5 comments about My Tainted Blood.

1. The author grew up secretly Jewish in a Europe controlled by the Nazis. Only now, decades later, he writes about how it was for his alter ego (Horst)in this partly autobiographical story. He and his mother did finally make it to the USA after the war but by then he had grown almost to manhood. The story is a partly fictionalized window into his personality and the weird conditions of life during that time of turmoil and great personal danger. In real life, Mr. Kueter became a gourmet chef and for almost 30 years ran a restaurant in Maine specializing in continental cuisine - - an outcome foreshadowed in this tasty novel.



2. "My Tainted Blood" is the compelling, semi-fictionalized autobiography of survival in war time and post-war Germany as a half-Jewish teenager, as he negotiated his way amidst the uncertainties that lurked with every new social encounter. Finding enough to eat was commonly a priority, a problem often solved creatively by the wiles of the writer. Hubert Kueter's story is captivating and even humerous as it moves the reader from one crisis to another in a dangerous world. Vividly presented, this story is a must for the American reader far removed from the personal everyday experiences of life in Germany during those years. Superbly told, it is a window into an extraordinary time in our recent history from the perspective of one who lived it. This is truly an important work!



3. I had a hard time imagining how the food motif could possibly be credibly combined with a story of survival in Nazi Germany, but it works! The overall deprivation and bleakness of this historical period fade into the background as young Horst, time and time again, manages to come home with the raw material not just for survival but for a feast. The combination of his lyrically described meals, his poignant romance with the talented Brigitte and the tales of masculine courage and daring are an unbeatable recipe.



4. Hubert Keuter's memoir covers a brief eighteen-month period, beginning in his l5th and and ending during his 16th year. It also coincides with the coming apart of Hitler's mad dream, so it is really two stories woven seamlessly together as Keuter, part Candide, part Reynard the Fox, dances with fearless ingenuity through the cultural minefields of a collapsing Third Reich, in which food - and the obtaining of it - become not only a driving force for survival, but also a metaphor for his skills at triumphantly outsmarting his family's adversaries.
   
   It is told against the backdrop of his mother's succinct but startlingly lucid dairy entries, which for me served as a sort of narrative base continuo for his remarkable, improvisational adventures.
   
   One of the first things one realizes is that there were lots of bizarre loopholes in the vaunted efficiency of the Nazi killing machine, and Keuter's survival as a part-Jewish child (the 'Tainted Blood' of the title) had a lot to do with being able to recognize and utilize those inconsistencies in the enforcement of the Nazi Aryan codes.
   
   
   But some of his toughest challenges come when Germany has surrendered and, one would suppose, things would get easier. In fact the opposite happens, as the country slips into the virtual anarchy of a black market economy, where Jews, ex-Nazi's, Poles, Russians, and Americans all mingle in a soupy mix of Chaplinesque comedy and intrigue, complete with a stolen Picasso, defecting Russian officers, black American soldiers....and some great recipes thrown in as well!
   
   Keuter has revisited just a tiny portion of his 78 years in this book. I certainly hope he decides to give us a few more chapters sometime soon.



5. My ten year old daughter loves this book. Its "conversational" style makes it one of our favorite books to read aloud. (Okay, I've censored a couple of phrases, but it's very kid friendly.) She identifies with the spunky and complex protagonist, and because she knows it's a fictionalized autobiography, she delights in trying to tease the strands of fiction out of the fabric of Truth, an exercise which will appeal to many adult readers as well.

5 comments about The Hidden Life of Otto Frank.

1. I echo the previous reviews in that I did find the writing to be very dry at times, to the point that it was difficult to get through all but the most interesting parts of this book. But, in saying that, I have to admit that the parts I did find interesting were worth the 4 stars in and of themselves.
   
   In reading the Diary of Anne Frank one of the things that you don't realize (or at least I didn't) is how thoroughly it's been edited. Otto Franks took great liberties in deciding what would and would not be shared with the public and after reading this book those edits, and the truth they hid, really shine through.
   
   More than that, I found that Otto Franks to be as fascinating a person as his daughter (even if he is not as likable) and that fact made this book very enjoyable for me.



2. While there are many things that are explained about the characters in Anne Frank already, this book goes into very deep detail about them, even more than what one would've thought possible. I will reinforce what has been said by saying that the text was a little dry at times, but still a good read.
   
   Some of the complaints I have with this book are, the author tries way too hard to make Otto be the good guy. She contradicts herself when she does this. For example, she claims that Otto married Edith, Anne's mother because he was in need of money. She then goes into great detail about how he needed this for his business and his family, but leaves out that he married her for her money. There are several other little things like that in there, also.
   
