturmfuhrer of buchenwalddriven by the guilt of her heritage trudy now a professor of german history begins investigating the past and finally unearths the dramatic and heartbreaking truth of her mothers lifecombining a passionate doomed love story a vivid evocation of life during the war and a poignant motherdaughter drama those who save us is a profound exploration of what we endure to survive and the legacy of shame