1 comments about The King of Children: The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak.

1. The book was almost too well researched, giving every minor detail of Korczak's life as well as those of his companions. It was, however, worth learning about a national hero from Poland.

No comments about Diary Anne Frank.

4 comments about Moments of Reprieve: A Memoir of Auschwitz (Twentieth Century Classics).

1. This book is lovely, but it is worth pointing out that it revisits characters that Levi has written in about in his previous memoirs, and is much more satisfying as an appendix than a freestanding work. The chapters on Cesare and Lorenzo gain a great deal of depth if one has already read If This Is a Man and The Truce, where the two are major characters. (These two books have unfortunately been re-titled in America, with complete inaccuracy and for mysterious reasons, Survival in Auschwitz and The Reawakening.)
   
   Also, unlike The Periodic Table, which is also a collection of stories (and I think one of the best books of the 20th century), Moments of Reprieve is not designed to be a unified work of art. The stories were written under a variety of impulses, and most are individually brilliant and moving, but they do not gain strength from being around each other. The last chapter ("The Story of a Coin") about Rumkowski, even appears again -- with no changes as far as I could tell -- in The Drowned and the Saved, Levi's last completed book.
   
   For anyone wanting to discover Levi's writing, I would suggest beginning with The Periodic Table, If This is a Man, and The Truce. Also wonderful are his single novel (If Not Now, When?) and his poetry. This collection, while not essential, serves as a worthy addition to his greatest work. It is also a testament to his artistry, because it shows how much he consciously left out of If This is a Man and The Truce -- stories that a lesser writer would have scrambled to include -- to create the unified, devastating impression of those two books.
   
   Eventually, though, after reading those other great books, you will end up here, because I know of no one who has read them sincerely that has not wanted to spend more time in the company of this smart, funny, wise, and radiantly decent person.



2. I enjoy being older and having time to pursue the books I would like to read rather than have to read. I only discovered Primo Levi by seeing his name mentioned in reference to another author. And to think I might have missed this man's talent out of pure ignorance. What a shame there aren't many more of his works available, cut off by his depression and taking his life. Book quality excellent. Content of Levi's story exquisite.



3. This little memoir humanizes Levi's Auschwitz acquaintances, presenting them not merely as victims sitting around waiting to be gassed, but as lively, interesting people engaged in the full-time business of getting enough food to survive.



4. it was recommended by a good friend of mine to read a certain book by this author. i couldn't get my hands on the book recommended, but i decided to try this one at random. i was not disappointed. i thought this book was excellent. it is full of short stories about several people who levi remembers from his time in auschwitz. it is not a heavy book about the holocaust, it is a collection of interesting stories about people who briefly touched his life in some way. his voice and his style are unique, and his stories are thoughtful and intriguing. i feel like i've seen a glimpse of his personality and the personalities of the characters he has written about. i have since read the sixth day; quite a stretch from this one, but just as beautiful. i highly recommend both.

1 comments about Convoy To Auschwitz: Women of the French Resistance (Women's Life Writings from Around the World).

1. I am so glad that this book was translated to english and published here in the States. Please, don't get me wrong, but it is "nice" to have a book about other victims of the Nazi death camps besides Jewish accounts. It serves to remind us and teach us that others too were sentenced to those Death Camps. Many gypsies, resisters, communists, christians, and lesbians, all from different countries, EVEN GERMANS, were sentenced and died at the camps. This book in particular is a Who's Who, a list of a convoy of resisters (mostly communists) from France (mostly french, but there were other nationalities as well) who lived and died together. Each name has a story, some more than others. Stories from the survivors and from what relatives that could be found after the war.

   It's amazing that this book was first published in 1965 and is only now being published here in the US. But I'm glad I got to read it.

5 comments about The Hidden Hitler.