   Another thing is with Tonny Alhers. The entire book basically makes the case that Tonny Alhers turned the people living in the secret annex, but in the epilogue, she contradicts herself by suggesting that Tonny's wife did it.
   
   Still, this is a very good and eye-opening book. It shows that there was a lot more issues that went on than is mentioned in the Diary.



3. I first saw this book while browsing through the bookstore, and was shocked by the title. It reminded me of too many tabloid books seeking to expose specious and degrading rumors. As someone who has read Anne's diary many times and who has had a great appreciation of her father from what I had read, I was curious as to what 'hidden life' would be brought against him. I started reading the book at the store, and luckily, it turned out better than what the title proclaimed it to be.
   
   While I thought that the parts detailing Otto's life and his experience's with his family were interesting and well researched, I also felt that the parts about Tonny Ahlers were not so interesting. A lot of times I felt as though she was scrambling for a connection between Otto Frank and Tonny Ahlers when none was to be found. In all, I am not convinced by the proposition she put forth that Ahlers was the one who betrayed the Franks.
   
   I often hated it when she finished talking about the Franks and moved on to Ahlers. If she had left Ahlers out, the book would have been a lot more enjoyable.



4. The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee gives us a look at Anne Frank and her family from a different perspective, that of her father, Otto. The tragedy of Anne's short life is only heightened by the tragedy of her father's, who had to pick up his life and go on living after all of his family was destroyed by the Nazis. The fact that he was able to do so, and even become part of a new family is a real tribute to him. His absolute dedication to the memory of Anne and to the publication and promotion of her diary is laudable-- it is seen not only as a father's desperate attempt to retain some vestige of a daughter he obviously loved, but it is also his attempt to promote Anne's optimism and belief in the goodness of people.
   
   Otto Frank's story is interesting enough; Ms. Lee did not need to spend so much time dwelling on the possible role of Tonny Ahlers into the betrayal of the Frank family. A short chapter would have been enough, but Ms. Lee keeps returning to her theory to hammer her point home. It is distracting from a book that has enough drama as it is. To me, the wonder is that the family was able to remain hidden for so long when it seems that there were actually many people on the outside who knew about the Secret Annex.
   
   Generally children outlive their parents and hopefully become a credit to them. In the case of Otto Frank, however, it is he who is a credit to the memory of his extraordinary daughter.



5. Apparently the news that Otto Frank had sold some of his product for making jam to the Nazi Germany during the war caused quite a stir in the occupied country The Netherlands. What is really strange is how we create heroes out of people who do not choose to be heroes. Otto Frank was a remarkable man. The story of his life is equally remarkable. He was the father of one of the most famous people who ever lived, Anne Frank. If it were not for Otto, his daughter's diary would not have been published. The fact that he would want to edit things out that were personal to him and his wife is completely understandable. We will never know whether Anne would have published her diary if she had survived. This is a balanced portrait of a man caught in extraordinary times. If it had not been for the publishing of the diary we would probably never know about this survivor of the holocaust. I think he was quite remarkable.

5 comments about Operation Eichmann: The Truth about the Pursuit, Capture and Trial.

1. This is a first-hand account of the search for, capture and trial of one of the most prominent Nazi war criminals. Adolf Eichmann played a key role in transporting millions of Jews to the extermination camps. After he vanished at the end of the war, Zvi Aharoni, an experienced Mossad operative, led the search for him.

   Eichmann, along with at least 300 other leading Nazis escaped from Austria to Italy and then to Argentina via the �convent route�, assisted by the Roman Catholic Church and the Red Cross. However, after Aharoni located and identified Eichmann, the Israeli Government made no attempt to get him extradited from Argentina. It ordered Aharoni to kidnap Eichmann and smuggle him to Israel. The kidnapping, in May 1960, broke Argentina�s laws, as Israel�s Prime Minister David Ben Gurion later admitted. The United Nations General Assembly passed a Resolution condemning the abduction as a violation of Argentina�s sovereignty.

   The Israeli Government put Eichmann on trial in 1961. He famously claimed that he was only obeying orders, but was found guilty of instigating the killing of millions of Jews. He was executed on 1 June 1962.

