5 comments about For Those I Loved.

1. If it's all a true account of Martin Gray's life experiences, then it's remarkable. If not, as the previous reviewer contends, then it's a shame. I found it an interesting read, giving it the benefit of any doubts. However, the writing is often redundant in it's expressions of despair. Without doubt, such experiences would be despairing, however the frequency of mentioning it is distracting. A long read but not too difficult to get through. A story of many, deep losses.



2. I first heard of this book when I was in college during a course on the autobiography. We didn't read it, and it was only mentioned in passing. The theme of the course was autobiography & truth and we spent a great deal of time discussing what our expectations of authors were in terms of telling the truth.
   
   Martin Gray's book is particularly problematic because it is extremely inspiring. It tells the story of survival and heroism in the face of the Holocaust and sends a strong affirmative message about the ability of victims to take their destiny into their own hands. Very strong, and very moving.
   
   Unfortunately, it appears that there are troubling doubts about the accuracy of Gray's book. We know that he lived in the Warsaw Ghetto. We know that he lost his parents. That something terrible happened to him, nobody questions. However, some of his accounts of Treblinka appear to be impossible. He supposedly saw things at times that they did not yet exist. His role in N.K.V.D. is not mentioned. He also (more understandably) elides the fact that he took some serious "short cuts" (wording from the introduction) in setting up his antique business.
   
   The thing is that as you read the book, there is something very implausible about the feel of the text. He does so much, accomplishes so much, and without the ordinary pacing of ordinary life that seems normal even in the most heroic of men. It is clearly so important to Gray to show that there were Jewish heroes during the Holocaust that it seems possible that he would be willing to stretch the truth in order to make his point.
   
   We will never know how much of For Those I Loved is truth. And that, it seems to me, is too bad. The crazy folks over at the revisionist extreme right have seized on the inaccuracies in Gray's book, and use them to attack other unimpeachable memoirs and accounts of the Holocaust. No matter how noble his mission was in the beginning, it is time for somebody to set the record straight. I personally suspect that the truth would be found to outweigh the lies, but then I generally have high hopes for people. Gray's passion and the strength of his life speaks to his essential sincerity.
   
   For Those I Loved was ghost written by Max Gallo.



3. I could not put down this beautifully written book. It is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary man. After completing this book, my thought was - here is a 20th century Book of Job. The story is of survival beyond all odds, of suffering beyond one's endurance, and of an improbable faith, yes, the faith in G-d despite the tragedies that would overwhelm and destroy any ordinary human being. A MUST read for all who attempt to comprehend man's ability to endure in the face of horrific evil inflicted by other men, and, tragically, by fate itself.



4. This review assumes the veracity of at least most of the book's contents, and is based on the 1972 English-language version.
   
   While in the Warsaw Ghetto, the Germans attempted to make Gray a Jewish informer (p. 96). He played along.
   
   Then the "resettlement" of Warsaw's Jews to Treblinka began: "Jewish policemen with raised clubs yelling orders: they needed six thousand heads that evening." (p. 101). Those Jews who attempted to hide in their homes were often betrayed by their neighbors or relatives in the Ghetto (p. 103). Gray reports what happened after the Jews in an area had been cleared out: "Afterwards, Ukrainian, Latvian, and Lithuanian SS men and the Jewish police searched the buildings, looting, killing anyone they caught there. They smashed the furniture, wrecked the beds and broke through the walls: they looked for hideouts where families had taken refuge, for gold and jewels." (p. 109).
   
   Gray also describes scenes around the death trains being loaded with human cargo: "I followed them to the hospital to find out. The cattle cars were there, lined up at the platforms, policemen yelling. I recognized the mighty Szmerling, whip held high dashing from the herd to report to the SS. Yet he was a Jew. Like them. Like me. They were shoved into the cars, separated, and if anyone shouted, protested or struggled, they got a blow from an iron bar, or a bullet." (p. 102)
   
   In time, it became Gray's turn. But after escaping from Treblinka by stowing away on a departing supply train, he experienced the incredulity of both Poles and Jews. For instance, near Zambrow, Gray encountered a Jewish work gang with no German guards anywhere near, because "the Germans trust us." (p. 162). They scoffed at the notion of Treblinka.
   
   Polish peasants sometimes denounced or killed Jews known or suspected of thievery. Gray sometimes sought Polish help, while at other times he simply stole from Poles during his treks in the countryside (e. g., p. 158, 183, 184).
   
   There is an account of an alcoholic Polish man who betrayed several Jews (pp. 233-234). The reader may not realize that the Germans encouraged alcoholism among Poles, both to degrade them and also to exploit this dependency as leverage for such collaborative acts as betraying Jews.
   
