No comments about Dream Homes: From Cairo to Katrina, an Exile's Journey (Jewish Women Writers).

1 comments about The Story of a Life.

1. Story of a Life is the memoir of acclaimed Israeli novelist, Aharon Appelfeld. Appelfeld, a Holocaust survivor, escaped a Nazi concentration camp when he was eight years old and wandered alone in the forests and fields of rural Ukraine until he was found by Russian troops at age eleven. Appelfeld is known for his use of vague, dreamlike images and sparse, gentle language in writing about one of the most horrific events in human consciousness. He describes just enough and lets the reader's imagination fill in the rest, turning the story into an inner experience for the reader. Appelfeld employs this same technique to great effect in his memoir, drawing the reader into his loneliness and isolation. .
   
   Appelfeld tells his life story in vignettes. He begins by recounting his earliest memories - of foods consumed in the company of loving relatives; of the different languages spoken by his parents, grandparents and neighbors. He then tells vaguely of his father sending telegrams to South America, trying to find a way out of Europe. He tells of formerly well-to-do relatives, suddenly poor and sick, coming to his parents for help and comfort.
   
   Abruptly, Appelfeld's memories switch to crowds being loaded into railway cars. Even more abruptly, Appelfeld's memories shift to his years wandering alone in the forests - eating a rotten apple alongside a stream while trying to visualize his dead mother's face; huddling next to dogs or farm animals for warmth at night.
   
   At the war's end, Appelfeld finds himself in a displaced persons camp in Italy. From there, he is relocated to the newly-formed Israel, along with other war refugees. With great sensitivity, Appelfeld recounts his struggles to learn a new language and to fit into a new culture, while mourning his loss of the culture and languages of his childhood. Appelfeld, whose formal education ceased at first grade, was able to self-study and gain admission to a university where he studied the humanities and eventually became a professor.
   
   Appelfeld makes clear throughout his memoir that his body remembers his experiences, but that his mind deals with the memories in a different fashion. Sometimes there are vacant spaces in his conscious memory, and sometimes unwanted memories come rushing back. With a sense of awe bordering on horror, he states that, by translating these memories, vacant spaces and sensations into fiction, he has become a voice of the collective experience. I came away from this memoir with a sense of indebtedness to Appelfeld.

3 comments about Great Jewish Women.

1. This book makes a great graduation gift or other gift for any jewish woman, young or old. It illustrates the accomplishments of women and shows the adversity that they overcame to achieve greatness. Enjoyable for woman of any age.



2. While there are some genuinely great Jewish women in this book, there are too many whose claim to greatness rests solely on fame and left-leaning politics. How is Barbara Streisand a "Great Jewish Woman"? Is it because she is a great Democtratic fundraiser? And How does Shulamit Aloni get to be great? By being an anti-Israeli Israeli? Diane Arbus (eeww) hated being Jewish and would be uncomfortable to see her name in this book if she hadn't killed herself, and Estee Lauder became a Roman Catholic........not exactly a "Great Jewish Woman".

   If your idea of greatness is actresses and singers or anybody Jewish who managed to get her name in the paper than this is your book. Rosalind Franklyn and Judy Resnick constitute real greatness, while Goldie Hawn is merely famous. I would never put them in the same category.




3. This book has a great amount of commendable material in it. It writes of Jewish women of great distinction in short yet clear autobiographical sketches. It however diminishes its own value but including a too large number of present- day celebrities and lightweight figures. It too displays a certain political bias and there are a number of very left- wing politicians here whose contribution to Jewish life is extremely questionable. I also would have like to have seen many more of the great Jewish women intellectual figures, and heroines like Avital Sharansky , Ida Nudel and others who risked their lives for the Jewish people. A very large share of the entries are of people who have no real positive connection with Jewish communal life, and who just happen to be born Jewish something a few of them are not so happy about.
   There is much good stuff here.But a work of this kind could have been done with far greater emphasis on real Jewish values.

3 comments about The Vienna Paradox: A Memoir.

