This is the name of the book we are reading this month for book club. It came about through speaking engagements. The woman grew up during Hitler's rise in Germany. She is Jewish, and, of course ended up in the camps. She now crisscrossses North America speaking and educating in behalf of those whose lives were lost and/or broken during the Holocaust. The other speaker is a younger man. He was raised as a German youth in Nazi Germany. While his twin stayed at their grandparents' farm, and so developed quite differently, he remained in the city and rose rapidly through the ranks of the Hitler Youth. Their parallell stories and the careful juxtaposition is an inspiration as well as an education. She was a loyal German, who happened to be a Jew. He was a loyal German, who happened to be a fit young man. How their lives went forward is of great interest. I am especially fascinated by his story--how he led the defenses at the end with young boys and old men...all the while believing in the myth that was Hitler. It wasn't until he went to the trials at Nurembourg that he began to realize what a horrible thing he had had part in. Eventually, he hit the speaking circuit, and was frequently paired with this woman, they became, not friends, but wary aquaintances who were speaking out for the same reason--to stop such evil from recurring. I read this book initially a couple of years ago, but it has stuck with me. It showed me how so many Germans, even Jews did not understand till quite late what was really going on. Today I ran across this article about a man in Wisconsin who is building a museum to honor Hitler. For this reason, I believe we need to keep alive the stories and the knowledge of the holocaust. Here is a link to that story:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0%2C1518%2C421345%2C00.html truly astounding! Our exchange student from Berlin told me how they are taken frequently to the camps on field trips so that the memories remain fresh. I remember my uncle telling me about liberating one of the camps. The people were skeletons--and those were the live ones! We were able to visit the holocaust museum in Richmond, VA. The DC one is patterned after that one--only bigger and better! We must remember. We must apply those lessons to our times: Hitler = Saddam = Darfur? Where does it stop? When does it stop? It stops first when good men do nothing--the easiest way to have peace, but at what cost?! So what must we do? I believe the answer was given by Captain Moroni when he rent his cloak and wrote upon it," For Liberty!"
3 comments:
i don't know if it's that i grew up in rural oklahoma, or if i'm just really not someone who has a thirst for history, but i never really grasped the full "story" of Nazi germany. then one time, in kansas city, we went to this little restruant(sp?) and the woman who both owned the place, and served patrons came to our table. i saw this tattoo on her arm, the underside of it, if i remember correctly... just simple numbers. that was my introduction into the holocaust... it was the first time i really heard anything about it. and yes, i remember the tattoo... but it was her defiant spirit that i remember most when she talked to us about her history.
sad times for sure. tragic. but what an amazing woman...
i think i was like... 7. maybe 8.
I'm going to have to read that book. It sounds very interesting. I know the story of the Jewish side of the Holocaust, but I've never really read about the lies that tied so many German youth into the mess.
FF--what an experience at such an impressionable age to meet and hear this woman!
Angel--at the Holocaust Museums in both Richmond and also DC [from what I understand] you actually hear an individual's story through a head-set as you walk/crawl/crouch and crowd into the museum displays. It became so very real to me , especially as I had so recently been doing a lot of Holocaust reading shortly before going to the museum. Crawling through a dim tunnelwas almost too much for me. But I was determined to get the whole experience and going around through the "handicapped access" did not seem right. I reasoned that it did not matter if I had been in that position, being "handicapped" would only put me higher on the extermination list, so I chose to experience it all. [I got disoriented and a little lost in the tunnel] What an experience. The cattle car was also very emotional, but the gas "shower" chamber was the worst. Maybe knowing was the worst. Was it not as bad for those who were killed early on, because they didn't yet know what was even happening to them? I don't know. The whole thing is beyond me. And this is why I feel so strongly about genocide wherever in the world it occurs, and make no mistake, it vertainly still does.
Feathersky--it is a good read. Also as it is geared towards a younger [6th gr+] audience, it is not quite so graphic as some holocaust reading. Tho I think as we're able, we should be familiar with the whole graphic story, I don't know that I would want to read it more than once.
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