A Definitive Voice In Holocaust Literature
344064
Just thinking of people in the modern age, who might have endured suffering, pain and agony and understandably may have been terrible, unspeakable, unthinkable, yet who still have had the opportunity to read this book, have a computer with internet connection and then type up and post a review of it...yet can still critique writing style and include a dismissiveness based on that?

That leaves me speechless but reaffirms my observation that many of those who have not really suffered the unimaginable, yet have such access, continue to be the ones to negatively or poorly rate a work of personal, agonizing minimalism which contains such profound revelations and truth.

I stopped to reread "Night" this week, and it places in great perspective whatever mundane pain, thought or complaint I might have in life right now, in general. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't negate anyone's current situation, but it does give you a wider range in which to observe your own life.

I am a student of WW2 and Holocaust literature and history. I am also a person who was born and spent much time in Germany interacting with and interviewing those who remember firsthand, or those who were 1st gen survivors or ones who directly remember on a variety factors: NOT just because their parents might have been involved, but those who survived and endured the "survivors guilt" that maybe they shouldn't have.

One of the things I've noted is that, because the events have replayed to the level of infinity in their minds, sometimes when they recount, it does sometimes come across as bloodless, or too cool. This is part of the psychological mechanisms of the brain which enact to protect that person. Sometimes the level of self-absorption and intentness of having some kind of entertainment from works of horrific history, or a desire to learn of ugly history but not really wishing to "know" of it, actually horrifies me.
2774844
This first in a two volume work by acclaimed historian is a remarkably objective, comprehensive and scrupulously scholarly work and represents a very critical contribution to historians' efforts to comprehend just how  and why one of the most civilized and sophisticated countries in Europe  descended into the systematic attempt to exterminate the Jews. The book  proceeds along a chronological axis in recounting the slow but inexorably  tightening of restrictions on the Jewish population within Germany during  the years of the mid to late 1930s.

While centering his account of what  went wrong in Nazi Germany during the pre-war years, he also humanizes his  narrative considerably by interspersing individual accounts of people  caught confused and unaware of what was really occurring in the crucible of  cultural change. As substantiated in other recent accounts such as Victor  Klemperer's "I Shall Bear Witness", Jews were very slow to recognize just  how malevolent and serious the national Socialists were about ridding  Germany of its Jewish population and also nationalizing and "Aryanizing"  their resources and assets.

It is important to note that the author  does not overlay any overall interpretive spin of his  own, intent more on  presenting the best evidence of what was going on than in coming to any  premature general interpretation of what the mass of evidence in total  might mean. This is not to suggest he offers no interpretation; on the  contrary, he offers a series of brilliant insights in various aspects of  the evidence. But unlike other recent authors like Goldhagen, he makes no  sweeping interpretative conclusions based on all of the evidence he  presents. Also, one must remember that this is the first of two volumes,  and one would expect that he intends to fully conclude his systematic and  chronological presentation of all of the available evidence before engaging  in that sort of interpretative analysis.

In sum, I find this work to be  an excellent book that is engaging, well-written and argued, and a joy to  read despite its tragic and dispiriting subject matter, and a book that  offers an amazing look at a wide variety of different perspectives and  social situations within the Third Reich as it descended into the abyss.  After finishing this volume I immediately ordered the second volume, which  is slated for formal publication release later this year. This is a work  that belongs on the bookshelf of any serious student of the Holocaust.
2422546
This book is clearly destined to be the definitive work on the subject of how the Nazis got away and the role played by both the Vatican and the Red Cross.  It also deals with where and how the Nazis relocated and the German communities in which they settled.  The discussion of the two German speaking communities in Argentina, for example, was quite fascinating - especially about how the anti-Hitler camp and the pro-Hitler camp never crossed paths.

