2 comments about Man's Search For Meaning.

1. It has been many years since my original read of this book, and I won't let it happen again. This thought provoking book is a must read for everyone interested in the study of human behavior. Exceptionaly insightful!



2. This is a must read for all those "woe is me" people always complaining about everything. Man's Search for Meaning will enlighten you to what "having a bad day" really means. I applaud Viktor Frankl for his inner strength to survive such an ordeal and come away with such dignity and inner peace.

5 comments about The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life.

1. Tom Reiss: `The Orientalist'
   
   I am not in the habit of leaving on-line feedback about my reading, but this book, `The Orientalist', is so exceptional, so original, so brilliantly conceived and so splendidly executed, that - given the chance to leave some comments - it seems almost mean-spirited not to take up the opportunity.
   
   In fact, I've already provided some `feedback' about this book, recommending it (via email) to others. This in itself, on reflection, seems to me to be unusual behaviour. Normally I let others make their own discoveries, finding for themselves what to read that may be interesting, informative or enjoyable. In this sense, therefore, as well as others, this book, `The Orientalist', took me out of my accustomed ways of looking at things.
   
   Everyone to whom I've recommended this book has purchased it and told me how remarkable it is. One reader, in France, wrote back to say that she'd read it twice! In some ways I can understand that, as, while reading it, more than once I returned to earlier chapters to re-read certain passages, to acquaint myself again with some of the personalities and events with which the book is occupied, and with the well-crafted prose of the author.
   
   What is `The Orientalist' `about'? In some ways this is a non-fiction detective story, with the author investigating a kind of literary mystery. There is, for a start, a book, a novel, `Ali and Nino'. But who wrote it? About this, the authorship of what appears to be the pre-eminent national work of Azerbaijan, a romantic, compelling novel, there is, or has been, considerable controversy. In a sense, as in any mystery, in any detective story, there is a `crime' - in this case, the crime being the theft, from an author (now deceased), of credit for his work.
   
   But in investigating this question, Tom Reiss uncovers layer after layer of lost fragments of history, and politics, and culture. The deeper he explores this question of authorship, the greater the breadth (historical, political and cultural) of the book. In the end, this is a wonderful journey that Tom Reiss takes his readers on, travelling back in time and across borders, into and out of nations and empires whose eventful lives and often dismal fortunes correspond to that of `the Orientalist' himself.
   
   For the title of the book refers not to a `type' of person, but rather to a specific individual, and, as a result, this book rescues that person - born Lev Nussimbaum, and subsequently known both as Essad Bey and as Kurban Said - from literary obscurity. It is a rescue entirely deserved. Tom Reiss was drawn into the life of Lev Nussimbaum as a result of being captivated by one of his books, Ali and Nino, and, in a somewhat comparable fashion, though at the same time a bit topsy-turvy, I was drawn to read Lev Nussimbaum's `Ali and Nino' as a result of reading Tom Reiss's `The Orientalist'.
   
   This on-line comment about `The Orientalist' is not intended to be a full-length review of the book; it is `feedback' and, at the same time, a warm invitation to experience a truly unique piece of work. Of course, one of the characters in the book is Tom Reiss himself, travelling about, meeting people, coming across manuscripts. Some of those he meets are to be found in castles, in Europe; others are down the street, if not down the hall, in New York City apartments. The logic of his book is compelling, as he discovers, and uncovers, the life that Lev and his father led - the life of refugees, fleeing from revolutionary violence, falling from a dreamy and dream-like existence in Baku to the desperate straits of exile, in `the East', through Turkestan and Persia, to Constantinople, and then on to Paris and Berlin.
   
   For me, this is an account, as well, of the devotion of two people, father and son, to one another's well-being. The father, once wealthy (on Baku oil), strives to lead his son towards peace and security; the history of the 20th century, filled with war and revolution, characterised by cruelty rather than compassion, makes these goals all too elusive. Still, in reduced and hazardous circumstances, they try to look after one another, and it is their relationship - their concern for one another - and the life-and-death predicaments in which they continue to find themselves, that provides a deeply touching motif to the work.
   