1. I read this book, as I do all other historical works, to fill voids and/or add different perspective to my knowledge of, in this instance, Nazi Germany. Machtan presents his argument (evidence) in vacuum form. In other words, the book reads like numerous single subject short bios in rapid fire form - there is very little text to give the reader his bearings. Well, after wading through the entire book, I can only be sure of one thing: the author left no stone unturned or rabbit trail unexplored. The exhaustive work put into this book cannot be disputed. While the hard work is admirable, the book quickly bogs down into trite short bios on various men with connections, however, far removed, to Hitler. With the introduction of each man from Hitler's past, we are presented with the same litany of circumstantial evidence and hearsay upon hearsay designed to make a case for that particular man's homosexuality. Certain men, Ernst Rohm, for example, were known as members of the gay community. Machtan offers nothing to make any substantial nexus between Hitler and Rohm regarding alleged physical relations. Rohm is one of the exceptions to those studied in detail. A majority of the men were not openly gay. As a result, Machtan first has to establish a case for the individual's homosexuality. Then, Machtan repeatedly makes the huge leap of "now that I've shown this man was likely gay - he was often close to Hitler ..." Every bio on men from Hitler's past read the same: the man was probably gay because his landlady said he was odd (or he was a poet) and then insert some connection to Hitler. The author also overlooks the fact that Hitler was, among many other things, a master of surrounding himself with those who had a secret, the keeping of which, they were reliant upon Hitler. This was by design and gave Hitler additional power over his subjects - forced loyalty. An obvious result of such a tactic was Hitler's close relations to men with "dirty little secrets". History makes a much stronger argument that Hitler deemed such men useful to his ultimate goal. As the book inadvertently details, history lends no hard evidence to the notion Hitler was smitten with numerous men during his years. Lastly, Machtan plays on the "well, just because nobody thought they were gay does not mean they were not - heck, nobody admits to being gay - not in those days at least." Well, if that were the case, why the long book? They were all gay and so was Hitler. No thanks. I will stick with Kershaw's Hubris and Nemesis as both works more than detail what Machtan attempts to "reveal". Kershaw allows the reader to reach his own conclusion. This is a great read if you like historical fiction and spoon-feeding.



2. I have enjoyed reading The Hidden Hitler and when I turned to the Amazon reviews I found several reviews to be unfairly negative and the positive reviews to be brief and not helpful so I decided to make a few comments of my own on this useful book.
   My comments here are critical but should not discourage the reader from approaching the book, which is accessible.
   First, Machtan's thesis is not nearly so new or so ignored as he likes to present it. Konrad Heiden, one of Hitler's earliest biographers, goes over much of the same material but reaches totally different conclusions. Heiden notes that rumors of Hitler's homosexuality were rife in the 20's and 30's. Other biographers have reached different conclusions than Machtan does, which does not necessarily mean that Hitler's (alleged) homosexuality has been ignored. I note that Machtan totally ignores Heiden, except to list him in the bibliography, and perhaps the fact that Heiden, who was a contemporary of Hitler and published in 1944, disputes the homosexuality of Hitler prompted this otherwise curious omission.
   
   As a second point, Machtan makes a mess of the Geli Raubal mystery. I know of few people who think her death was a suicide as Machtan strongly implies. He is right that facts are scarce but she died in 1931 about two years after her alleged lover was driven from the scene. Most accounts of her death recognize the central importance of letters to her written by Hitler. The letters were hunted down and the holders killed. Their contents are unknown but by inference were explosive - and they were between Hitler and Geli. A conservative thesis is that Hitler revealed himself, not as a homosexual, but as a man with sexual intentions toward her that shocked her. Machtan discusses Geli in a few short pages and does not report any of the inferences that do not support his thesis. Instead, he makes her out to be a sort of "trophy wife" or camouflage to hide his male dalliances. Again, I have not read any other account that argues that Hitler was not in love (as he defined it) with her and was not devastated by her death.
   
   A Third point must be made. Some of the reviewers here accuse Machtan of poor sourcing and use of inference over facts. This is unjust. I believe Machtan marshals his sources as well as anyone can in this mystery. Please remember that Hitler, like Stalin, was at great pains to revise his biography and that both men considered murder a proper form of editing. Almost one hundred years after the fact it is extremely difficult to reach facts without inferring them from actions. The startling difference in interpretation is the central issue.
   My final point is two-fold. First, that although Machtan tries hard not to pigeonhole Hitler, the use of the very loaded term homosexual in fact narrows the discussion, and does not broaden it.
   