   The whole enterprise showed the Israeli Government�s cavalier attitude to other countries� sovereignty. Its technical success was used to warrant later repeated attacks on other nations� sovereignty. These aggressions damaged the countries attacked: they also degraded Israel itself. Aharoni laments that after he retired �the rules changed and the ideals of his past no longer applied; with the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel had become a different country.� (A key indicator of this change was that, appallingly, confessions obtained by force became admissible evidence in court.) But he cannot see that his career�s most triumphant moment - the forcible abduction of Eichmann - contributed to this moral degradation.




2. This account of the life of Nazi Adolf Eichmann from his role in persecuting the Jews under Adolf Hitler's infamous Third Reich until his capture in May of 1960 and his ultimate death by hanging is told by Zvi Aharoni, the man who was a key player in the plot to kidnap Eichmann and bring him to trial. Vivid details that had to be attended to both prior to and after the capture of the Nazi criminal are provided to appreciate the difficulty in carrying out this complicated undertaking. Eichmann had a number of sons, the last of which, Richardo, was a generation younger than his brothers who really has no recollection of his father. He states he feels nothing towards his father, and can't find words to describe his terrible deeds during the war. During a visit to the site of the Wannsee-Konferenz which showed a photo of Adolf, Ricardo explained the role of his children's grandfather to them. The two children sadly said they "could not love a grandpa like him." I guess we all serve as an example to others, even if it is in a negative way. Anyone interested in Hitler's shady characters will enjoy seeing justice served in this book.



3. Very interesting book. A story I was about which I was always curious.



4. The claims in this book and by the literary critics above are such complete, watered-down, political CRAP intended to sell another book on the subject. It is all third-hand, and poor at that. Read the TRUE and ACCURATE account by the Israeli Spy, recently declassified WHO ACTUALLY CAUGHT ADOLF EICHMANN. His famous book is called "EICHMANN IN MY HANDS". Before this book, he had to write under an alias, Peter Z Mann. His action novels reflect his life and are must-reads: "ULTIMATUM PU 94" and "CARLOS MUST DIE". (Also recommend the underground book written in 1961 immediately after Eichmann's capture "THE PLOT TO SAVE EICHMANN".



5. If you want an overview of the capture of Eichmann this book will give it to you, but don't expect a gripping story. This is unglamorous espionage. Israel receives very specific information of Eichmann living in Argentina but ignores it twice. When they finally decide to pursue him it turns out that Eichmann had given up running. He and his family were living thinly concealed lives in squalor.
   
   The author's style is slow and plodding as if he was trying to stretch the story to fill the 180 pages. For example, we learn a bit too much about the difficulties of renting cars in Buenos Aires in 1960. But the book is worth the read if you don't know the story.

1 comments about True Story Of A Child In The Holocaust (Destined To Live).

1. This was one amazing book. I read this book with my 5th graders, and they never wanted to put it down. There is suspense, mystery, humor, everything a great tale has, and to make it even better- it's all true! Go buy this book now!!!

5 comments about Love In A World Of Sorrow: A Teenage Girl's Holocaust Memoirs.

1. "Love in a World of Sorrow" is Fanya Heller's true story of pain, suffering, death and love set during the hellish days of the Holocaust as her family struggled to survive against Nazi and Ukranian oppression.
   
   The opening line, "They're coming!" like a death sentence announces the onslaught of the Gestapo and Ukranian militia in l942 as they move to stalk, persecute and ultimately annihilate an already desperate and starving family. And so begins Ms. Heller's narrative of the deepening descent into darkness and horror that had already begun. But an unexpected saviour appears to keep the family from certain death. "Be nice to Jan," her father says, "Be nice to him," never imagining the outcome. The forbidden affair between Jan, a member of the Ukranian militia and Fanya a beautiful Jewish seventeen year old girl proves to be the instrument of their survival as the persecutor and the persecuted are drawn inextricably to eachother and to the constant efforts to save her family.
   
   The graphic images of torture, betrayal, rape, inhumanity and suffering are heart wrenching as the family seeks to survive in lice filled hovels and hidings. With the help of Jan and a good man existing in the midst of evil, Fanya struggles to stay alive with unwavering spirit to "live" regardless of the price.
   
   The book is a unique contribution to Holocaust literature.
   It is a compellling rendering of the crushing effect of Nazi infamy, of painful choices, of unending sorrow, but it is also a strangely uplifting story of the power of the triumphant spirit during a time when a piece of the world had gone mad.
   