The author made use of all extant books on the matter and had uncovered a veritable treasure house of primary documents.  The paragraphs are a bit long - but this is standard fare for a scholarly work.
1821158
Tales of Holocaust Survivors and Victims does a great job describing the climate of Germany leading up to Hitlers Nuremberg Laws.  Featuring numerous accounts of internment from Holocaust survivors themselves, this makes for a riveting read.  Mixed in flawlessly with fact, these stories capture the readers attention and transport them into the mindset of these victims.  This technique makes the accounts of the concentration camps all the more heartbreaking.  One of the best books on the Holocaust Ive read.
4843104
Hitler annexed Austria on March 12, 1938. "Suddenly and abruptly, my life changed forever," writes Lisl Malkin.
  There is no shortage of accounts of the Jewish holocaust and its byproduct of a Kindertransport that severed some ten thousand Jewish children from their homes and families while plucking them from the Nazis' lethal grip. Even some of the most heartfelt of these tales can seem repetitive if not perfunctory.
  Yet Malkin's eloquent, highly readable memoir is a welcome addition to this body of literature, occupying a distinctive niche. It helps that she is a skilled storyteller who has quite a story to tell, one spanning her girlhood in Vienna to her widowhood and beyond in the U.S. In navigating this twisty, serpentine trail, she makes vibrant observations enhanced by a laser eye for detail.
  I found myself warmed by Malkin's emotion (her family memories are tender interludes) and attracted greatly to the side of her story that reads like a perilous adventure. Well, it was. Displaying remarkable savvy, for example, she was just 13 when she negotiated with the Gestapo for her freedom. That's right, 13! This was one of many risky uncertainties confronting her en route to safety in England with other Jewish children. Her years there and in the US. assume a much different tone and are major parts of her rich memoir that also make for seductive reading.
  Which is why "An Interrupted Life" is an uninterrupted pleasure.
2139392
Daniel Asa Rose's memoir adds a fresh and necessary voice to the chorus of Holocaust tales. Told from the perspective of an assimilated Jew who is at  once embarrassed and fascinated by his heritage, "Hiding Places"  borders on the irreverent yet manages to walk that dangerous razor's edge  with grace and wit. Rose's writing is illuminating AND luminous, shining  most brightly when he describes his Jewish ancestors, Yudl and Velvl. The  story is engaging and the message is surprisingly universal. I recommend  this book to everyone: young, old, Jewish, Christian, and anywhere in  between.
4362764
The book is wonderful and heartbreaking.  It should be required reading for any course on the Holocaust, because there is so much to say about all the
people who were directly affected, including, of course, those who are of the second generation.  Not only were the children of those in the camps children of survivors, but as the author makes clear, those who were able to leave but unable to save their relatives led lives of underlying guilt and horror which affected their children as well.  The letters shared by the author are heart-rending, but a necessary reminder of what should never be forgotten.
1848588
"Throughout history" writes American Israeli activist Emily Schaeffer, "women's stories have played a key role in drawing attention to social injustices and human rights violations".  This book, edited by Osie Gabriel Adelfang is just that:  A collection of essays of 14 Jewish women who collectively say, 'Not in my name'.  It is prefaced by Amira Hass, an Israeli journalist who routinely writes about the horrors of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank as well as the inherent inequalities in Israel amongst Jews and Palestinians.  The forward is written by Cindy Sheehan, no stranger to pain herself.

Then there is Osie's essay in the book, reading it will provide the entire motivation behind this beautiful book.  It was her cousin Haim who refused to serve in the Israel Defense Force, inspiring her to edit this book and to open her eyes to the true and harsh realities that exist in Israel and the occupation. Hedy Epstein is also a contributor.  A Holocaust survivor who writes, "The Israeli government's arrogance, its chutzpah, and its violent practices stand in the way of accomplishing the peace Israelis say they want.  It stands in the way of Palestinians having the same rights all human being s deserve.  The Palestinians will not go away.  They are a resilient, ever-hopeful people.  They are my brothers and sisters".

Buy the book.  Read it. Recommend it.  It is a powerful combination of pain, loss, empathy, compassion and razor sharp reasoning on why Israel must, for the sake of Jews and Palestinians, cease its violent and racist policies, and enter into a meaningful and just peace based on equality and fairness for everyone.
1940317
This is a Holocaust memoir like no other. Instead of a tragic story of concentration camps and ghettos, Rabbi Cywiak and Jeff Swesky have written a pivoting tale of miraculous survival against all odds in a world fraught with starvation, tragedy and the death of millions of Jews and other minorities.