   The second point is that, to return to Heiden's analysis, there is more than one way to read the same material. Heiden explicity rejects homosexuality as a part of Hitler's makeup. Instead, he makes four points: 1) Hitler's reserve around women was an aspect of extreme shyness 2) that Hitler's view of women was an extreme case of the Madonna/Whore duality and he was alternately attracted to women and repelled by their "dirtiness." 3) that his actual sexuality, though direct primarily at women, defied a simple name and included sadism and masochism, dominance and fetishes that appalled Geli and other women. My point is not to agree or disagree with Heiden's assessment but to point to the fact that the same evidence can be interpreted in a number of ways. Finally, 4) Heiden and Machtan are in apparent agreement about the chameleon nature of Hitler and his ability to mimic his surroundings. Hitler was perfectly capable of knowingly surrounding himself with homosexual men, such as Rohm, discarding them when they ceased to be of value and then acting shocked when he "discovered" their proclivities. I think Machtan is on firm ground when he discusses the attraction to certain homosexuals of the Nazi movement and its forerunners. The cult of masculinity, if you will, would be a great attraction to some homosexual men and it is not in itself surprising that Hitler would use them for his own advancement.
   
   In sum, I think Machtan actually narrows the understanding of Hitler by his thesis which seems to me to try and Put Hitler into a specific milieu and keep him there. I think the reality is much broader.



3. This book is a primary source for "The Pink Swastika", written by Scott Lively and also reviewed by me. "The Hidden Hitler" is a far better book, with more thorough documentation and no hidden agenda outside of seeking the Truth. As history is explained and documented in this book, a lot of other things fall into place. I never did believe there was a homosexual holocaust, it just didn't make sense in the scheme of what I know about the Nazi motivation for a Master Race. They were far too self-centered to care about so-called "morality" -- and far too immoral, at that. That said, the "Night of the Long Knives" apparently was a homosexual slaughter based on internalized homophobia (my words) and the self-centered narcissism of Hitler and his obsession for the preservation of his historical image. That, to me, makes sense, in its own perverted way.
   
   It is difficult to be clear about the difference between homosexuality and pederasty even today, and it certainly would have been difficult back then. Surely there was overlap, as there is today, particularly for gay men. Very few gay men are rapists, but there are clearly men who rape boys. Rape, however, is not the issue in this book. Power is. And, then again, rape is about power, isn't it?
   
   Given that, the Hitler Youth makes sense as well. Seduction, betrayal, secrets, power, and the Lebensborn homes, where women were nothing more -- nor less -- than breeders (again, based on my own research) speaks to me of a brilliant homosexual coup d'etat that makes "don't ask, don't tell" a monument to efficiency. After all, how can one control one's entourage without secrets?
   
   This is not about the gay "community." There is no gay "community," in fact, and there certainly wasn't one then. There was a sub-culture, as there always has been, but they did not then, and they do not now, speak with one voice. The oppression, narcissism and self-loathing they lived with, however, could definitely contribute to a perverse distortion of power and control and a terrorizing ab-reaction against the masses should someone of such proclivities actually make it to the apex.
   
   The anti-Semitism is a given, and had little to do with the homosexuality. Many people were (and are) anti-Semitic, Germany did not corner the market on that. Nor did they corner the market on medical experimentation. They did, however, corner the market on efficiency, expediency, and drama. The epitome of Queendom, if there ever was one.



4. Using a wide and complete variety of archival records, Lothar Machtan has reconstructed the milieu of Hitler's early adulthood, intellectual and political formation, and salient actions in his bellicose and genocidal maturity. Machtan's methodology and interpretation of evidnce is the standard stock of modern history. There are no unreasonable reaches beyond the evidence. Nor does Machtan condemn homosexuality as a life style. Simply put: Machtan presents a strong case that Hitler was gay. The main point of his thesis is that Hitler hiding his homosexuality was part of a larger dominant behavioral pattern of Hitler having fabricated a falsified persona as Germany's all-knowing, multi-talented and invincible "Fuehrer." Machtan concludes that Hitler was a superb liar and spellbinding public speaker who deceived the German people and led them into a disastrous period of the near total destruction of Germany and Europe.