   Every year my college students choose this book as their favorite piece of work and Ms. Heller's annual visits to my class as the "most memorable experience" of their academic life.
   Everything about this book marks it as a stunning choice for academic or personal readings. Ms. Heller has written an inspiring and illuminating account about a time and place in history that cannot be forgotten.
   -Dr. Sondra Melzer, Professor, Sacred Heart University,
   Adjunct Professor, University of Connecticut Stamford



2. "Love in a World of Sorrow" is the best account of the Holocaust I have ever read and, I am sure, will ever read. Its real distinctiveness is the candor, the honesty, the openness, and the reaching out to the reader in sharing thoughts and feelings that are rarely (never?) shared. I felt that I lived a little of the experience with Fanya, albeit in the security of my living room. Her many months behind the chicken coop, her lying down on the pine needles in the forest during the mass killings, and her many intimate conversations with her parents and her rescuers brought a textual reality that is part of the fabric of my own memory forever.
   
   Indeed, I had trouble sleeping last night as I relived Fanya Heller's words. Her memory of those horrific times - which is now a part of me as well - will always be unsettling. "Love in a World of Sorrow" is a rare volume, a story of the day-to-day emotions and feelings of survival, and a gift from an exceptionally talented, loving, and beautiful woman.



3. When I first started reading this book it was a little discouraging, so I only gave it 4 stars. It starts off with an introduction of every member of her extended family (I'm talking aunts, uncles, cousins, cousin's cousins and numerous friends), which were hard to keep straight because I wasn't sure how to pronounce the names in the first place. It would have been better if she introduced them as they entered her story. She also used a lot of german words and only defined them once, but continued to use them throught. After the first couple chapters though, this book was a gripping tale and the author made you feel as though you were right there along side her going through her experiences. The part I really loved is that it didn't end quite as you'd expect. If you're interested in stories of Holocaust survivors, I would definitely reccomend this one.



4. I have read many memoirs on the holocaust and this is one of the best I have read. It is well written and very moving in it's telling. It portrays the emotions and agonies that this young girl went through in the years of trying to survive the holocaust and the war years. It is a story of the triumph of the human will to survive and to move forward with her life. I don't think I will forget it for a long time, if ever. I highly recommend it.



5. In my opinion this is a poorly titled book. A much better title would be "Using Someone In A World of Sorrow" The story itself is fine. We all need to hear what happened and how it happened. Personally after reading her story. There wasn't much true love that I read into it though.
   
   I can't say I cared for the author too much as a person. I've read many books on the holocaust. She suffered less than most. Basically she would be dead if it weren't for a man named Jan. A man who risked his very life and took more than one beating for her...for years, for her and her families survival. He made sure she didn't suffer as much as the other Jews at that time. He loved her. Maybe the title of the book is in reference to Jan and not the author.
   
   *MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD* Don't read further unless you know what happens PLEASE.
   
   The way she repays this man, is to run away and marry one of her own kind after liberation. You see the man was a Ukrainian , what the Jews referred to as a Goy. No doubt the shame she would experience staying with Jan was worse than anything she had been through. So she let him nail her all those years he hid her, and then left the area after liberation to get away from him. She also blamed him for killing her father shortly after liberation. So the 80% of the population in that area who still hated the Jews didn't touch her father even though he was wanting revenge and talking openly about it. No sir, their savoir, a man who made sure they stayed alive and risked his life for her AND her family...killed her dad. It sounded more like she was a racist and an ungrateful one at that and was looking for excuses to blame her decision on. In the end Jan wound up hanging himself, while she writes a book about her terrible ordeal. Nice hu?
   
   Honestly I don't know what to say. If I saw this lady I'd probably have a few harsh words to say to her. I'd tell her it was terrible what the Germans did to her, but she was terrible in her own way. The book was honest, and the story well told so I'd give it 5 stars and recommend it. The author, as a person, I give 1 star.

5 comments about Swimming Up the Sun: A Memoir of Adoption.

1. Swimming Up the Sun is a touching and well-written story that reveals the wonderful and agonizing complexity of family relationships. The writer demonstrates grace and wit in her portrayals and inspires empathy in her readers. Though I have never been involved in an adoption, I found the story poignant and deeply relevant, especially at a time when fewer and fewer families resemble traditional family models.



2. Nicole has written a heartfelt, honest account of the complex needs, tensions, and feelings of all the members of a biological family involved in adoption. As an adoptive mother, I especially appreciated the open and sensitive account of an adoptee's search and her emotional roller coaster as she sought to connect with her biological family. I highly recommend this book to all those already involved in adoption, or who are considering an adoption. Adoptees' needs are an important aspect of the situation, and Nicole presents this perspective simply and eloquently.