The story starts with Rabbi Cywiak as a 19-year-old Polish, rabbinical student on vacation from his yeshiva for the High Holy Days in that fateful summer of 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland. As German planes bombed their small community, he and his family "waited with fear in our hearts, praying to G-d for His mercy." We witness his harrowing escape from the Nazis, followed by more miraculous escapes after another in his journey through Poland, Lithuania, Russia and France before he finally reaches America after the war.

As the Rabbi points out in the introduction, he "survived the two worst human monsters in history: Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin." The Rabbi's memories of his time spent in the Soviet Union and Soviet-controlled Lithuania paint a valuable historical portrait of life during WWII-era Soviet communism.

Brilliantly interwoven throughout the heart-wrenching tale are funny stories, Midrashic discussions, valuable spiritual and moral lessons and Jewish religious history that provide unique insight into the lives and teachings of Hasidic and non-Hasidic Orthodox Jews of the 19th and 20th centuries. It's at times heart-breaking, as you would expect a Holocaust memoir to be. But just as often it's laugh-out-loud funny--and filled with life and hope. It is a flight from fear and a journey to freedom that will be etched on the reader's heart forever.
3840416
This is an account of the life of the author as a young boy in Tureck, Poland- from the onset of the 2nd World War till its end & the author's experiences, in ghettos & camps, to survive the holocaust & reunited afterwards, of all relatives who were killed, with a father & elder brother in England. It tells of the destruction of his world, the world of Polish Jewry, and is very clearly & richly evoked. So, too, is conveyed the colossal sense of loss, of vibrant families & life- the cruelty of people, Germans and Poles. The style of the book is very clear- the facts and experiences are well-told and many details are given. Nothing is over-dramatised. Everything is stated with a clear eye, with clarity and keen observance- and the horrors and cruelty therefore resonate: told as they were. This book should be translated and read all over the world- one of the clearest and poignant holocaust accounts that can be read. The author's style and the resonance of the terrible events makes one unable to put down the book till its concluding pages.
329192
This is one of the most remarkable books written around World War 2.

Whilst Sebald's primary subject is the lacunae and evasions in German texts around the experience of the Allied bombing campaigns of World War 2, the main essay of this collection also raises profound questions for any reader asssociated with the Allied nations of the war. The response in popular histories written from an Allied perspective is revealed in the wake of the Natural History of Destruction to be less than adequate. Am I alone in feeling a degree of shame and repulsion as a citizen of nations who also violated human rights in such cases as Dresden and Hamburg?

More honesty on our part is called for ... this book offers much food for thought especially around the human feelings at ground zero

Questions about whether this book assists the neo-Nazi cause and also the extraordinary tone (with strong overtones of Nazism)of the many angry letters received by Sebald further indicates how inadequate is later generations' response to the profound moral challenge of World War 2  - espcially now we are in the midst of another war where the goodies and baddies are not quite so easy to tell apart as they are in late night movies

3 other essays examine esteemed 20th century German literary figures in the wake of the war - these figures are less known outside of a German speaking context (with the exception of Weiss' theatre piece Marat/Sade) and serve to introduce them to a new audience

The prose is vivid and evocative - it is a tragedy that this writer was killed in a traffic accident at the height of his powers.
4663306
I recall when I first read 'Night', it was just after Elie Wiesel had given a lecture at my university. It was in the mid-1980s, and the lecture hall was standing-room-only. Wiesel's presentation moved us to tears, and moved us to anger, and moved me to want to follow up on his words by reading what he had written.

This is written a style that seems to be typical of many modern Israeli novelists; it is so close to the truth of the actual events that transpired in Wiesel's life that it might as well be treated as autobiographical.  Thus, it seems to some to be more a work like a novel than a memoir, but Weisel describes it himself as more of a deposition.  It isn't autobiography in the traditional sense, but that is what helps give the book its power.  Weisel remembers the events here,  This is actually part of a trilogy - Night, Dawn, and The Accident - although each element stands alone with integrity.  (Dawn and The Accident are works of fiction, but also draw on Weisel's own recollections and feelings.)