5. Hitler is a true historic enigma. His was such a contradictory life that biographers can easily read just about anything into it. He was somehow both monstrous and banal at the same time but was he a homosexual?

   Machtan seems to think that he was. But what constitutes proof of such a claim? Hitler was a historical figure, much has been written about him even during his life. There is a wealth of documentation for just about every facet of his personality, his day to day existence as both a private and very public figure.

   So where's the proof? Machlan offers very little hard factual evidence that can be independently verified. Most of his proof are 'edited' interpretations of memoirs that are ambiguous at best. There just is no 'smoking gun' presented here just the same kind of innuendo that hints at everything and proves nothing.

   Was Hitler a raging heterosexual then? No. He seems, to me, to have been more asexual then anything else. There was some sort of emotional 'relationship' between him and his niece.. was it a sexual one as well? Eva Braun ..kept carefully hidden from the German public.. was considered his sexual mistress by most of his closest companions...was that all just a cover? There is much more verifiable proof that his sexual drive was both heterosexual (and low).

   So the thesis of this book? "Unproven" but probably not true is the best I can do. There are just too many blanks and too few hard facts given here to prove it.

5 comments about My Future is in America: Autobiographies of Eastern European Jewish Immigrants.

1. I was assigned this book for a Jewish History class at my university, and so far I'm really enjoying it. We read one of the autobiographies each week, and I feel that Cohen has done an excellent job of bringing together stories from different backgrounds and different experiences, and even has a married couple each tell their stories in their own autobiographies.
   
   I'll be honest; I was expecting it to be boring - but am very pleasantly surprised to find that it's not!



2. The older brother of Minnie Goldstein, who wrote the first of the autobiographies that appear in the book, is my great-grandfather and what seems to have been passed down through the generations is a somewhat sanitised version of the truth ... I really had no idea about their dreadful poverty, or the fact that a contributing factor to Hershl Malinberg's emigration from Warsaw to the U.S. was being cheated in business by his own mother-in-law. Of course, the story has particular resonance for her own kith and kin, but it contains so much vivid detail, and is told so well, that I would recommend it to anyone.



3. "My Future Is In America" contains excellent primary source material for the student of Jewish immigration to this country and immigration history in general. The individual essays are captivating and very readable, providing a wealth of information about the immigrant experience, not only after arrival in America, but also about life in Europe pre-immigration. This book should be considered as reading in American Studies curricula.



4. I just finished reading this book. This is not only for Jewish people but other religions as well. It's a part of our history and I found it very enjoyable and informative. A must read.



5. 
   As a first generation American, I always wanted to know how and why my parents came to America... they passed away before imparting this information.... this book fills in all the gaps, in a humorous and interesting way. I could not put this book down, and reread it... Totally enjoyable!!!! 5 stars

5 comments about Am I A Murderer?: Testament of a Jewish Ghetto Policeman.

1. Calel, suffered deadfully with the most horrendous guilt imaginable when believing he was saving his wife and child from the Otwock Treblinka bound transport in being a "Jewish Policeman" and having certain "priveleges" with the SS who in fact condemned them to death, as at the last moment a reprieve was denied them. The book is invaluable as it was written during the Nazi occupation of Poland and Calel's description of an unseen Treblinka is very detailed, proving that the Jews of the time mainly knew of their fate. Personally speaking though his mother and father wouldn't have needed the Nazis to kill them as if it were my parents i'd have finished them off myself. What vile people they were, making me realise how unselfish my own family actually are. This is a must read for anyone with a "close knit" family, you wont be able to get your head around it. I hated them. I cannot believe the War had this effect on all people be they Jews or Gentiles and that these monsters were just off a minority or there is really no hope for family's of the future if this is to be the norm.