3. This is a very eloquent and heartfelt account of one woman's search and reunion. The author provides a very moving and well-written account of the events surrounding her search for her birth family and the ensuing reunions and relations. She honestly portrays the feelings and relationships that occured for her. I would highly recommend this book to anyone touched by adoption.



4. This book rivals some of the best mystery novels. The reader accompanies Nicole Burton as she solves the mystery of who her parents are and describes the relationships she forms with them. The book was sensitive, insightful, and beautifully written. Although it was a serious subject, I found the book witty and humorous. It was a pleasure accompanying her on this adventure.



5. Very interesting and realistic twist on the adoption search story. The author doesn't sugarcoat anything, and produces a nice mix of humor and deep emotion.
   
   Characters are realistic, which is fitting because this is a memoir, not fiction. But it's very hard to convey a realistic view of family members. Hats off to Nicole Burton for that.
   
   Needs a little editing, otherwise 5 stars.

5 comments about My Bridges of Hope.

1. My Bridges of Hope is an excellent book about a girl named Elli returning from the dreadful Holocaust. Elli returns home expecting everything would be all right, but to her surprise everything has changed and she must too. The Friedmann family goes through many challenges when returning home and must also cope with the loss of family members. The family has to make many tough decisions and just as one problem is solved another comes along. They know they cannot stay in Czechoslovakia but where else would they go? They spend many years waiting and finally their chance comes to be sent to America to start a new life.
   This is an excellent book and I recommend reading it. Even though the Holocaust was over Jews still had many challenges to overtake. Although we think the end of the war was the end of Jewish troubles it was not. This book gives one account of a person's life after the Holocaust.



2. My Bridges of Hope is a fascinating and well-written book that keeps you hooked from the first word to that last. Livia Bitton-Jackson gives you insight into what happened to those who were among the few to survive the Holocaust. The girl in the story is actually a younger Bitton-Jackson when she was growing up. This autobiography is more like a story than a recollection of one's past. The book is set in Czechoslovakia where before the war, Elli (Bitton-Jackson), her brother Bubi, and their parents lived. After the war, their beloved home feels abandoned and changed. Other settings of the book include Elli's apartment and various temporary homes that they live in on their way to finding hope in America.
   They have survived the horrid concentration camps but return to find that their father and aunt both perished in the war. The book describes events that happened through June of 1945 to March 30 of 1951 to a young Jewish woman. Elli is 14 when the book starts out. While fighting her past, she helps out in a camp for orphans, helps refuges escape to Palestine, and continues her education. After her schooling, Elli becomes a teacher. Elli is strong-willed, confused, and hopefully. She is loving and smart. Elli's mother is a seamstress and wants to go to America because they can't stay in their homeland any longer. Her mother loves her children very much and is unfamiliar with the "newer" age. Bubi is Elli's older brother. He is a warm, caring, and affectionate. Elli looks up to him and often finds herself needing his comfort.
   Although both her mother and brother want to go to America, Elli wants to join her friends in going to their "homeland" The dialog in the book was appropriate because she was the character. The words were probably even words she used herself. She keeps you interested because she adds in different languages and so it matches the period. Her style is wonderful and it flows and blends perfectly. She always made it so you understood what was happening. I think this book was written so she could move on and maybe start healing. I think she also wanted others to know what the Jews went through.
   I think this is a wonderful book for young adults. It shows how a young girl changes into a confident woman while she is fighting her past and trying to live her future. It is a great book to add to anyone's Holocaust collection.



3. I recommended the first book to two of the people I know, but what was dissapointing was that they never wanted to read the second book. I think that this was even better than the first, which was really good too! This was a really good addition to the first, very suspenseful and interesting. You only want the best for her.



4. This is one of the best sequels to a Shoah memoir I've read yet. Too many such sequels fall into the trap of simply recounting what happened next and aren't as compelling as the first book because there's no constant suspense and wondering what's going to happen next, which of these people being spoken about survived and who perished. In this sequel, though, there are a lot of interesting details about what happened next, such as Elli's involvement in the Bricha, the refugee house she liked to visit and hang out at, her work at a childrens' summer camp in the mountains, her training to become a teacher, and the long hard road she and her mother went through on their way from escaping from their home town to America before it was too late and the Iron Curtain closed permanently. It was also nice that each chapter was prefaced with the date or dates during which it transpired, so you had a real timeframe of things. The only minor complaint I have is about the languages used; in this book, the Friedmanns' town has returned to Czechoslovakian control and is in what is now the free nation of Slovakia, so they speak Slovakian, though in the first book, when they were in Hungarian hands, they seemed to be native speakers of Hungarian, and in the section of this book where Elli and her mother are being cross-examined when they're sneaking over the border with a transport of real Hungarians, Elli says they can make it, since they speak Hungarian as well as natives. I can't find any mention in the first book about the Friedmanns being Slovakians or speaking that language like their native tongue, but overall, apart from that minor unexplained detail, it's a really good sequel.