   But for the most part this is an exciting, even thrilling, fast-paced real-life thriller. In order for us to understand what is going on - and how Lev Nussimbaum is going to turn into Kurban Said - Tom Reiss has to explain the politics - the revolutions, the wars, the personalities - pivotal to the story of Lev and his father Abraham. Here is a book in which the main character, Lev Nussimbaum - born in 1905 on a train, with an oil magnate for a father and a radical revolutionary for a mother - arrives, in Baku, on the day of his birth, to a city in turmoil, a forerunner of a life shaped by politics and upheaval. In later years he will personally blame Stalin (who seems to have been a friend of his mother's and may have stayed in the family home) for much of his life's turbulence and misfortunes. In this respect a depiction of Lev Nussimbaum's life seems to me to validate the writer Arthur Koestler's observation in the first volume of his autobiography, `Arrow in the Blue', that a `secular horoscope', noting the political events on earth at the time of a person's birth and their subsequent influence over a person's life - `the constellation of earthly events' - may well provide a useful perspective on a person's subsequent fate.
   
   One consequence of reading the book - and becoming caught up in the lives of its protagonists - is to regard one's own life, at least for a time, somewhat differently. That surely is a mark of an outstanding book - to cause oneself to look at one's life in a new light. This moment occurred most dramatically when I had just finished reading about Lev, as a young boy, disobeying orders, and looking out a window, to see bodies in the street, and carts coming by, gathering up the dead - as the shooting between different revolutionary factions continued. Thinking of what I'd read, and of his plight, while walking through the streets where I live, I suddenly saw those streets, and the buildings adjacent to them, in a different way, observing their tranquility - noticing what was absent: no bodies; no gunshots; no armed men - in contrast with what was `normal' in the life of this young man, not even 100 years ago.
   
   Tom Reiss's `The Orientalist' is a magnificent achievement, a stunning, brilliantly researched and absorbingly written publication. This on-line comment, already far too long, can only hint at the extraordinary array of topics traversed in the narrative. Indeed, I can scarcely recall a book any way like it, so wide-ranging, fascinating, original and informative - and, as noted, quite moving as well. The book is an adventure and it will lead readers to discover places, people, events, incidents and lives they scarcely could have dreamed existed. And it may also lead some readers to find their way to `Ali and Nino', a lovely jewel of a novel, dream-like and wonderful; and for making that journey possible Tom Reiss is also warmly to be thanked.
   
   



2. I read this book for my Book Club.
   I read The Orientalist last summer ('07) and now the book seems to fade into obscurity.
   I don't remember a whole lot, but I do remember not really coming to care a whole lot about Kurban Said.
   Very forgetable to me although there is a bit of history that is interesting.



3. I was a bit dissapointed in this book. I had read Ali and Nino and, of course, the reviews for this book. I was prepared for adventure in the form of a historical novel. I wonder if the reviewers cited in the front and back of the book only read the introduction, which gives away the story, including the 'ending.' The rest of the book provides historical context to the story told in the introduction. There are relatively long (20-30 pages?) digressions on the history of (for example) the Ottoman Empire, German culture during the rise of the Nazis, etc. Very interesting and worthwhile stuff to be sure and I am very glad that I read this book. However, readers need to be prepared for this type of text. The read was quite a bit slower than I expected. The 'story' in my opinion, is much more interesting than the book itself. The 'story' here, includes the efforts of the author, which were certainly inspiring.



4. I wanted to read this autobiography for two reasons: 1)I very much enjoyed the novel, 'Ali and Nino' by Essad Bey; and 2) I am fascinated with the history of the Caucuses and Central Asia.
   
   Tom Reiss thoroughly explores Bey's life from his childhood in Azerbaijan during the most turbulent times of the early 20th century, but Mr. Reiss goes beyond that, and depicts the times and events. The accounts of Russian history and the Bolshevik revolution are fascinating. Later on, when Bey lives in Berlin, the book tends to slow a bit. Overall, 'The Orientalist' is a fascinating account of European history during the rise of Bolshevism and fascism.Taxi to Tashkent: Two Years with the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan



5. The book feels a bit like watching 'Pop up video'. The tale is of a man trying to shed his identity in a world that hates who he is. The story is interspersed with a secret history of the early 20th century. About half the book has little to do with the central character. Its more a history of the time in which he lives.
   What's appealing about the book is that there is a lot of history that I had no clue about. Jewish Orientalist history, about Stalin, Germany etc but the story about Leo Nussimbaum feels to me flawed. I don't understand why he deceided to be a writer. I don't understand what made him tick. He makes all sorts of strange decisions that the author cannot unravel.
   An intersting book in bits but doesn't hold together as a biography.