   Gray's experiences shed light on Jewish-Communist collaboration, a major factor antagonizing Poles against Jews during and after the war. He at first has positive remarks about the AK (p. 187) before lapsing into standard, mostly unsubstantiated, accusations of the AK and NSZ denouncing and killing fugitive Jews. He joins the AL, and includes a photo of himself and Mieczyslaw Moczar in the book. Moczar sends him on a mission to spy on the NSZ, from which he narrowly escapes with his life (pp. 224-226). Later, after the arrival of the Soviet occupants, the NKVD also uses him for espionage: "Do your best, find us the NSZ, the informers, the denouncers, the collaborators, the people who don't like us." (p. 233)



5. I just had the "pleasure" of having to remove all my books from my office so the room could be painted. I came across a favorite I had forgotten I owned and must tell you, THIS BOOK will make you realize how much you MUST stop this petty "he said-she said" with those you love.
   FOR THOSE I LOVED by Martin Gray with Max Gallo is one of the most gut wrenching, soul searching books I have ever read.
   It is a Biography of Martin Gray who, in his own words, was living a pleasant life in Warsaw September 1939 when "he and everyone else was plunged into an endless hell of butchers and bombs, corps and concentration camps, a nightmare from which it was impossible to awake. At that period our lives had the resistance of stone, and our stones had the eternity of life."
   Martin Gray did survive that nightmare, but lost his entire family. How he did it builds the exciting first half of the novel. Settling in Southern France after the War he builds a successful life, has a new family and what happens next................. Well, I read this book ten years ago and I'll stop by telling you I have never been able to put it out of my mind. It's a WONDERFUL READ. I just purchased it here again for a friend overseas.

5 comments about The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps.

1. A sodomy law had been on the German law books since 1871, a law known simply as Paragraph 175. Only a few people were ever sentenced under this obscure law until June of 1935 when, after the rise of Hitler and Nazism, the Nuremberg laws were enacted and the consequences of Paragraph 175 strengthened. Where once before, you had to be caught in the act of same sex relations, now simply receiving a letter or the spreading of idle gossip would have you sent to a concentration camp.

   "The Men with the Pink Triangle" is one anonymous man's account of the harshness and cruelty faced by gay men at the hands of the SS and the ruling Nazi party, as well as by the other prisoners -- criminals, politicals, emigrants -- who viewed "filthy queers" as lower than the rest of them. They were distinguished by the large, pink triangles sown onto their prison outfits, making them easy targets for taunts and punishments. Also, homosexuals labored through the worst of the work details and "volunteered" for medical experimentation, which usually resulted in their deaths.

   Some advantages also appeared for gay men. The "Capos" who were in charge of the prisoner barracks, often made lovers of some of the prisoners, giving them some protection and better rations and clothing. As is says in the book: "Homosexual behavior between two 'normal' men is considered an emergency outlet, while the same thing between two gay men, who both feel deeply for one another, is something 'filthy' and repulsive." The anonymous man used this to his advantage and survived the camps and the threat of being sent to the front lines.

   Ths is a moving and powerful story about survival and about the right to be who you are, during one of the darkest times in world history. Highly recommended.




2. Such a good book. It gives a different perspective on the Holocaust. It's a page turner...I couldn't put it down once I got past the first few pages. Everyone one should read!



3. The dirty closeted secret of the Nazi Holocaust is and was the persection of gays and the subsequent systematic effort to exterminate them. This book is an eye opening account of an actual gay survivor of this 20th Century atrocity. It is absolute MUST reading for anyone who wants to understand aspects of the Holocaust, or for any gay man or woman in America today. Eye opening and brutal, this book will provide the reader with a glimpse of history not often told.



4. This is a must read for everyone who wants to discover the whole truth abut the concentration camps that the devilish Nazis set up during WW2. It's also a must read for every gay man in the world because it documents an important chapter about how gay men were so ill-treated (starved, beaten, horribly tortured, dishonorably killed) during ww2 and afterwards. I'm just sorry that the author didin't identify himself, because if he was living today I would try to find him and thank him for telling his story. It also documents the horrible descrimination that the gays suffered after 1945 until the 70s and how differently they were treated than the jews. These had the holocaust horror recognised immediately after the war was over, but no such luck for the few gay men who survived the camps (mostly Sachsenhausen and Flossenburg). Don't miss this book if you're setting up any kind of document, museum, documentary about gay people in the 20th century. I'm so touched by the men who died in those camps, I just can't believe how much they suffered....I've been at Sachsenhausen 2 months ago, and they had a sign in memory of the gay people that have died there, but I didn't realize the horror in it's full scope. All this just makes hate more and more anyone who defends the nazis and that deny the holocaust. I hope the nazis who did these crimes burn and suffer in hell for all eternity for everything they did. But I think it won't be enough punishment.....



5. Written in the first person, this book describes in vivid detail the horror of day to day life in a Nazi concentration camp. It's one man's eyewitness account of the camps, the death and degradation he faced on a daily basis, and how he clung to his humanity ~ and his life ~ against such unbearable odds.
   
   Most telling ~ though not really very surprising, given the vast power differences between prisoners and their guards ~ was his recollection of camp politics. He managed to survive by taking advantage of a guard whose friendliness toward him turned into sexual interest.
   
   This book is not for the faint of heart. The scenes of horror that play out ~ the executions, the torture ~ are not graphic in their description, but the stark, terse language in which they're conveyed, married with the sense of hopelessness you read between the lines, speak more to the brutality of the Nazis than a thousand descriptive paragraphs ever could.
   