2. Calel Perechodnik personally experienced very little anti-Semitism previous to the Nazi invasion of Poland. He and his wife had an opportunity to move to Palestine, but opted to remain in the country of their birth. The young engineer lived a low profile life in his hometown of Otwock, and expected the lives of Jews to only improve as the overall Polish culture turned more secular. Calel respected his Jewish traditions, but perceived himself as primarily a cosmopolitan man who took organized religion with a huge grain of salt. Everything, however, dramatically changed for the worse once the Nazis became the occupying power of Poland. The anti-Semitism of the Roman Catholic majority thereafter ceased being dormant and subtle, and many of these ordinary citizens became vile monsters. Virtually overnight they treated their Jewish friends and neighbors as akin to vermin requiring elimination.

   The author attempts to save his wife and young daughter by becoming a ghetto policeman. The German Nazis cynically realized that Jewish men could best keep their fellow human beings under control. False hopes were conveyed to the Jews promising that their situation would be secure if only they cooperated. "Jews perished first of all because they didn't realize in time what level German cruelty and barbarism would reach," added the author. The 27 year old Perechodnik is forced to choose the less of evils. Ultimately, his family is not spared and the author is trapped in an environment where treachery, greed, and murder are the norm. Perechodnik's chronicle is not easy reading. It is a moral duty, and not in the least bit pleasurable. The reader will constantly be challenged to dwell upon the horrific choices of Perechodnik. The awkward question of how we would behave under similar circumstances is inevitable.

   There are a few other books mandating your legitimate interest. Only a few months ago, the Holocaust scholar Jan T. Gross released his superb work "Neighbors" which deals with similar atrocities committed in the Polish town of Jedwabne. Peter Wyden's "Stella" published in 1992 concerns a young Jewish woman who for purely selfish reasons betrayed her friends to the Nazis. Only the very thin veneer of civilization separates us from barbarism. Thus, we are obligated not to ignore the unpleasant truths about the recorded depths of human depravity. Increasing our knowledge betters our chances of curtailing future horrors.




3. When I read Perechodnik's book years ago, I was profoundly moved by the experiences of the writer in the war years. Having just travelled to Germany and seen some concentration camps, I started reading avidly on the Holocaust and the experiences of survivors and perpetrators. The poignant title of the book was the thing that caught my eye and it remains one of the most startling and powerful accounts of the evil that took place in WWII. It is amazing that this first-hand account survived and I wish it was as highly circulated and read as Anne Frank's diary. Perechodnik's account lets us into the sacrifces one has to make in extreme situations and the guilt he feels throughout the war for abandoning his wife and kid entreats us. A harrowing experience. Let us never forget the humanity in us.



4. This is not a review, only a personal note. I read the book in its original Polish edition. And having read a number of books on Holocaust and supposed Polish participation in it I just expected some new information on this subject. But this first hand account of what happened to the Otwock Jews and of barbaric behaviuor of Poles from Otwock cannot be more persuasive on the existence of common guilt of the Polish nation for not fighting Holocaust and what's more for taking part in it. Let's not jugde the caught by the horrible times "policeman" His writing stops beating of your heart. After one long evening of reading I went to sleep and had the worst nightmare of my life: I was put into a transport to Treblinka



5. This is one of the most important books ever published on The Holocaust. It is the Anne Frank of the Polish Jewish Experience. You have to keep reminding yourself that this was written in 1943 as you read it. It is the most compelling and unforgiving personal account written by a Holocaust nonsurvivor.

3 comments about Between Two Streams: A Diary from Bergen-Belsen.

1. I couldn't put this book down and cried at some of the torments emotionally and physically that the author went through during his imprisonment at one of the many Nazi concentration camps. Sad, but detailed look at life in the camps.