5 comments about The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945.

1. One of those amazing stories that makes you realize just how much the human spirit can take, and still survive. And just how inhumane we humans can be towards each other. Once you start reading, you won't be able to put this down.



2. Szpilman reveals the tragedy of Jewish life in Warsaw under the German occupation from 1939-1946. Szpilman's autobiographical work was first published in postwar Poland in 1946 but then quickly removed from circulation by Polish authorities. An accomplished pianist before the war, Szpilman played for Polish Radio during the siege of Warsaw and later within the Jewish ghetto to provide food for his parents and siblings. With the systematic liquidation of Jewish life in Warsaw and separation from his family, Szpilman's life took a series of surprising twists. As the reader views life in the ghetto through the eyes of a survivor, his escape from the ghetto before the Jewish up-rising and his ultimate survival consistently depended upon a timely combination of luck and sympathetic acquaintances B including a German army officer.
   
   Included with Szpilman's memoirs are excerpts from Captain Wilm Hosenfeld's diaries and Wolf Biermann's own brief commentary. Hosenfeld's equating of National Socialism with Stalinist Communist and Biermann's emphasis on Szpilman's willingness to break with his past detracts from the overall quality of this work. Nevertheless, this work is well written and will retain the reader's attention to the end.



3. I could not put down this book, and read it in two sittings. Wladyslaw Szpilman, the famed pianist and composer, describes his harrowing account of life under Nazi terror. As a Polish Jew, Szpilman was considered by the Nazis to be entirely subhuman, and it is a miracle he survived the persistent and random acts of violence that surrounded him. He was nearly sent to a death camp along with his five family members, and somehow was pulled off the Birkenau-bound train to a grim prospect of survival. The images in this book are harrowing, such as the depiction of the shattered skulls of little girls, victims of the Nazis' "preferred" method of killing children by picking them up by their legs and swinging them into a brick wall. Imagine the horror....Szpilman's account is so matter-of-fact at times that you wonder how he survived. The fact that he did is a testament of human endurance, but also the ways of fate. There were occasions when he survived simply by the luck of the draw in a Godless universe.



4. Why do I consider a first person account detailing the horrors of the Holocaust to be uplifting? The events described by the author are harrowing and nearly unbelieveable to the degree that I was astonished that the man, in the end, survives. Perhaps that is why I am so uplifted by this story. He survived. He defied evil by daring to live. He also dared to pick up the pieces of his shattered life and continue to live. He does this without any fanfare or obvious heroism. I think that is what makes this particular telling of the Holocaust so remarkable. The author writes it in such an unremarkable fashion that it forces you to sit up and take notice. By simply stating that the caramel was his 'family's last meal together' makes you pause to reflect on such an event. Beautifully written. Highly reccommended.
   
   As a side note, Roman Polanski's adaptation of this book is truely brilliant. Adrien Brody's portrayal of Szpilman is awe inspiring and heart wrenching to watch. Both men do the book and Szpilman's memory justice.



5. I don't have too much to add to the other reviewers; having seen the movie I had a pretty good idea what to expect.
   
   Probably the most interesting thing about the book version is the diary of a German officer who helped save Spilman. The officer's diary (from 1942-44) shows that he was aware of the Nazi extermination camps by mid-1942; he explained that most Jews were "so weak from starvation and misery that they couldn't offer any resistance." By December 1943, he knew that Germany would lose the war, but suggests that Germans would not revolt because "no one would risk his life by standing up to the Gestapo."

5 comments about Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany.