   But this was probably one of the best books I've read on the Holocaust. I wish it were required reading for every person, everywhere, as a testament of the human spirit in adversity and a warning to us all. Perhaps then we could begin to move past our differences to a more peaceful co-existance.

3 comments about Flory: A Miraculous Story of Survival.

1. Flory A. Van Beek has written this memoir of the time she spent hidden from the Nazis. It is inspiring to read of her survival during World War II. I also am amazed by all the help various people gave her even though they were risking their own lives by helping her. After reading the book I saw on the internet that there may or may not be a television mini-series based on the book. I do so hope someone will make sure this story is told as widely as possible. A TV mini-series would be one way to do it. There are others. I just would like to see it done and the sooner the better while the author is still alive. Brenda Foust.



2. This is a gripping true life memoir of a young Dutch girl named Flory and her life in German occupied-Netherlands. I listened to the unabridged audio edition of this novel, and it was very compelling. I found Flory to be a remarkably resilient and likeable woman. Her observations were insightful and pertinent. The Dutch Christians who hid her and tended her and her family through the war were quite brave.
   
   The only thing missing was more about the relationship between Flory and her husband. I admit I am curious how their relationship fared under such harsh circumstances, especially after such a quick marriage.. I understand why the author did not include details, but I admit, that I am curious a bit about their situation, especially since they both seemed so young and married under duress.
   
   I would recommend this to persons who are interested in educating themselves about wartime events and life in occupied Europe.



3. In 1939 as Nazi forces became a reality, the Jewish population through Europe faced options to flee and lose all or go into hiding. The author, a Holocaust survivor, faced this choice and her story follows her dark journey as she relates her teen years spent in terror when the Nazis invaded her neutral homeland of Holland. Any library strong in first-person Holocaust memoirs needs this.

5 comments about The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany.

1. I listened to Martin Goldsmith on "Performance Today" (and still listen to his successor, Fred Child) for many years. This man who for years described classical music on the radio -- composers and their life story, pieces and their histories, in accessible, engaging, and lightly humorous ways, and even sometimes tied it in to his love of baseball -- he also has an extraordinary family story. It's moving and well-written, and makes me think about the extraordinary stories that must dwell in the depths of my own geneological past.



2. This story was impossible to put down and when you finish, it stays with you for a very long time. Its hard to believe that Gunther and Rosemary didn't make every effort to help their parents emigrate to U. S. What really bothers me most is, not being Jewish, what would I have done in Germany in the late thirties and early forties when I saw these atrocities happening?



3. What do we really know about our parents' life before we were born? That depends largely, I guess, on how much of an interest we show - and on how much they are willing to reveal. Because in the life of every person there are instances and times they rather wish to forget, and not revive time and again by discussion, even if only among their nearest and dearest.
   
   Such, in the lives of author Martin Goldsmith's parents, were the years from 1933 through 1941; so much so, in fact, that Goldsmith likens that time to the massive ash tree in the house of Germanic warlord Hunding, the setting of the first scene of Richard Wagner's opera "Die Walkuere:" Something looming large, yet never openly acknowledged. Because before George Gunther Goldsmith, furniture and home decorating salesman of Cleveland, Ohio, and his wife Rosemary, a violinist with the St. Louis Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, became American citizens in 1947, they had lived a whole other life - the hunted life of Jews in Adolf Hitler's Germany. And only years after his mother's death, on a trip to his father's home town of Oldenburg, did Goldsmith catch the first glimpses of what was hidden behind that massive ash tree, and George Goldsmith began to talk about the events which his, the Goldschmidt family had witnessed there; as well as the early life of Rosemarie nee Gumpert in Duesseldorf, the couple's first meeting in Frankfurt, and their later life in Berlin until their lucky escape to the United States. Beginning with this visit, Martin Goldsmith retraced his family's path to the early years of the 20th century, when his paternal grandfather Alex Goldschmidt took residence in Oldenburg, and his maternal grandfather Julian Gumpert settled in Duesseldorf.
   
   How intensely personal this voyage into the past must have been becomes clear in the account of Goldsmith's visit to Oldenburg prison, as a participant in a march retracing the path taken by the Jews - among them the author's grandfather - driven through the streets of Oldenburg in 1938 by Nazi thugs, to later be shipped off (at least temporarily) to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. But although he writes about his very own family, and now in full knowledge of their fate, Goldsmith's narrative is in no way sentimental. With a journalist's detachment he talks about Guenther and Rosemarie, Alex, Julian and their wives and other children; turning a nonfiction account whose outcome is clear from the very start into a heartstopping tale few would be able to believe if presented with it under colors other than that of the plain historic truth.
   