1. Marjorie Perloff, the noted and prolific literary critic and comparativist, has written a thoughtful introspection about the intersection of her life with the complexities of the fading Vienna of the 20's and thirties. It's a dizzying array of contrasts and passages: not only her (and her family's) adjustment to American society of the 1940;s and 1950's, but the passage of Arnold Schoenberg, and the contrast of John Cage and Schoenberg. Perloff sheds a personal light on the ambivalences towards Jewishness and the imperatives of conversions. The photographs of girls in dirndls and her prestigious grandfather in morning suit are stunning reminders of the power of illustration and the evocation of period. Though this is memoiristic, Perloff remains a literary critic and there are efforts to re-address Adorno and Gombrich (for example)in terms of their own refugee pasts. Marjorie Perloff changed her name from Gabriele to Marjorie, her school from PS 7 to the fashionable Fieldston, her academic address from Catholic University ultimately to Stanford. The book is about what change means, how it reiterates, to someone whose life was abruptly forced, by the Anschluss, into a totally new mode of looking at the world and thinking about it.



2. 
   I picked up a copy of The Vienna Paradox: A Memoir, by Marjorie Perloff because the idea of a memoir about Vienna intrigued me, and because I've always been enthralled by the critical mind of this noted and innovative literary scholar. After I'd read it, I ordered some more copies to bestow on friends, most of whom have no particular interest in Vienna whatsoever.
   "Why are you giving me this book?" one of my more suspicious friends asked me. "What is there about this book that sets it apart from all the immigrant narratives, from all the nostalgic recounting of `old Vienna,' from all the other autobiographies that people turn to when they begin to realize that time is passing and whatever they don't set down will be forgotten?" The central distinction is this: Perloff doesn't just record her own experiences or those of her family and friends, she uses those experiences - the experiences of her extended family, experiences of other famous emigrants from Vienna, together with information about books, museums, websites, as well as restaurants, street guides and all kinds of other information - for other purposes than telling about her self. She's not seeking her own `roots,' but draws on those roots to examine some of the important and pressing questions that only a critic of the world with great experience, perspective and expertise can ask.
   What Perloff is exploring with her delineation and examination of the civilization in which her family was nurtured and from which it was expelled is far more complex than just where she comes from, or even what really were the negative effects of the Holocaust. She is asking what are the functions, the potential and the limitations of civilization: what should we value in culture, what should we discard, what can we know, what can we improve, and what are the individual limitations. At one point Perloff quotes Wittgenstein
   if we think of the world's future, we always mean where it will be if it keeps going as we see it going now and it doesn't occur to us that it is not going in a straight line but in a curve, constantly changing direction. (33)
   The lessons from history are not imperatives for the future, and therefore every detail must be examined, and it is the role of the artist and the critic to perform this examination, and to edify . Therefore Perloff delineates the achievements, on all sides, of her family - their successful careers in Austria and elsewhere, their connections, their accomplishment throughout - but she also notes their failure to perceive and/or act within Austrian society to counter or prevent what was to come. Except for some foreign bank accounts that came in handy for the family after their escape in August of 1938, there seems to have been little understanding of the dangers inherent in the historical situation. If Grandfather Schuller was allowed into Italy because of a welcome from Mussolini to his former negotiator, it was not political foresight that made Schuller prepare an escape route for a Jew, but belief in Austria transcending personal considerations that saved him.
   The technique of postmodern pastiche is everywhere, but it is not here an indication of the eradication of values. Perloff is an expert at weaving together associations, websites, museums, biography, memoir, gossip, lunch, poetry and making sense of them all. This pastiche is born from the sensibility of the multicultural, world-wise individual, comfortable everywhere in the universe. Perloff, in opposition to the refugee, the outsider, really believes in a society, but it is an ur society, which incorporates and transcends the differences. Her criticism of European disdain for American society, and American naiveté as to European society, is an attempt to bring the two together.
   More than anything else, there is a love story in this autobiographical account -- it is a love story with America, that country that whatever its cultural limitations in comparison to the hoch kultur of Vienna, gave her and her family shelter and opportunity to thrive to such an extent that politics could be safely and comfortably ignored. Written after September 11, when the US is besieged not only by enemies without but also by the intelligentsia within, this book serves as a reminder of perspective. So that although it begins with the story of Arnold Schoenberg who despite his appreciation for the United States, never found in it a lasting and appreciative audience, it concludes with Adorno, who longed for the taste of European culture and returned there after the War.