2. Between Two Streams by Abel J. Herzberg

   This book is an interesting account by a Jewish man who kept a diary in Bergen-Belsen, a well-known concentration camp. Bergen-Belsen was a camp that held Jews who were to be kept for exchange for Germans abroad, so its main function was not to serve as a death camp. Abel served as a judge of sorts on a committee for Jewish justice in the camp, so he was able to give insight into the petty laws that were broken and how justice was meted out, from within the camp's Jewish community. This is not written like the usual historical documentary found in many books of its kind, and it is not exactly a personal story of entry and exit of camp life. It is written very much like you would write in your own journal, containing your feelings, disappointments, and hopes. This book is somewhat unique in that it is more about other prisoners and their behaviors, as well as offering insight concerning a desperate camp life with its boredom, struggles with the elements of harsh weather, scratching for food, and eventually seeing your family and friends drop like flies. There were penalties divvied out by the pitifully organized camp Jewish community, which was struggling to maintain a semblance of civilized life. There is not much spirituality in the diary. There are no details of beatings or other infamous atrocities that have been well documented in other writings; however, there are accounts of deaths from starvation and sickness, and descriptions of the difficulty of life among the dead. It seems that this book was not written to get your adrenalin pumping, and does not seem to display an intimate or sentimental account but is written more like a factual account. I would not recommend this as a first concentration camp book. If one is looking for action and adventure, there are many other survivor accounts that will serve better; rather, I would recommend it to the seasoned that would like a unique insight that comes from one who expects fairness in a very unfair environment. Though somewhat repetitious at times, I feel that I have acquired a valuable insight to just one more of the many faces of a most infamous time in history.




3. this book is great,! you can lean a whole lot about thing you can't emagine. I would give it a 1ooooooooooooooooooooo star if I could!

4 comments about A Visit With the Tomboy Bride: Harriet Backus & Her Friends.

1. While this book was in no way as interesting as Tomboy Bride, it still brought further revelations about Harriet's interactions with the other mining families in their tiny community. It is a good, but not great, backward glance.



2. Harriet Backus's 'Tomboy Bride' is a classic - Read it and skip Duane Smith's commentary - repetitous and adds very little worthwhile new inormation.



3. After a Jeep ride that just happened to go through the Tomboy Mine, I read about Mrs. Backus' book on the Ouray, CO website and ordered it here at Amazon.com. Of course, they recommended this book as well so I ordered it at the same time. Boy am I glad I did. I enjoyed Mrs. Backus' book so much and didn't want it to end. It was great to be able to pick up Professor Smith's book and learn even more about her life.
   
   I swore I would never go up that trail from Telluride again. It is much as Mrs. Backus and Professor Smith wrote and showed-- very scary. But now I want to go back to the Tomboy Mine one more time!



4. Wonderfully illustrated with superbly vintage black-and-white photographs, A Visit With The Tomboy Bride: Harriet Backus & Her Friends is an impressive and inherently interesting collection of the correspondence that took place between Harriet Fish Backus (author of the classic book "Tomboy Bride") and Colorado historian Duane A. Smith. Delving into the adventures of Harriet's life, and exploring a unique picture of an era gone by in the rugged San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado, A Visit With The Tomboy Bride is a unique and enthusiastically recommended contribution to Colorado History reading lists and library collections.

2 comments about One Step Ahead: A Jewish Fugitive in Hitler's Europe.

1. This is an incredible memoir. The events the author went through when he was basically still a kid had to have been terrifying. Yet he tells his story in a very straightforward, understated way that only someone of his generation could do. He doesn't really go into the emotional toll his years of hiding, running and fear had to have taken on him. He just tells his story - and it's riveting. I'm glad he had the courage to write this down. What a wonderful way to honor his mother and 3 beautiful sisters.



2. I came across this escape memoir in researching my own family's escape from Antwerp during the invasion of May 1940. This is a well written, meticulous and gripping account of a 5 year odyssey through France and Italy during the war, including an account of pre-war life in Germany and Belgium. In addition to the usual depressing experiences, the writer recounts the numerous, often poor, rural (Christian) families he encountered who were incredibly helpful and generous, as well as Italian priests who aided the refugees and funneled desparately needed funds during the prolonged hiding. The author adds to his vivid, detailed first hand accounts some admirable fact and date checking, as well as references, often missing from such memoirs. A wonderful and well done book, deserving of more comment and sales than it has apparently achieved.