   Prominently featured in Goldsmith's account is the Jewish Culture Association, or Juedischer Kulturbund; as of 1933 the German Jews' only permitted artistic organization, in whose orchestra Guenther and Rosemarie had met and which had formed the center of their life until they finally left the country. One of the most controversial institutions of Nazi Germany, it reunited what was left of the country's Jewish musicians, artists, writers and composers - providing a modicum of shelter in an increasingly hostile environment, but also a convenient tool in the Nazi propaganda machine. Were the members of the Kulturbund instrumentalized to deceive public opinion, at home and abroad, about the true intentions of Hitler's government? By giving their Jewish audience a sense of comfort and "belonging," did they also prevent some of them from rescuing themselves when there still would have been time? The surviving members of the "Kubu" and their families, interviewed by Goldsmith, come down on both sides of the issue; and the fate of the survivors is probably as symptomatic as that of the many who ultimately did perish in Nazi concentration camps - chiefly among those the Kulturbund's charismatic founder Dr. Singer, who not only let himself deceive into returning to Germany after already having reached the safe shores of the U.S. but saw a mark of distinction even in his deportation to the "model" concentration camp of Theresienstadt.
   
   Yet, for Guenther and Rosemarie the years with the Kulturbund were dominated, above all, by the musical companionship they experienced. What does seem to have haunted them most for the rest of their lives, however, was their very escape to America, while their remaining family members were stuck in Europe and, one way or another, died in Hitler's concentration camps - and the feeling that with a little effort they just *might* have saved at least some of them. The letters of Alex Goldschmidt and his younger son Helmut, written to Guenther from captivity in France after their own unsuccessful attempt to flee to Cuba, are among the most chilling testimonials contained in this book; and the decision to translate and include them conceivably cannot have been an easy one for Goldsmith. Indeed, it apparently was the knowledge of his family's fate that, all talent and love of music aside, eventually compelled George Goldsmith to forever retire the flute which, in his life as Guenther Goldschmidt, had been the only item of true importance besides his beloved wife Rosemarie; thus punishing himself in a way no outsider could have done. Yet, the couple's gift for music lives on in their son, who in his own way has brought many hours of joy to radio listeners all over the U.S.
   
   Martin Goldsmith's "Inextinguishable Symphony" - named for Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Fourth Symphony, which sets music, as a parable for life itself, against war, terror and destruction - is as much a personal journey of discovery as a journalist's account of historic facts; seeking to understand rather than to judge. It deals with a time in which morality was thoroughly upset by a profoundly immoral regime, which cannot possibly have remained without effect on anybody who witnessed those events. In applying our own values to those facts, I think we would all do well in being careful to, likewise, make a thorough effort to understand before we judge. Goldsmith's insightful account is a great place to begin such a process.
   
   Also recommended:
   The Jewish Response to German Culture: From the Enlightenment to the Second World War (Tauber Institute)
   The Pianist
   WITNESS: Voices from the Holocaust
   Hitler
   Holocaust
   Conspiracy
   The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music
   The Beatles Come to America (Turning Points in History)



4. MG's story of his family during the early Nazi era is an unusual glimpse into the lives of German Jews during the period from 1933-1941. He writes about the Kulturbund, an organization created by the Nazis to (1) rid Germany of Jewish influence in the arts and (2) provide propaganda coverage of the maltreatment of Jews by the Third Reich.
   
   In my opinion the book is generally well written and seems to be the result of careful research. My one complaint is that MG frequently quotes conversations which I doubt have been recorded in any way. I don't like that in historical writing, but in this case I was willing to overlook it, because of my interest in the story.



5. My bookclub is entering into its Holocaust Month. Someone recommended this book to me last year and I thought, it sounded interesting enough to read. Interesting just barely describes this book. Haunting is more the word that I think of when I finished this book. Incredibly lucky are two more words.
   
   There are so many books out there about the Holocaust that it can be confusing sometimes to read what. This book definitely should be read simply because it's beautifully moving, tragically sad and not only that, it provides a different viewpoint of what happened during the early years of Nazihood in Germany and before the "Final Solution" was proposed to exterminate the Jews. This happened and I don't recall hearing much about any of this till I read this book. Before Hitler and Goring proposed the death camps and just while trying to get rid of Germany of the non-Aryan blood, they came up with a solution that provides entertainment and music/art/theater productions just for the Jews. This is a place for the Jews to retreat to. They were only allowed to play Jewish pieces written by Jewish artists/musicans. And they were left alone in the 30s and early 40s. Well, not quite completely left alone as they still had to follow the Nazi rules. But it was a place of refuge for the Jews, especially in Berlin.
   
   This book, while devoting a huge portion to the Kulturbund and its orgins, the author writes of his personal family history. His mother and father were musicans in the Kulturbund. And they suffered horrible tragedies as the war progressed over the years. However, they were young, in love and naive like a lot of people were. They did manage to escape Germany but they also managed to leave behind family members which have haunted them and their children even to this day. It is very intense reading at times and with hindsight on the reader's part, it is very hard to fathom their optimism that things will work out ok in the end. Not only that, this book brings up the question of whether or not the Kulturbund was good for the Jews or kept them compliant enough to keep them in Germany instead of escaping to other countries, so the Nazis could gas them too. This book is haunting and disturbing. The questions that the author may have unknowingly stirred are now raised in my mind ... and the answers are not easy to figure out.
   