3. Marjorie Perloff's memoir was a complete pleasure from start to finish - it was a lucky accident for me that I came upon this gem.
   
   Absolutely delightful - charming in all ways, along with being particularly outstanding in combining the author's areas of professional expertise as a first class literary critic with her memories of an earlier Vienna and the traces that remain. This is not meant to slight at all her sharp remembrances of the events of growing up and the succinct clarity with which she describes them.
   
   Her memoir has many sections that point the reader to new areas for exploration: the Neue Gallery in NYC with its scintillating art collection (Schiele and Klimt), Arnold Schoenberg's writings and music, and the brilliant Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard, just to mention a few.
   
   The other reviews do a thorough job of providing more details about this book. I'll add that Ms. Perloff, the complete professional, includes an excellent index, helpful notes to accompany the text, and thoughtful illustrations that augment the memoir. A quote from the book jacket's inside cover is particularly apt: "This is, in other words, an intellectual memoir, both elegant and heartfelt, by one of America's leading thinkers, a narrative in which literary and philosophical reference is as central as the personal."

1 comments about Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side 1890-1925 (New Feminist Library).

1. I read this book while I was doing a research paper on immigrant women and their experiences in America and I was quite impressed by the amount of information it has. Unlike some books on this subject I've read, it has a nice flow to it and it reads well. I really liked the way the author organized it because it follows the immigrant women from the old country to America and very nicely describes their transition into Americans and the struggles they faced while doing this. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this subject.

5 comments about The Martians of Science: Five Physicists Who Changed the Twentieth Century.

1. This is a very interesting and informative book that I heartily recommend. I was inspired to buy it after reading a review of it in Nature magazine where the reviewer ended on the following helpful note: "This is an important story that needs to be told, and Hargittai tells it well", an assessment with which I concur.
   
   The book is about the lives of five Hungarian Jewish scientists whose work changed the world, not just the world of science, but the world of politics as well due to the circumstances and period in which they lived and thrived.
   
   The author does a very thorough job tracing the history of these important men. We are shown the uniqueness and diversity of the five Martians (Theodore von Karman, John von Neumann, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner) in addition to considering what bound them together. It is interesting to follow their parallel lives throughout exciting periods of the 20th century. Hargittai conveys the flavor of turn-of-the-century Budapest that yielded not only important scientists but also famous and important contributors to other realms of life (e.g. composers such as Bartok).
   
   The author does a very good job of communicating how circumstances and situations evolved. For example, we see a change from the peaceful coexistence and cooperation of Jews and the rest of Hungary's population to a horribly anti-Semitic society. We are also told about transitions such as how the Martians turned from dedicated students into top players in world science; how the initially Ivory-tower scientists became the most practical contributors to the American military might; how esoteric physics became a source of lethal weaponry within a mere few years; and how quiet immigrants became esteemed citizens with a strong political voice.
   
   In addition to telling us about events that happened, an intriguing feature of the book is that Hargittai tries to imagine what might have become of the Martians had they stayed in Hungary or had they lived in the Soviet Union rather than in the United States.
   
   Overall, this is an extremely engaging and informative read. I agree with the Nature reviewer's assessment that this book needed to be written and Hargittai did an excellent job doing so. You will both enjoy this reading and learn a lot from it.



2. What a great gem for those of us interested in 20th century history and the history of science.
   
   The Jewish-Hungarian Martians represented a well-defined group from turn-of-the-century Budapest who became top scientists in Germany of the 1920s, and made decisive contributions to the defense of the Free World from the menace of totalitarian powers during World War II and the Cold War. The book succeeds admirably in presenting their complex characters and their single-minded determination to achieve their stated goals on the background of the turbulent twentieth century.
   
   This is a book that was hard to put down. I have also returned to it from time to time.