How does one deal with survival after such atrocities as that at Birkenau and Auschwitz? How can one have faith in the world? How can one accept that a people so closely identified with a powerful God can ever accept that God again? Where is God in the midst of such things?

Wiesel himself as spent his life in search of such answers, but doesn't provide them here. Why then would one want to read such accounts as these? Wiesel was silent for many years, until he was brought into speech and writing as a witness to the events. Wiesel proclaims that there is in the world now a new commandment - 'Thou shalt not stand idly by' - when such things are happening, one must act. One must remember the past in all its personal aspects to both honour those who suffered and to forestall such things happening again (which, given the the depressing repetitive nature of history, is a difficult task).

This is the longest short book I've ever read. It is one that has stayed with me from the first page, and I've never been able to shake the images brought forward, the misery and suffering, the existence of evil and brutality, the sadness and desolation. We live in a culture that likes to gloss over pain and suffering, mask it with drugs and other things, and always end the story with a happy ending.

There is no happy ending here - even Wiesel's own survival is a questionable good here. How does one live after this? How does the world go on?

One thing is certain, we must never forget, and this book is part of that active remembering that we are called to do.
2209932
dan miller, a jewish book collector, November 14, 2003,
This book is probably the most brazen, penetrating, honest and sensitive books about and for the Jewish people written in years. The initial going is a bit slow, but afterwards this book encaptures the reader with depth, sensitivity, courage and sheer power. The range of topics discussed is just unbelievable and there is something of interest to most anybody. Yet somehow, the author keeps it all together with a couple of threads that pass throughout the entire book. A must read. Simply a must. Not only will it make you think and rethink, it will open you up to possibilities you never dared explore before.
1724684
Claudia Koonz, Professor of History at Duke University, has written what in my eyes is likely to be one of the very best books ever written about Nazi ideology in general and the hatred of the Jews in particular. It's an amazing read, packed with information, pictures of Nazi propaganda, extensive sources, and a text that is eerie, fascinating, and very, VERY instructive.

It's hard, to a certain extent even impossible, to understand how Hitler and his National Socialism managed to rise to such enormous power and popularity, and it's probably safe to say that a large number of people in today's world don't `know how widespread and well planned the Nazi ideology really was in Germany during the height of its popularity. But this is just what Koonz wants to explain with her book, and she definitely doesn't fail in describing the rise of Nazi power, how the people chose to embrace it, and how the "Jewish menace" came to be an accepted fact among large segments of the population.

It doesn't matter if one, quite understandably, hates the Nazi ideology and everything it resulted in; one still cannot deny the fact that the systematic indoctrination and the power of Hitler's speeches was quite impressive considering what the results were. And that's just as true today as it was back then, since during the 1930s when the Nazis really came to power, many Europeans "looked on from neighboring countries with envy even if they deplored the Nazi state" (p. 163).

But how could it happen? That's a question that's been asked millions of times by millions of people, but if you read Koonz' book the whole thing will without a doubt become at least somewhat more understandable, thanks to examples as this one about the bizarre hatred of the Jews, taken from a chapter about the creation of the ultimate SS man:

"By conjuring up an image of the Jewish enemy as both morally debauched and deviously intelligent instructors presented racial persecution as rational self-defense, not emotional prejudice" (p. 243)

Discussions and details about Hitler appear from time to time, obviously, but the greater part of the text is not about him. The Nazi Conscience is not a biography about Hitler; its more a biography about the German people, and even though the man behind it all only appears from time to time, I still haven't ever read a book that taught me more about Nazism and its power of attraction than The Nazi Conscience did.

Now, there's a factor that often appears when you read well-written books about Nazism and Nazi ideology, and this factor is just as frightening as it is fascinating: You understand them. You understand the Nazis, and you realize that they were people, too, even though their particular worldview was quite different to the one that most people have today.

This understanding easily leads to another insight, namely the fact that one has to accept the fact that one self could very likely have ended up being a devoted Nazi is one had grown up in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s, no matter how well-educated and rational one happens to be.