5. Came close to what I expected. Not as powerful as her previous book (I HAVE LIVED A THOUSAND YEARS) but gives a good overview (specially the first 2/3) of what it was like coming back to a soon-to-be Communist (Stalinist) country behind the Iron Courtain, and what it took to flee it and keep on living in limbo for years - and all that in the teenage years.

5 comments about My German Question: Growing Up in Nazi Berlin.

1. As a historian I was recently confronted with a request by one of my students to find memoirs of a young Jewish person who had lived in the 1930s in Germany. Looking for memoirs of that type in English proved to be difficult. Most childhood recollections are anyhow problematic - due to the time difference and the natural lapses in memory. Then I stumbled across Peter Gay's book. After having read the book I decided to go to Amazon to see once again what other people thought about the book.

   Indeed, I found mixed reviews concentrating on Peter Gay as the scholar or Peter Gay as the survivor etc. I am German myself and on top of it a history professor who is teaching right now a course on Collaboration and Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Europe. So, the book became interesting to me from several perspectives. While I did not learn anything new as far as his years in Berlin are concerned, his judgments on Germany and the Germans troubled me deeply. Although I could not share Peter Gay's eye for an eye statements - especially concerning the bombing of Dresden and the acts of Zionist terrorists in early Israel (terrorism remains terrorism - no matter what side) - I was once again confronted with my German identity. Since I am born in 1959 I had nothing to do with those times directly - nevertheless my compatriots overall did commit those crimes to humanity. Gay's statements troubled me in the sense that once again I asked myself to which extent could we Germans have prevented this from happening. What could the "ordinary German" - to remain in Christopher Browning's words - have done? The resistance of Gay's friend Busse did not do much either in preventing the Holocaust! So, what could have been the solution?




2. It is perhaps best to begin by saying what this deeply personal and moving account is not. It is not the memoir of a man whose mother or father "had been hauled to a concentration camp" (p. 22). This is the memoir of "one of the lucky ones" (p.22). It is nonetheless, a tale of a survivor.
   
   It is the story of a man whose hormones forced him, a young adolescent Jew, to look at the hated newspaper Sturmer which portrayed Jews as evilly lusting after pure Aryan girls but which "could not leave sex alone." And while he looked at the images of the dangerous cockroach-like Jew lusting after pure beauties-him-he grew of age. Is it to be wondered at that he did not, as he tells us, lose his virginity until long after university?
   
   And yet, Peter Gay was one of the lucky ones. He only lost two members of his family to the gas chambers. Both were blond and, in my opinion though not Peter's, rather pretty. One of them played Germania in school plays. The Nazis (or perhaps ordinary Germans? Or maybe Poles, Croats, Latvians?) gassed her. Peter, however, was not gassed. He was not even in a concentration camp. Peter was one of the lucky ones.
   
   All he did was live in a world, a Berlin that became smaller and smaller. Not only could he not do certain things but more and more he could not go certain places, be on certain streets, or associate with certain people. Non-Jewish doctors for example. And the radio and announcements and the laws and the newspapers made it plain to him that he, a Jew, was a "blot on humanity" with whom "true" Germans should not associate. Gradually, his world became his immediate family and his aunts and uncles. Gradually, gradually he became a true pariah.
   
   Because he had become a Jew by dictat. For Peter makes it clear that his family was (and took pride in being) an assimilated German family. They did not think of themselves as Jews or as pariahs. To them madmen were running their country: Germany. And they were the true Germans. None of this, of course, impressed the Nazis and since the madmen had the power, they, the true Germans, had to leave. With a sensitive boy who was suffering from depression. A boy who was one of the lucky ones.
   
   And finally this is the story of the lucky boy grown into a man; a man who tries to reconcile himself to his Berlin. A boy/man who wants to desperately say (as did President Kennedy but in proper German) Ich bin Berliner but who cannot quite do so. A man who still roots for Hertha H.S.C. (a German soccer team) and who "regrets architectural adventurism that is working toward effacing the unique atmosphere of [Berlin]" (204) but who cannot quite say that he is a Berliner. A man who insists on being an American in the city of his birth; a man to whom Nazi Berlin clings like shards of Kristallnacht glass.
   