3. As the daughter of the book's author, I bring an unusual perspective to this piece, one that will give you some background on how this book came about and why you will be in for a treat when reading it.
   
   My father knew two of the five Martians discussed in this volume (Wigner and Teller) and had expressed a great interest in the work and lives of all five (Szilard, von Neumann, von Karman in addition to the above two) throughout his life. Curiously, however, despite having written numerous books about scientists, he never intended to write a book about these five until Oxford University Press approached him about it. When he finally took up this project, he threw himself into it with zest. When the book was near completion, he met with almost all of the surviving children of the Martians, not to change anything but to get an additional impression of their personalities. A byproduct of the book was a play he wrote about Teller, which surprised even me despite being used to his occasional unusual ideas.
   
   Looking back, the Martians were always on my father's mind, and he cherished his long-lasting personal acquaintance with Eugene P. Wigner. (Even as a child, I remember seeing the picture of the two of them taken upon their encounter at the University of Texas at Austin in 1969.) The family legend had it that we might be distant relatives, but there was never any hard evidence for that. My father started correspondence with Wigner when he was still a student, well before I was born. Actually, Wigner wrote him first after my father had published an article in a Hungarian literary magazine soon after Wigner's Nobel Prize. My father's acquaintance with Teller came much later, when he and my mother visited the Tellers in their home in Stanford in 1996.
   
   Having read The Martians of Science, I feel as if I had become personally acquainted with all five of the people discussed in the volume. It is fascinating to see that such incredible people emerge from just one country to contribute so much to science and to the defense of the United States. It is sad that they were forced out of Hungary, where even today - while their achievements are being recognized - the reasons of their departures are often covered up. This book puts these things into proper perspective.
   
   For an engaging, detailed, and passionate account of the lives of five incredibly important figures (regarding both science and history), I highly recommend this book.



4. The above for me was the trust of the book with the historical perspective of early 1900 thru early 1980. As we start, we see what a great education can do as the five (5) did receive early intensive training in their outstanding "gymnasiums" of Hungary. Even though the education was so very good and produced many great students, these five still stood out to the point as if they were from Mars as the title depicts. As their academic reputations started to grow and the difficulties of the 1st war, they all had some experience of working or immigrating away from Hungary. As the 2nd war approached, all could see the writing on the wall and it was easier to immigrate a second time of which the US was the lucky recipient.
   
   Upon arrival to the US, it did not take too long as they started to display their political influence since they saw or knew what was going on in Europe and that war was coming and felt that the US needed to wake up and be prepared. This persistance took time but paid off as all were involved in some way with the development of the 1st atomic bomb both technically and politically. This continued on for some time for all of their collective careers, as after WWII, the cold war commenced and new problems were present with the atomic age upon us.
   
   The interactions between each of the Martians and between the people they met makes for some interesting side points which makes for some very good historical and political persectives if your interested in any of the above.



5. "The Martians of Science: Five Physicists Who Changed the Twentieth Century", by Istavan Hargittai, Oxford Univ. Press, NY 2006. ISBN 13 978-0-19-517845-6. HC 314/240 pages includes Preface, Contents, Intro., Appendix 12 pgs., Notes 36 pgs., Biblio. 6 pgs., Chronologies 7 pgs., & Index 12 pgs. 9.5" x 6.5"
   
   A cleverly devised treatise details five of the Worlds' most notable theoretical physicists - all began as Jewish Hungarian citizens of Budapest who, in time, migrated to the U.S., toiled collectively and separately to develop strategic defense systems including the atomic & hydrogen bombs, computers, modernized Airforce, and establishing or working at the AEC, NASA, JPL, Manhattan Project, Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, etc.
   
   Convenient attribute of this writing is its apportionment into six chapters to reveal their progressive transition from early childhood into figures of greatness and thence onto their waning years. It reflects their family influences, societal environs, politico-economic conditions, scholastic opportunities, and acceptance into American cultural institutions as Princeton, Harvard, Berkeley, Caltech and the U.S. military.
   