1. I am so thankful to the author for sharing his story. There is information in this book not found anywhere, and it's so well-written that I can't put it down. This record really makes clear, too,
   the wide range of humanity (and lack-of) in Germany before and during the Nazi days. One very moving piece is the author's mother, who, without doubt, gave him the strength of character to endure so much pain and grow up to be a fine person. Also, the teacher during his first year of school--in all my days of school in THIS country, I never saw such fine character in a teacher! And...And...And...So many unbelievable people in a sea of horror.
   This account sheds light on civil rights issues, everywhere (and we learn a bit about Liberia, too!)
   This is an phenomenal book. Completely original and beautifully written.



2. An inspiring book on the life of Hans Massaquoi. Not only did he survive living in war ravage Nazi Germany, but he did this as a man of mix race black/white. The horrible conditions he and his mother endured and the strength they displayed cannot be understated. It was hard to put this book down once I started. I'd definitely would suggest giving this book a try.



3. It seems impossible that a boy of noticeably dark skin could have survived the period during which the Third Reich reigned. And yet here we have Mr. Massaquoi's account of his personal experiences, candidly and eloquently told. Most vividly in Mr. Massaquoi's accounts are those of his mother, whose courage, resilience, shrewdness and bits of wise common sense left me wholeheartedly moved. Otherwise throughout the book I oftentimes found myself trying to slow my breath, in an attempt to ease my rage at the cruel injustices.
   
   On a personal note, I once found a series of photographs that I bought from a vendor at an East Berlin flea market. They were part of a family album in which one of the family members was a young woman of half-African descent, living in Berlin during the time of the Third Reich. I was so overwhelmed by the photographs, asking myself how it is possible that a dark-skinned woman could have survived a time when the German government was propagating the extermination of anyone of mixed blood. A year later I would have Mr. Massaquoi's memoir to understand how all the more exceptional his survival.
   
   Other thorough eyewitness accounts I recommend are Curzio Malaparte's "Kaputt" and Eric Johnson's "What We Knew".



4. Mr. Massaquoi provides us with a very vivid account of his experiences as a child and later as a youth while growing up under Hitler's Nazi regime. I am very grateful to this gentleman for sharing his story and enlightening the world as to how blacks were affected during this era. While he grew up fairly poor, Mr. Massaquoi was rich with other blessings. He was blessed with a nurturing and caring mother and the ability to be resourceful and demonstrated that he really cared about his friends, black, white, Jewish, etc. Again, thank you sir for sharing these experiences. Your biography should serve as inspiration to everyone, regardless of race or creed.



5. I found this to be a very interesting record of Hans Massaquoit's growth and development in Nazi Germany. I learned quite a bit from this reading, for example, I was not familiar with the hundreds of adolescent youth sterilized because of their mixed parentage. The well written book is an easy read, but not easy to put down. What I found interesting was the individual racism Hans experienced in Germany was no worse than the wholesale racism many Afro-Americans experience in America.

5 comments about The Seamstress.

1. Instead of buying Harry Potter we need more books like this. This was such a beautiful story of hope and courage, strength and determination. It tells history the way it was and I cannot tell you enough how this book touched my heart and my daughters heart. My daughter picked up the book and never put it down, she read the whole thing in 3 days. I could hear her giggle and laugh at some of the funny parts and I could see her tears in some of the sensitive heart moving parts. This book will capture you. Just beautiful
   I wish they could make Sareen's story into a movie
   
   God Bless



2. I read many books on the Holocaust and have always found inspiration and admiration for those people who have experienced such an appalling event and have managed to survive. But this book left me totally disturbed with the graphics given by this amazing woman, Sara Tuvel Bernstein, and I highly commend her for sharing her horrific ordeal.
   I recommend everyone should read this book and maybe,just maybe, we will learn something from it... that war is futile, and all people are equal.



3. True life events .. so well told .. The story is riveting from beginning to end .. I wish I could feel that this will never happen again but I worry that it can and that it will.



4. Seren Tuval is my new heroine. Born ahead of her time, she was an independent force to be reckoned with. Having the sense of not wanting to be married too young and finding a career to support herself (which she did, hence the title) this brave woman not only fought her way through the Holocaust and survived, her intelligence, quick wit and sense of humor saved the lives of her sister and and close friend as well. She never lost hope that she would be reunited with other family members and her sheer will to survive is a true inspiration. I was always proud of my Eastern European descent, but now Seren Tuval makes me even prouder.