   This is not your typical Holocaust book nor is it like the other books about the camps ~~ this book simply tells a tale of two musicans who were unfortunate to be caught up in the times that stirred Germany (and the world) ~~ but yet, their love of music has sustained them through the years before they left Germany. Are they heros? Not in the sense that we associate it with. They are more like survivors and like all survivors, they carry a burden of guilt that resounded through the years. But it is a book that honors the memory of those who were left behind in a time of turmoil that even today, still vibrates through the years.
   
   9-28-07

3 comments about Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America, 1940-1972.

1. The second volume is even better than the first...Kaplan does not idolize Heschel; he shares the frustrations and shortcomings, but also the richness of his writing, his work and his soul.



2. I can personally attest to the point Kaplan makes in this splendid book that Rabbi Heschel touched many lives beyond the Jewish community.
   
   In my recently published autobiographical novel LAST RITES about a young man who follows his grandfathers and father into the ministry only to find out he made a big mistake, I write about Heschel's effect on the main character Tom Reed. At this point in the novel he has left his parish in rural Connecticut and is on a "study sabbatical" in New York where he wants to find a secular job so he doesn't have to return to his bishop for reassignment.
   
   " The next day I took the bus up to Union Seminary where I registered for my independent study program for the second semester. I went to the opening day of a few of the classes, mostly to get the reading lists. Father Panovsky's course on Russian Orthodoxy looked interesting, but the course that I found most intriguing was Rabbi Abraham Heschel's seminar on the prophets, given across the street at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
   
   "At Rabbi Heschel's first seminar he had us go around the table and introduce ourselves. He looked surprised when I identified myself as an Episcopalian clergyman on sabbatical, and he was even more surprised when he learned how much Hebrew and Aramaic I knew. The Heschel seminar was the only course I stayed with, and I even had a couple of conversations with the great man in his office. We talked about the "anti-religion" theme that runs through the prophets and also the history of Christian anti-Semitism--what Jules Isaacs called the church's "teaching of contempt." I read several of the books he recommended and felt more in tune with his thinking than I ever did with any of my seminary professors."
   
   I can only wonder what the great man would have made of my book ETERNAL TREBLINKA.
   
   --Submitted by Charles Patterson, author of "Last Rites," "Anti-Semitism" and "Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust"



3. After completing "Spiritual Radical," I sat on my parent's couch in their NYC apartment, emotionally, if not physically, trembling. A myriad of thoughts and feelings streamed through me as if I were a video that one watches on the internet. On the ride back home to Brooklyn, I composed--in my mind--what easily could become a 20+ page essay, "Was Abraham Joshua Heschel A Prophet?" That's how moving and evocative I found Professor Kaplan's biography to be.
   
   Besides giving me so, so much insight about Heschel, the man, I learned much about Heschel the theologist/philosopher, the historical period in which his work took place, the points of view of the various segments of both Judaism and Christianity--individual, organizational, and theological--and so much more it would take several pages to list them all.
   
   Indeed, words like brilliant, superb, and/or profound to describe the quality of the Kaplan's writing would be understatements! If I may borrow a phrase from the title--even if English language purists would shake their heads--his work evoked in me "radical amazement." For sure, of all the biographies I have read over the years, his is the BEST I have ever come across--surpassing McCollough's "John Adams," and Cook's biography of Elanor Roosevelt, to name two that I esteem. Besides the clarity of the writing, what particularly impresses is how fair he was, given the necessity as a biographer of being truthful to his task, even if that required being critical--at times--of someone he obviously loved.
   
   Finally, I can only imagine the profound and time-consuming labor he must have gone through to determine not only what to put on paper, but what to leave out! I believe his judgment concerning the latter places him, as much or more than anything else, in the top echelon of the vocation of biographers!
   
   Abraham Joshua Heschel -- Spiritual Radical -- is a masterpiece!
   
   Steve Rosner
   Brooklyn, NY

5 comments about Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story.

1. Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania in 1940. As the Germans invaded Poland, thousands of refugees flooded into Lithuania begging for visas that would allow them to travel to safety. Despite repeated orders from his government, Sugihara signed travel visas around the clock and saved thousands of Jewish lives. He followed his conscience knowing full well the social and professional consequences that would follow. The drama of the events and the courage of Sugihara and his family make this true story unforgettable. Dom Lee's sepia tone illustrations complement the story and convey the desperation and fear of the refugees and the bravery of the Sugihara family.



2. I used this book as an introduction to the Holocaust for my 7-year-old. Rather than starting him off on the atrocities, I used this well-written and beautiful book to start him off with learning that we Jews were once in grave danger, and there were some people who took care of us when they could, even though it was a difficult choice.
   
   3/4 of the way through reading the book out loud to my son, I started to cry a little. The story is poignant, of course, but more than that, the writing captures the meaning in such a simple and straight-forward way.
   
   I would recommend this book to anybody, Jewish or not Jewish. It is an excellent introduction to the concept that life can be dangerous, along with the idea that good people exist, AND that any one of us can choose to be a person who makes a difference.
   
   The writing makes it clear that Sugihara was risking his and his family's lives to do the right thing. And, the writing makes it clear that being the child of someone who is willing to do the right thing can be difficult, but well worth it.
   
   A beautiful book.