   For, in the end this lucky boy/man is a survivor. Because the Nazis made him a Jew by dictat.



3. I first became annoyed with the author for talking and intellectually telling us his story in the manner he does. He was one of the few Jews in Berlin who was able to continue his life with family, friends and others until late in the decade. He tells us but shares little about feelings or what it was like emotionally to be there. What did he feel attending a "Gymnasium" with non Jewish Germans long after most Jews could have. Was there conflict and ambivilance, guilt? The discription of his first return to Germany in the early 60's is gripping. Soon a profound sorrow and rage for this educated and intellectlal man overcame me. He indeed was a victim of the Holocaust as much as any other victim albiet he was lukier than some. As a psychiatrist I've treated many holocaust survivors and their children. He actually explains though indirectly that his ultimate survival as an integrated person lied in his ability to repress, supress and disconnect from much of the horror. I wanted something that he could not give me. I believe he is a hero for writing this book and exposing as much as does to himself and others. It is so easy to become angry with the victim. He has surely suffered his share in life. His survival is his badge of courage.
   Jo Ann Terdiman



4. Peter Gay's elegant, unsparingly honest testament to the Berlin he knew as a young person is unlike any other memoir I've encountered. One would think, reading some of these other reviews, that Gay should be faulted for not suffering enough. He explains his own passage through childhood in an honest, decent way, and not without humor, either. This quiet, passionate and thoughtful memoir is the work of a disciplined historian whose writing is scrupululously honest and is remarkably free of the usual taint of egotism that characterizes so many memoirs. A valuable document of social history as well as a satisfying read.



5. I usually make a point of not re-reading other Amazon reviews before writing my own review of a book I've just finished, but in this case, for some reason, I strayed from my usual practice...
   
   I'm surprised that few of my fellow reviewers have mentioned how amusing Peter Gay's book is - this is the one aspect that drew me in when I finally got around to reading "My German Question" - his description of projecting anti-semitism on a German money changer when returning to Germany as an adult. I found his self-deprecating self-analysis very funny and very entertaining.
   
   Many people, including non-jews, who pay attention to such things, feel ambivalent about modern Germany. I myself, an erstwhile German Literature scholar, have said things in anger that could probably get me arrested (I have since been told that it is actually illegal to call someone a Nazi in Germany today), to a native who had taken my seat at the Hofbrauhaus. One of the minor disappointments of my life was to discover that Germans today are not obsessed with the question of German collective guilt - that Germany exists only in the novels of Heinrich Boell, from what I can tell.
   
   I agree with those who have noted that Gay has a tendency to tell us that times were tough, without really describing what specifically was tough about it, in detail. We read a lot about his strategies for coping with his isolation as a Jew in Nazi Germany, and I found this very interesting, but I missed seeing more description of what it was exactly he was coping with.
   
   The book makes a very interesting companion to Wolfgang Samuel's "German Boy" and especially "Coming to Colorado" which I also read recently. It's ironic that both Samuels and Gay should end up in Denver, of all places.
   
   One minor frustration with this paperback edition: the book is tall and thin, an annoying form factor that I did not enjoy holding. I probably would not buy this book if I had picked it up browsing in a bookstore, and I put off reading it after ordering from Amazon simply because I didn't like the shape. In the end however, I'm glad I overcame this deterrent!

5 comments about An Uncommon Friendship: From Opposite Sides of the Holocaust.

1. Each memoir is important in adding to the historical record of this terrible period, and this book adds a considerable dimension with the authors shared as well as separate memories and their astute and insightful analyses of every aspect of their experiences. By the time I finished reading this book, I felt I knew both authors well and also many of the people who surrounded them over the years. I hope the book is widely read and given a place of honor in Holocaust literature. It deserves deep attention by scholars and general readers and seems eerily prescient, too, in light of September 11th, and its concern for the horrors our species can inflict on its victims. If I were still writing book reviews, this book would be a prime choice for me. It deserves all the notice in print it can get.



2. The two authors of the book just visited my school today, and told me and the other students their stories. Bernat Rosner went to my school, Thomas Jefferson School, and he even mentions and has pictures of it in the book. I've yet to read it, but I'm eagerly anticipating it. Their stories are so touching, and I feel so honored to have met these two men. Also to have had a man as interesting as Bernie Rosner go to my school in 1950, it's just so amazing. They are very interesting people, and there's just so much more I could say, but this review would unfortunately become boring. I strongly suggest that everyone should read this book, the authors have two great stories to tell.