   The plethora of B & W photographs contributes enormously to the book's value as does appendix of "Sampler of Quotable Martians". Perhaps most importantly are descriptors of personal interactions amongst the Martians themselves. This book embraces exciting history, racism, psychological ploys of embattled nations & bureaucracies, and the search for peace amidst glorious and sometimes inglorious purlieus. That the author is an acclaimed writer, recognized scientist, Professor of chemistry, authored several dozen books and is personally acquainted with and interviewed several of the 'Martians' is a plus. Its a good read and the price is right.

2 comments about Jewish Sports Legends: The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, 4th Edition.

1. This book chronicles the leading Jewish men and women who have achieved world class status as athletes and it also goes behind the scenes to list those men and women who have made outstanding contributions to the development of sport.



2. This book is a comprehensive guide to Jewish achievements in sport throughout the world. It does not simply focus on the major spectator sports but covers the Olympic sports also.

5 comments about Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen (Jane Addams Honor Book (Awards)).

1. This beautifully illustrated children's book addresses the strength of human character that can emerge during even the worst of times. The presentation of this story engages it's young reader while effectively educating them about a very important time in history. I was impressed with Luba's ability to elicit empathy in the people she dealt with, allowing them to become more decent and humane. The story of Luba's loving and heroic soul belongs every school library.



2. I really enjoyed this beautifully illustrated, touching childrenýs book, a great gift for children and adults. Should be part of a any good book shelf, next to the other intelligent and artful childrenýs books.



3. I really enjoyed this beautifully illustrated, touching children's book, a great gift for children and adults. Should be part of a any good book shelf, next to the other intelligent and artful children's books.



4. Truly a rare addition to classic children's literature. McCann's ability to interpret this complex history of human tragedy into a meaningful children's story is unique. Daily the world reminds us of the terrible things that people do to each other. It is more important than ever, that children learn the world needs heroes.



5. This book is so touching. The illustrations are so beautiful. Luba had lost her husband and son in the Roundups and murders of Jews. She had survived and was alive in the concentration camp for the first night. She hears children crying. She gets up and goes outside to find 54 children in the field.
   
   This is a story of her brave acts to save these children. Learning who she could and could not trust in the camp. It is nothing short of a miracle that 52 of them survive to be liberated.
   
   Read it with your children and grandchildren. Talk about it and how they/we have the power to never let this happen again.

1 comments about Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox.

1. Mainly, Shapiro's focus is on the history of the relationship of the general Orthodox leadership--i.e. The Council of Torah Sages (Moetzei Gedolei haTorah), Rabbinical Council of America, and The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada(Agudas haRabonim)--with Orthodox rabbis who worked for/with non-Orthodox institutions. Shapiro also devotes a few pages to the Conservative scholar, Dr. Louis Ginsburg, and his relationship with the Orthodox community (as long as Shapiro was at it, I would have been interested to see some information about Dr. David-Weiss haLivni, the talmudic genius who quit the Jewish Theological Seminary of America over the issue of women becoming rabbis and is currently attempting to forge a "Traditional" denominational road between Conservative and Orthodox). Shapiro largely dedicates the pages to Saul Lieberman (the G'RaSh), the ingenius Orthodox Talmudic scholar who had permission from two universally recognized rabbinical figures to work at the JTSA and, while there, composed an infamous treatise of the Tosefta. Although Shapiro's facts are quit interesting and do indicate Orthodoxy's fundamental shift to the right, I think he reads way too much into things. He quotes a lot of 19th century Chareidi rabbis as working with people who graduated from the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau as similar to the Saul Lieberman case. I don't think it's so simple to do so. Many rabbis probably considered the JTSB an "Orthodoxish" institution at the time (in fact, the first two presidents of the Orthodox Union were H.P. Mendes and Bernard Drachman, two JTSA stalwarts; it is especially worthy of notice that the latter was a graduate of JTSB and quit his shul when it got rid of the mechitza). One of his main focuses is on titles, which many would argue are not indicative of a rabbi's position on a person's philosophy; however, it is extremely interesting that some of the most respected right-wing rabbis addressed Ginzburg--who, by Orthodox standards, was undoubtedly a heretic--with some very respectful terms. That being said, Shapiro debunks many myths which are embedded in the book "Saul Lieberman", as well as introducing the reader to the following: the tremendous respect which the Orthodox community had for Lieberman (as opposed to Ginzburg and Dr. Mordechai Kaplan); recently found documents which reveal why Lieberman decided to work at the Seminary; Rabbi Samuel Belkin's alleged recommendation of Lieberman as a decisor of Jewish law; the constant respect showed by moderate left-wing Rabbis Joseph Soloveitchik and Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (the Seredei Ish) to Lieberman; an interesting story delineating somewhat the positions of the moderate right-wing Agudath Israel's Rabbis Yaakov Kaminetsky and Aaron Kotler; different decisions in Jewish law in relation to working at a Conservative institution (althogh, here too, I think Shapiro makes some mistakes. For example, he seems to believe that according to a certain opinion in Jewish law which feels that one cannot teach Torah to somebody who does not deserve to learn it, outreach would be impossible. But this opinion is not necessarily referring to a halachic "Jew captured in the land of Gentiles," but a student at a Conservative seminary.); how many Chareidi scholars have managed to quote Lieberman (including an Artscroll!), often while debasing/ignoring his rabbinical status; and more. All of this makes for a fascinating read.