3. When reading this booki was amazed that so few would do so much for so many,Ive never heard of a story like it. What suprised me even more was that the man who saved all those Jews was a Japanese, if i remember correctly where an axis power during WW2 and allied with the Germans. This man must have really followed his heart if he was to defy his own country, and for that i really admire him



4. When reading this booki was amazed that so few would do so much for so many,Ive never heard of a story like it. What suprised me even more was that the man who saved all those Jews was a Japanese, if i remember correctly where an axis power during WW2 and allied with the Germans. This man must have really followed his heart if he was to defy his own country, and for that i really admire him



5. I have heard of the story and what he did in the past, but not in this detail written for children. I am very proud to be Japanese, and hope my sons, for whom I purchsed it, will feel the same way because they are half Japanese and half American. This book could be an asset to anybody with Japanese blood.

5 comments about But He Was Good to His Mother : The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters.

1. Prompt delivery of my order. Would recommend this seller. Book as advertised.



2. A good book for casual crime readers who don't need heavy details, but amazingly inaccurate in several areas. Seems to repeat old myths told in other books rather than do research.
   
   ie Joe the Boss's hit team did not include Anastasia, Adonis or even Siegel
   
   or
   
   Dutch Schultz was not shot in the bathroom or even shot by Charlie Workman. The caliber of the bullet found in Dutch matched those used by his men, not those who had shot his men down. The more accurate tale is that he was mistaken;y shot by his own men while trading fire with Lepke's boys. (The bathroom was directly behind the doorway where Workman had to be shooting from)



3. Robert Rockaway provides an engaging portrait of the warm, loving relationships many of the most notorious Jewish mobsters in the history of U.S. crime enjoyed with their girl friends, wives, children, and other family members, especially mothers. The emotions the wicked ways of these boys provoked from their loved ones ranged from devastation and shame to pride, arrogance, and defensiveness. While a lot of this material is old hat, an equal amount is not, and I generally found this book to be light and enjoyable.



4. The title of this book comes from the fact that Jewish gangsters took a very protective attitude towards their mothers, and did everything they could to keep them and other family members in the dark regarding their unsavory behavior. Gangsters may have led immoral lives regarding their so-called profession, but would turn weepy when the subject of their mother came up. Perhaps this was due in part to the fact they knew their mother would be disappointed in them. Unlike those in the mafia the offspring of Jewish gangsters did not intermarry with others so their profession did not extend beyond one generation. I found the book to be well written, and what I especially liked was the number of photos of gangsters I have read about in previous books, but of which photos have been scanty. Gyp the Blood (square name Harry Horowitz), Irving Wexler (Waxey Gordon), Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro, Abe Reles, Harry Strauss (Pittsburgh Phil), and a family photo of the Purple Gang were all included in addition to photos of Dutch Schultz (square name Arthur Flegenheimer), Jack Guzik, Lepke Buchalter, and numerous others. This book is a worthy addition to my gangster library, and you can purloin this book for only $10.00.



5. The author's writing style successfully avoids smooth flow and continuity. He skips around, and maintains superficiality throughout. No interest was generated, and it was hard to keep track of the individuals chronicled in the book.Definitely not a good read. There was no eagerness to find out what was next, rather eagerness to finish. I honestly could not remember one fact from it. Even the photos were not anywhere in the book near where the subjects were discussed.

3 comments about The Cat With The Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin.

1. Susan Goldman Rubin's work does much to broaden young readers' understanding of the Holocaust. Again she succeeds with this sensitive and passionate non-fiction book on a little known Holocaust era figure. While Rubin was researching for her award-winning book, Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin, she attended a performance of Brundibar, the children's opera staged at Terezin. In the elevator, she recognized Ela Weissberger as a woman who as a child had played the cat in the Terezin production. From that chance meeting, after years of communication and collaboration, this book evolved.
   Using photographs, along with full-color drawings by the children of Terezin, Rubin presents a poignant, matter-of-fact account of what it was like for Ela to be a Jewish child living with fear, yet able to escape for hours at a time through the power of friendship, music, art and learning. Rubin, who also wrote The Children of Terezin (2000) for older readers, never glosses over the daily threat of transports and the fact that some of the prisoners did not survive. But she also documents that, even in that traumatic time, devoted adults and determined children could forge close bonds, using art and music to help them endure and even grow. Includes numerous interviews with Weissberger and others, detailed source notes, print and non-print resources, and an index. Ages 9-12. Reviewed by Rita Berman Frischer



2. A couple of years ago, Maurice Sendak and Tony Kushner collaborated together to bring the world a picture book by the name of "Brundibar". Based on the opera that the Jewish children of the Terezin concentration camp had to sing, the book was filled to brimming with good intentions and sadly lacking in any and all factual information. It was more a labor of love than a book meant to enlighten children as to the significance of its content. When "Brundibar" came out, it felt as if it was reliant on a book that had not yet come to exist. Where oh where was the children's work of non-fiction that would tell younger kids what Terezin was, why "Brundibar" was important, and what it all meant? Three years later, Holiday House publishes Ms. Susan Goldman Rubin's, "The Cat With the Yellow Star" and a gap in children's collections everywhere is filled. And quite frankly, no other book could have felt quite as satisfying as this.
   