5. This Holocaust survival memoir is both unique and remarkable and ensures we will never forget the tragedies suffered at the hands of the Nazis. This story in particular evinces the notion that no two Holocaust stories are the same- so many people suffered in so many different places and in so many different ways.
   
   Seren's story teaches us that survival for so many depended upon connections with others- friends/ relatives, etc. Seeimingly so many Holocaust survival stories depict this idea of surviving for others or because of others. Hence, her story teaches us not only of love and relationships but of what it takes not to give up or give in.
   
   I have read a few times that reviewers found the tone of this novel "detached," and/or "irreverant," and I wholeheartedly disagree. I was extremely connected with the characters and felt Seren's emotions throughout the various stages of her life. Indeed, in contrast to so many survivors who can not speak of the atrocities they witnessed and suffered, the very fact that Seren was able to tell her story shows a great deal of strength and her ability to connect with her past on an emotional level.
   
   I HIGHLY recommend this book, and believe it should be required reading in all schools. It would make an excellent book club selection, and would greatly enhance any courses on the Holocaust, WWII, women's studies, history, etc.

5 comments about The Forger: An Extraordinary Story of Survival in Wartime Berlin.

1. Holocaust memoirs are big business and range from the highly erudite, acute and sentient observations of a "favored Jew" (Victor Klemperer), the exquisitely dangerous role of an active resister (Jan Valtin) to the inane (this book) with everything in between. As the book's subtitle suggests, this is an "extraordinary story of survival in wartime Berlin".
   
   Perhaps the most amazing aspect of this memoir is the author's total lack of perspective and oblivious unconcern about his life. He has the slightly sociopathic character of a petty criminal operating in a democracy, wherein the worst possible outcome would be a few years in jail (where he could further perfect his methods). In this case, however, the undoubted outcome of his apprehension would be a grizzly death in the hands of the Gestapo: document forgery would certainly command the specific attention of the SD and it's most expert "interrogators". In comparison, not even a "train to the East" would be frightening. A few sessions in the Gestapo dungeon broke just about every man and that, most assuredly, is what the author would have faced. This fate would have been explicitly known by him (as proof see, for example, Eric Johnson's seminal work on the role of the Gestapo in maintaining domestic security before and during the War), yet the author suggests that he is (or was) blithely (and foolishly) unconcerned. Frankly, only a complete fool would caper about as he did, even allowing for the theory that the best place to hide is "out in the open". I suspect the author's recollections have been massaged for the sake of improved sales.
   
   The book is a "quick read" and the reader's interest is maintained, despite the pre-ordained good outcome (to wit, he escapes and lives happily ever after and writes this book!). I was reminded of Christopher Isherwood's Berlin stories (flirting with danger and invested with much drama and decadence), but those adventures took place in the (relative) safety of the Weimar Republic.
   
   Perhaps the author's duplicity, which allowed him to prosper and even enjoy capering about amidst the dire perils for Jews in wartime Germany persists in this book: he hints that, maybe, with a little "luck and pluck" (a la Horatio Alger) everyone could have avoided The East.



2. The writing style is very choppy, doesn't flow. The story is very good, though!



3. The Forger is a story that has been written many times over. The "Last Jews In Berlin," by Leonard Gross, comes to mind, although being presented in the first person increases its poignancy. Schonhaus' characterization of himself is quite credible, and it must be assumed that the original German version must read well. Unfortunately, the English translation is not as good as it could be. Finally, Cioma's crossing the Suisse border was rendered as being much too easy. The reader gets the impression that the author was in a hurry to complete the story.



4. I was VERY disappointed in this book. One has to read half of the book before finding any information on his experience as a forger of documents. There is too much information on his female conquests, one of whom was a German officer's wife. Those exploits added nothing to the story, were unnecessary and detracted from the main theme. It's a shame he had to use half of the book for this sort of thing before getting to the main gist.



5. This is the breathtaking--literally breath taking--true story of the author's years living as an undocumented Jew in Berlin during the Nazi madness. Spared initially by his skilled-labor designation for work in a war factory, soon even that was not enough to save him from the order that he be evacuated to the East, code for the concentration camps. Already he had seen his parents, grandmother, and aunt and uncle off on the train. Thus, it is time for him to go underground.
   