5 comments about Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors.

1. I was really moved by this. It was almost as riveting as another book I read recently called Hitler's Silent Victims. I recomend this book highly.



2. I'm stressing this to all, that this book is one of the greatest books I've ever read. It's very intense and real. Because of the way these Holocaust survivors explain their experiences at the concentration camps, it makes you feel as if you could've been there. The way that these survivors have achieved great goals in there lives after the Holocaust, is amazing. I recommend this book for everyone to read to get a better understanding of the Holocaust. This book is truely amazing.



3. Oskar Schindler, one remarkable man who outwitted Adolf Hitler and the Nazis to save more Jews from the gas chambers than most of the heroic rescuers during WWII.

   Oskar Schindler was one of only a handful who surfaced from the chaos, and generations will remember him for what he did ...

   When asked, Schindler told that his metamorphosis during the war was sparked by the shocking immensity of the Final Solution. In his own words: "I hated the brutality, the sadism, and the insanity of Nazism. I just couldn't stand by and see people destroyed. I did what I could, what I had to do, what my conscience told me I must do. That's all there is to it. Really, nothing more."

   Oskar Schindler died in Frankfurt on the 9th of October, 1974, at an age of 66. From 1939 to the day he died he was such in love with his Jewish people, that he wanted to be buried in Jerusalem. His friend, a Schindler-Jew, Poldek Pfefferberg asked him shortly before he died, why he wanted to be buried here. He answered :"My children are here ....."




4. One of the most popular films of 1993 was Steven Spielburgýs Schindlerýs List, the story of
   one manýs fight against the Nazi killing machine that we know today as the Holocaust. As the
   film closed, the audience saw many of the survivors and their families as they gathered at
   Oskar Schindlerýs grave to pay homage to this ýRighteous Gentile.ý

   Like many others in the audience, I wondered what had happened to those men and women
   after the war and the experiences that had not made the movie. Now I know. In Schindlerýs
   Legacy, Elinor Brecher has shared the fascinatingýand horribleýstories of over 40 of those
   who eventually came to live in America.

   They tell, for example, of the almost random nature of their survival. Several tell of times
   when the German guards lined up their work detail and shot every fifth person. Many were
   away from home on some kind of errand when the Gestapo came and took away the rest of
   their family. We read of Celena Karp who was selected by the notorious Josef Menegle for the
   line heading to the gas chambers. For some reason, he decided to remove some from the
   doomed line. When Celena reached him the second time, she begged him, ýLet me go,ý and
   for some inexplicable reason, he did!

   In these accounts, we learn again of the horror of the concentration camps. Remember the boy
   who survived several searches by hiding in the filth of the latrine? This was no product of the
   writerýs imagination; Roman Ferber tells his own story in his own words. Others relate the
   beatings they survived, the rides in unheated and unventilated cattle cars, of the friends they
   carried to the ovens. That they survived is nothing less than a miracle.