   The story of young Ela Stein begins on Kristallnacht in Sudetenland, after it was annexed to Germany. Ela was eight when that terrible night occurred, and she and her family soon ran away to Czechoslovakia. Then, in 1942, Ela was sent with her mother to Terezin from their home. A converted fortress, the camp was a place where Ela and the other children who lived with her in Room 28 would secretly study, learn art, and cast themselves in the opera Brundibar. In the show, Ela was cast as The Cat and the Nazi leaders of the ghetto decided that they would use the children's show as an example to the Red Cross of how well they treated their Jewish prisoners. Of course, of the 10,632 children sent to Terezin, only 4,096 survived. Ela was one of those survivors and the book shows how she grew up, met her friends from that time period years later, and has participated in Brundibar productions ever since. The end of the book shows a magnificent series of shows performed by children and Ela's presence at them over the years.
   
   The title is a rare creation: A children's book memoir under fifty pages. As with her other 2006 publication, "Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter", Ms. Rubin is particularly good at writing factual biographies for younger readers. She knows that you can pen a book without growing overly reliant on chapters of fifty pages or more. As such, a lot has been left out of "The Cat With the Yellow Star". The book makes the assumption that kids reading this will already be familiar with Hitler, the Holocaust, and The Final Solution. "The Cat" concentrates primarily on Ela's tale, and explanations will not be forthcoming for those kids that don't already have some of the basics of this story down. A person could learn so much from this book too. The fact that in 1945, "the Nazis turned Terezin over to the International Red Cross" as a way of liberating the prisoners amazed me. Ela's mother even stayed on when her daughters left because she had been hired by a female Russian officer as a maid. Rubin carefully culls all the information she has been given, then keeps the book moving seamlessly from page to page. You may not be able to remember all the names of the girls as Ela befriended them, but you care for them just the same.
   
   The level of documentation in terms of pictures, photographs, records, and images in this book is also astounding. Paintings created by the children of Room 28 are reproduced here and are sometimes able to shock because of what they leave you to figure out on your own. For example, there is a watercolor created by Ela's friend Helga called, "Arrival In Terezin" that shows families walking past a guard into the camp. Look closely at the picture and you'll see that everyone in the picture is smiling pleasantly, as if this were just a Sunday stroll in the park. Why would Helga present the people in this picture this way? Was it because she worried that the guards might see it and hurt her if they thought it was anti-Nazi propaganda? Was she just automatically making the smiles without thinking about it? Pictures of this sort raise all kinds of interesting questions suitable for debate amongst child readers. Of course, it would have been nice to be able to get a little more information from some of them. There's a photography of the "special ghetto money" printed specifically in Terezin that shows an old man with a beard holding two stone tablets with Hebrew writing on them. The bills themselves even have small stars of David on them. Why would the Germans have taken this level of care in creating money for people they were just intending to kill anyway? Was this a part of the Nazi effort to fool the Red Cross into thinking that people were being taken care of? Maybe just a little more info here and there wouldn't have been out of place.
   
   Not that Ms. Rubin ever skimps on the quality source material. The Acknowledgments alone are worth the price of admission. Ms. Rubin's Source Notes are of equal interest, to say nothing of the excellent list of Publications, Articles, Videos/DVDs, Sound Recordings, Interviews, and Internet Sites all clearly presented and beautifully aligned. If I'm going to get picky I might suggest that Ms. Rubin could have placed her four sentence Author's Note at the beginning of the book (where it would have put everything to follow in context) rather than at the end, but that's neither here nor there.
   
   All in all, this is a truly impressive piece of work. It pairs rather nicely with Kushner and Sendak's, "Brundibar" (which only makes sense in conjunction WITH this book, to be frank) as well as the recent Jennifer Roy title, "Yellow Star". "The Cat With the Yellow Star" really makes an effort, though, to show how life in a concentration camp wasn't the be all and end all in Ela's life. She made friends, left, created a life of her own, and is still speaking about what happened to this very day. This book is a testament to her strength, and it tells an important story to an audience that might otherwise never hear it. Certainly worth eyeing, at the very least.



3. Author Susan Rubin presents the true story of survivor Ela Weissberger, born Ela Stein, whose family's Holocaust journey ends in Terezin, the Nazi camp famous for the art and music that was sustained there by the inmates and that was used by the Nazis to fool the Red Cross into believing they had given a model town to the Jews. Beginning at age 11, Ela survives physically by working in a garden, emotionally by bonding with the other girls in Room 28, and artistically by performing in the children's opera, Brundibar, a story of triumph over a bullying organ-grinder. Ela plays the role of the cat. Later, as an adult, she attends performances of the play around the world, telling her story and explaining how "music, art, good teachers, and friends" were her resistance against the Nazis. She also keeps in touch with the surviving girls from Room 28. Although a story about a child, the book does not shy away from describing the round-ups, deportations, transports, disappearances, disease, and starvation witnessed by Ela. Because of these harsh but accurate details, the book is not for younger readers. The abundant photos, color reproductions, and exhaustive source notes and references (a source is given for each and every quotation) make this book an outstanding resource for students of Terezin and the now-famous Brundibar. This book is a good companion to Brundibar by Maurice Sendak and Tony Kushner as well as Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin. REVIEWED BY SUSAN BERSON (DENVER, CO)

3 comments about Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters.