   Underground, however, for Schonhaus does not mean invisibility. Indeed, he is the most visible invisible person imaginable, eating in restaurants packed with high-ranking Nazis, for example, on the theory that such would be the last place to look for a Jew. Theory is fine on paper, but in real life it takes either a madman or a fool. The author is a bit of both and lucky beyond reason.
   
   Trained as a graphic artist, Schonhaus is asked one day whether he can copy a Nazi stamp on some papers. He can, and soon he is working with anti-Nazi non-Jews and forging all manner of documents. Fully aware of what fate awaits him (and his colleagues) if he is caught, he carries on with almost youthful bravado. Indeed, it is this insouciance that is at the heart of his numerous heart-pounding near disasters and his brilliant bluffs that allow him to escape over and over again.
   
   Written decades after he lived the adventure, The Forger is a series of vignettes that concludes with Schonhaus's several-day bicycle ride in broad daylight down highways and through checkpoints--miles and miles and miles--from Berlin to Switzerland. He crossed that border in 1943 and still lives in that country. Steve McQueen could not have done it better, even with the motorcycle.

5 comments about Things We Couldn't Say.

1. I bought this book at the American Book Center in The Hague, Netherlands, a few years ago. As I knew many of the places mentioned in the book, it took on an even deeper meaning for me. I love this book, and I list Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma as heroes. Definitely 5+ stars!



2. The true story of true Christians, and Dutch patriots, Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma, and their courageous risk of everything to resist Nazi tyranny and hide thousands of Dutch Jews.
   True Christians always love the Jewish people and Israel, and true nationalists are opposed to both Communism and Nazism, both the antithesis of national self-determination.
   Diet recounts her own life, and experiences and what she saw and heard, as well as her deep faith in G-D, that guided her in all she did and thought.
   Diet recounts her experiences in Scheveningen prison, where she describes how Jewish families, who were caught in hiding, were hauled into the prison, mothers, fathers and children: 'On the nights the guards brought Jews in, we always heard the children crying all through that place. It was bad enough for us to have to suffer through a place, like Scheveningen, but it was terrible to hear those poor innocent children crying.'
   It is up to true Christians and righteous gentiles to stand by the State of Israel today, in the struggle for her survival and that of her children, against the monstrous Islamic-extreme leftist hate machine.



3. Excellent book. The book is fast paced, exciting and touching.
   
   The risks and sacrifices that the author and her fiance went through for their beliefs and for unkwown people amazed and inspired me. Highly recommended.



4. The account of the author and her experiences fighting the German occupation of Holland during WWII is harrowing. It is hard to imagine that any human being can display so mush courage at such a young age.



5. I have read more than 75 books of this genre depicting this period of history. "What would I have done under the same circumstances?" That is the question I am always asking of myself whilst reading these stories. This is the story of a group of people with the courage of their convictions...Diet's story is inspiring and touching. It illustrates perfectly that the power of prayer is undeniable and when 'all one can do is pray' one has done everything.

5 comments about Hitler: 1936-1945: Nemesis.

1. The second volume of Kershaw's outstanding biography of Hitler covers the period from 1936 to his death. Kershaw does a superb job of integrating the biographical material per se with relevant narrative and analysis of German history over this period. Kershaw picks up and expands themes that emerged in volume one. Two in particular stand out. One is the overriding importance of Hitler's crude but powerful ideology. The point of Hitler's actions was the violent attainment of his social Darwinist goals; the elimination of European Jewry, the dominance of "inferior races" like the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe, and German domination of western Eurasia. War was not just necessary to achieve these goals but an indispensable part of the process of establishing German supremacy. The necessity of violence was not merely an ideological preoccupation but something with deep emotional resonance for Hitler. This was a man who found his service on the Western Front a personally transforming and uplifting experience. Kershaw shows well how a large number of Hitler's zealous supporters shared these horrifying views and how an even larger number of Germans, including virtually all of the traditional elites of the German state, were either supportive of Hitler's goals or willing to look the other way as long as he was successful. By the time it became clear that Hitler was leading Germany to disaster, Hitler's power was so well established that any kind of organized resistance became almost impossible.
   