Realizations like this can really mess with your head. I know it did to me. It's not a very pleasant thing; this understanding of the Nazi universe, but it's an extremely important one. Because only when you realize who the Nazis were, how they thought, and why they turned out to be the vicious killers that many of them were.

Then, and only then, can you begin to understand them.
458029
Beautifully written and arranged in carefully crafted chapters that analyze the most important and debated issues in Holocaust studies. A major publication: learned, useful, and written in a clear, illuminating language both for scholars and a general audience.
3245709
It is astonishing to realize that more than 60 years after the conclusion of World War II, new books are still being released that expose previously unpublished details of the unparalleled depth of anti-Semitism that occurred during the war.  History is burdened with false claims that Jewish men did not fight on the Russian front, and we are left with visions of meek Jews submissively surrendering to the Nazis.  With the aid of archival sources from Germany, Israel, Russia, and states that were previously part of the Soviet Union, Yitzhak Arad assembled this compilation of facts, details, reports, and first hand accounts of how the Russian Jews fought the Nazis and contributed in many ways to Germany's ultimate loss.

"In the Shadow of the Red Banner" illustrates the full extent of Jewish participation in the war activities.  There are chapters devoted to heroic service in the army, the underground, partisan activities, and detailed explanations of the various ghetto uprisings along with many examples of their distinguished contribution in the development and manufacturing of weapons, and in medical services.  At the time, their help was unwanted, unappreciated, and scarcely recognized.

Yitzhak Arad states, "the annihilation of the Jews in the occupied territories began the day the Germans invaded the Soviet Union and did not stop until the Germans were expelled."  It was not difficult for Nazi propaganda to brainwash the citizens of conquered Soviet territories, since anti-Semitism was deep rooted from the Czarist regime and still prevalent when Stalin was in power.  The Jews knew that captivity by the Germans was sure death, but they were just as likely to die at the hands of local citizens who willingly collaborated with the Nazis.  So they fought loyally for their country and literally for their lives.

A brief introduction recounts the Soviet/German political philosophy and military strategy which played a large part in the success and failure of various countries during the war.  Explanations are also provided regarding Jewish sentiments about communism and their participation in the Russian Revolution, which ties in strongly since Hitler blamed the Jews for the spread of communism.

The most enthralling chapters of the book involved resistance fighting within the ghettos and with the partisan fighters in the vast forests of Russia.  With profound bravery, many Russian Jews escaped the ghettos unarmed and improperly clothed.  They robbed and killed German soldiers and local police stations and entered the dense forests to participate in resistance activities: ambushing German forces, destroying bridges, railroads, and phone wires, and disrupting the German war machine which kept Germans continuously fighting behind their own lines instead of on the front.  And amidst all the starvation, death, and destruction of civilization, there were amazing stories of Jewish family camps in the forests housing as many people as 1200 people; women, children, and unarmed men who served the partisan fighters by setting up make-shift hospitals, bakeries, soap manufacturing, sausage factories, and tailor shops.....never knowing if the partisans or local farmers with incomprehensible cruelty would ruthlessly turn them in to the Germans.

Anyone interested in Russian history, World War II, the holocaust, or Jewish chronicles would find this book a welcome addition to their library.  It is an incredible documentary, reference book, and memoir for the half million Soviet Jews who fought against Nazi Germany.
2718307
A most excellent insight.  The author deals mainly with the period September 1939 to the Wannsee meeting in January 1942, making use of new material which has come to light.  He illustrates with meticulous attention  to detail how those entrusted with the grisly task - Himmler, Heydrich,  Eichmann, Frank etc - moved inexorably to their final position of Jewish  extermination. The problems they had to deal with en route, including  opposition from those who wanted to keep the Jews alive for indefinite  slave labor and the economic expectancy of those Germans recently moved  from "liberated" territories back to the Reich, are recounted in  all their complex detail.  The final chapter gives a selection of pertinent  remarks from the murderers themselves. I have never read a more incisive  and readable account of the incremental steps leading up to the Final  Solution.