   These arenýt just the stories of the camps, however. We learn more about the people and the
   lives they lived before the warýthe young couple who married only days before their arrest,
   the woman who had to give her new-born son to a Catholic family in order to survive herself,
   and the men and women who watched in horror as their parents and their brothers and sister
   were dragged away or shot before their eyes.

   After these experiences, what kinds of people did they turn out to be? Some have never
   forgiven the German people for what happened, while others have miraculously put the past
   behind them. And some are so traumatized that they have never been able to watch the film
   based on their experiences.

   This is a book that needs to be read!




5. This book of course takes off where the movie left off. It tracks down and interviews a select group of the survivors on Shindler's famous list. Many of whom of course refused to be interviewed, others would consent to do so only anonymously, and still others only after intense prodding. All led interesting, but as one would expect, unusually tormented lives. Most were successful; were in the twilight of their lives; and somehow had managed to put the experience behind them, that is as much as that could be done - meaning most of them buried the experiences deep in their subconscious, not to be disturbed except in their dreams or under extreme stress or duress.
   
   Alex Rosen's story resonated the most with me and was the most interesting of the lot. Alex is my age, and was the youngest among the survivors, and was the one depicted in the movie as the young Jewish ghetto denizen. Age-wise I can empathize with him and imagine, vicariously, what it must have been like to go through that experience at his age. His story is interesting for several other reasons as well: First he is the one in this book who tried to make sense out of the holocaust experience as an existential, if not as a theological problem -- not at all unlike the way that Elie Wiesel and Victor Frankl did in their books, but Alex takes an entirely different approach. He believes there are knowable answers too the questions many Jews posed in the aftermath of the holocaust experience: Why me? Why the Jews? And why was it so horrible? His belief, that he can find the answers to these questions is expressed best on page 23:
   
   "If we take the premise that there is a God, then everything that happens is just, because it's His game not mine. There has to be a legitimate reason by His way of looking at it, not by mine. There has to be a legitimate explanation - that we can understand through reason - why it happened the way it happened, why all those people died and I am still alive. But I don't know those answers right now. I can't tell you. It's knowable; it's not one of the mysteries of life. It's an answer that will eventually dawn on me."
   
   Second, his story is interesting because he eventually divorced his Jewish wife and married a black one, with which together they raised three children from split families, doing so in Queens New York. His primary family, of Jewish holocaust survivors, incredibly, and incongruously, never quite forgave him for committing this violation of the America's racist (and apparently Jewish) protocol? But finally, he gives an account of his experience that adds a poignant depth and meaning that again parallels that given by Frankl in his book, one that makes an outsider almost understand what the holocaust was like.
   
   As he puts it on page 26:
   
   "When the war ended, the trauma set in, because you are now among a different species of human being. You think: "So if this is life now, what the hell was that? What the hell was that all about? It's difficult for people to understand, up until that time, I was perfectly well-adjusted in all that misery. I never had a sleepless night [in the camps]. Yes, I was beaten. Yes, there was trouble. Yes, I was scared. But this was life, and you were scared when you lived. It was dangerous. It was hard. You saw ugliness. You saw women beat up. You saw people shot, killed, hanged. You saw dead bodies carried in wheelbarrows. You saw horrible things. But this was normal life."
   
   The subtext of course is that: When there appear to be no easy way out, human beings simply adjust; they adapt and find ways to live with even the worse kinds of dehumanization. They do so simply because they have been socialized to do so; and simply because it then becomes a normalized way of life for them.
   
   In this one poignant statement, Alex reveals the secret of, and the template for, repetition of the holocaust: According to this statement, it means simply that we don't really need the Nazis and their concentration camps for the holocaust to recur. It can occur almost anywhere and in any society, and at any time. It is simply a process of colonizing the mind of those targeted through tyranny, and back it up with force, and an ideology of racism or other forms of intolerance, and the world of humanity simply shuts down altogether, period.
   
   Five Stars.