1. Hassidism, its tales, legends, and masters, has always been a source of mystery and confusion. "Souls on Fire" is a journey through Hassidism. Traveling from the source and further development of this unique Jewish religious manifestation is a joy when led by the mind and sould of Elie Wiesel. His personal and emotional input, the tales and legends included throughout the book, and his non-academic but rather humane approach (a typical Hassid) is the most sincere attempt in trying to understand and "speak of the unspeakable," sparkling light into a religious fervor born out of anguish and despair. The purpose is not to agree or understand, but rather to believe.



2. It's amazing how everything Wiesel touches turns to gold, and here, he's done it again.

   The Chassidic masters Wiesel portrays were passionate about Judaism in a way any modern reader can relate to. Wiesel deftly brings that message home time and time again, evoking not only the syrupy nostalgia of most volumes of "Rebbe stories", but also a very immediate committment to Jewish life.

   A masterpiece, this would also make an excellent gift for anyone interested in Jewish spirituality.




3. I was disappointed with this work. It is more about Elie Weisel then about chassidic stories. Many of the stories are familiar to me, and in all cases they appear distorted and many times the point of the story is missing. To summarize, as one of the stories said, He didn't hear what was said, and didn't write what he heard.

5 comments about At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for Hope with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land.

1. Yossi Halevy thinks he is only writing about interfaith connections in the holy land, but in fact the most inspiring aspect of the book is the delicate portrait of his own faith in God, where this deep faith takes him, and the grace of goodwill and wisdom that it creates inside his soul.



2. The title is exact. Halevi is an extraordinary person: a mystic deeply rooted in his Jewish faith but who can share a common search for peace and religious experience with Christians, the historic persecutors of Jews, and with Muslims, who have now become the "enemy." I know three of the communities of Christians he shared with and the descriptions are accurate so I can assume the Muslim sections are just as fair. Anyone searching for religious and mystic truth that is non-violent but serious about faith and God will love this book.



3. This is a must for all ethnic groups to read.



4. One problem with writing intelligent books on religion is that religion demands the author experience it. Halevi takes this difficult challenge and seeks common ground with Christians and Muslims. To find this common ground he is willing to push his boundaries, go beyond his fears to find a common ground.
   
   In his efforts he encounters a Catholic order of religious that seeks to return to the Jewish roots of Jesus as a common ground for Jewish-Christian relations; a Catholic monk of the Melkite rite (Jerusalem rite) seeing Arab-Jewish understanding through the Arab Christian; a common ground of genocide with Armenian Christians; a common ground of love with Sufi sheiks ...
   
   Throughout his search runs a thread of the common monotheistic underpinnings of the three major religions of Israel. A second thread is a more universal acceptance that includes the great Eastern traditions - Buddhism and Hinduism. The third thread is the history of the Jewish people and the reality of strife in Israel. Through these threads, Halevi challenges the reader to confront his or her prejudices in the political and religious arenas.
   
   The net result is not a great book, but one I highly recommend because of the issues raised and the author's personal willingness to share his experience in addressing the issues.



5. I just love this guy. Starting with a simple urge to connect with his neighbors, Yossi Halevi embarks on an awkward, fascinating, dangerous journey through Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. He discovers a series of surprising characters who dream, not just of peace between Jews, Muslims and Christians, but of spiritual friendship. And the story of these fragile, budding friendships becomes an adventure of almost overwhelming power.
   
   I want to quote from one episode, where Halevi and a madcap Jew called Eliyahu Charanamrit McLean attend a mosque in Karawa village on the West Bank:
   
   "This mosque was a family project: Everyone here belonged to the Abu-Laben clan. They were working class people; the shaykh himself was a car mechanic.
   
   "What do the other Muslims think of you?" Eliyahu asked.
   
   "That we're crazy," replied Saud's father. "They think we chant the name of 'Abdallah' instead of 'Allah"". Laughter.
   
   I asked Saud what he experienced during the zakir [or dance of remembering God]. "That our hearts kept getting closer and closer to God," he said, with the Sufi vagueness I'd so often encountered from Ibrahim. ...
   
   Ibrahim, not to be poetically outdone, added "Our souls went up to heaven like clouds".
   
   "When you pray together," said the shaykh's father, "you form one heart".
   
   I felt sad for this forlorn Sufi Shteibl. Here was an Islam with which we could make peace, yet it was almost absurdly perepheral. Still, maybe the fact that a handful of Muslims and Jews had danced together was enough for God to work with; perhaps He would magnify our prayers, widen the circle of ecstasy." (p. 104-105)
   
   Halevi is realist enough to claim no easy victories. As the level of sectarian violence rises again, his network of friends retains little but hope and prayer. It's a marvelous book.
   
   --author of "Different Visions of Love"