3. I was very impressed with this book; for such a difficult subject it was beautifully written. I have been to the Holocaust Museum in Israel, and though the documentation there is quite graphic and disturbing, the voice of the child in Bernie, and the voice of the child on the other side in Fritz, completes a picture that is enlightening, but reveals a picture that no one wants to believe. It seems to me that is often the way people have dealt with this very terrible time, and the authors are very brave to tell this story. I think this book should be required reading for all college students.



4. In a world with a lot of open wounds in need of healing, "An Uncommon Friendship" helps bridge former sins and ongoing roots of bitterness to establish a world pregnant with new beginnings--every day. This book shows that other options are possible beyond the labels of cultural bigotry. When properly understood and appropriated, understanding and forgiveness are seldom far apart in life-giving relationships.

   Recently we came in contact with a person who has such a high disregard for Germans. If only they knew and understood the rich heritage German culture has also given as a gift to the New World of new beginnings.




5. Friendship comes in many forms, and that relationship between Bernie and Fritz, from different sides, Jewish and Christian, of the deep divide of WW2, is a marvelous testimony to "friendship". The only bitter-sweet moment was when I realized that Bernie had given up his religious beliefs in his "americanization". His children were not raised as Jews; another generation lost to the Holocaust, as much as the six million were.
   
   I first saw this book when a seat mate on a flight was reading it. He praised it, so I ordered it. The book was well worth the praise.

4 comments about Anne Frank: Life in Hiding.

1. This is another book about Anne Frank that I get the chance to read. Although there are many biographies about this wonderful human being, this book is the closest one that can answer the questions that all Anne Frank fan has. I did for many years just read the Diary over and over but I wanted more! This book is definetly more! It tells you more about the relationship she had with her family and the rest of the people in hiding. This is a girl who could hardly see the light coming from her window and the only green thing that she could think about was a huge chestnut outside the Annex. This book describes this little things that she cherished and that she no longer had....her freedom. She didn't either had freedom of speach inside the Annex due to the critics about her attitude. This book develops more information about why Anne acted like she did and why she had an open opinion about everything. It also gives you a bigger idea of why she didn't like her mother and develops more about her childhood around her family and her friends. I hope all readers that enjoy the Anne Frank writings will enjoy this description about her persona. Is a total different thing to read her diary knowing more about her life and early aspirations. ENJOY!



2. The summary on this book is this is a book about Anne Frank. It tells about her life and her diary. Also it tells about her troubles and her problems. In this book, people are put into concentration camps and poision gas room by the Nazis. If you don't know who the Nazis are, they are a type of group that dosen't like Jews.
   Anne was born in 1856.Anne was very adventrous. She liked to write, so at the age of 13, her mom and dad bought her a diary. Anne was very talkative. Sha always got into trouble.
   Some problems that she faced is hidding.She was hidding from the Nazis. She was hidding with another family and a dentist. Also another problem she faced is physical changes.
   Some ways she solved her problems is by writting in her diary. In her diary she would write about things that were going on in her life. Another way she solved her problem is by hidding. This is a problem solver because if she didn't she would be in a concentration camp.



3. This book is filled with the ups and downs of Anne Frank, how she handles her problems, how life was being Jewish and happy memories of her life. It tells how Anne was a very energetic girl who had fun with friends and was very social. However, it also describes how hard life was for her, being Jewish, going into hiding and being captured and being transported to different concentration camps. Anne was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt Germany. During her time in hiding she kept all her secret thoughts in a diary that her mother and father (Edith and Otto Frank) gave to her the day she turned 13(June 12, 1942). Anne had a very strong bond with her father and sister (Margot) but not as strong with her mother but she still loved her dearly. This is a wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone who is interested about Anne Frank.



4. This book is magical, because it shows you and makes you feel like you are the scene. It made me think how hard it would be to live like a young Jewish girl called Anne Frank living a life with guns being shot and having to move so much.
   I can not imagine living like Anne that can only go to shops that have the Jewish signs, and not much of the stores had them. Anne was very brave to put up with this stuff every day. She is unbelievable, she was a great person. You should read this book because it can give you information and show how lucky we are that we have freedom to go anywhere we want to go.
   I had a lot of fun reading this book and it showed me how lucky I am to be here in the United States. This book also taught me how cruel Hitler was to the Jewish and other people.