   Kershaw shows well how Hitler's bold repudiation of the Versailles restrictions and the rearmarment policies that expanded the German economy led to enormous personal popularity. Under the umbrella of Hitler's success and great prestige, the Nazis were able to subordinate all the major institutions of German life, perhaps save the churches, which did offer some limited resistance. At the same time, the Party erected a powerful alternative governing structure and some of Hitler's most able and ruthless subordinates developed the powerful security services that policed Germany. Hitler personally established complete dominance over the Wehrmacht, the only institution that could have resisted him successfully. Hitler's daring and ability to capitalize on weaknesses of his opponents, coupled with a good dose of luck led to unprecedented success.
   
   Another major theme articulated by Kershaw is the nature of the Nazi state. The essentially indolent and politically shrewd Hitler ruled primarily by setting himself above day to day government and setting the broader ideological goals for Germany. Hitler's unwillingness to participate in the mechanics of government and his willingness to countenance competing sectors of authority led to an anarchic state (termed polyocracy by some historians) that enhanced Hitler's power because only he had the ultimate authority to adjudicate among the competing authorities. For much of his rule, it also insulated him from public disfavor as unpopular policies were associated with lower ranking Party or government officials. This system, which Kershaw describes as "working towards the Fuhrer" led to competition among different subordinates and power centers for who could gain Hitler's favor by pursuing the ideological goals of the regime. The result was essentially a race to see who could be the more effective murderer of those unfortunate enough to be enemies, real or imagined, of the regime.



2. I finally got around to reading both volumes of Kershaw's biography after plowing through the Fest bio. Fest's is better, in my opinion, although the first Volume of Kershaw's isn't bad. The problem with Volume 2 is that it's redundant, with endless anecdotes about Hitler's tantrums and paranoia---way too much padding. It's more of an historical account of WW2, instead of a biography, unfortunately. As well, Kershaw's contempt for Hitler gets in the way of acknowledging any successes on Hitler's part; he's unable to give the devil his due. Volume 1 is probably worth it; Volume 2 doesn't add much. Some people like Alan Bullock's bio of Hitler, while others prefer John Toland's. I haven't read either one.



3. How could a racial crank with no education rule Germany so effectively for years? If he was an evil genius, Why did he then fail, stupidly leading it into a second war and eventual defeat? Kershaw's answer is the Nazi phrase, "working towards the Fuhrer". When Hitler stated his desires or plans, he didn't have to issue actual detailed commands: he could count on his lieutenants to implement his will in practice.
   
   Thus making Germany's foreign policy (in particular) a copy of his own paranoid, ruthless personality, Hitler won some early victories against opponents used to dealing with "gentlemen" leaders and countries. Also, "working towards the Fuhrer" obscured his personality--that of a crank--behind competent experts. But once he desired the impossible (conquering the USSR) or once his will became increasingly vague and contradictory (during the war), the result was total catastrophic, with Germany willingly starting a war it couldn't possibly win just because the Fuhrer wanted it, with the "bonus" of complete government chaos as numerous competing organizations interpreted Hitler's latest vague speech in a self-serving manner.
   
   Kershaw's history shows in meticulous detail just how "working towards the Fuhrer" worked in practice: how it allowed Hitler to make his personal paranoia and racial hatered Germany's officlal policy, with all that that implies--the holocaust included--which is the main point of writing a new biography of him in the first place. This thesis, while surely it can never be conclusively tested, is a far superior explanation of all that had occured in 1933-1945 than simplistic "Hitler was evil" explanations. Evil he certainly was, but, as Kershaw notes, that explains nothing: numerous evil cranks exist. Why did so many cultured and supposedly humane and sane Germans support him is the interesting question, which Kershaw answers very well.
   
   Highly recommended.



4. I have read many books about the Nazism, but until I read this one I didn't really feel I understood how a little snake like Adolf Hitler could get intelligent people to follow him. "Working toward the Fuhrer", as Kershaw puts it, became the goal, regardless of the consequences. Being "one of us", rather than "one of them", was the only goal. Facinating stuff, and scary, considering the relevance to our own time.



5. To be sure, military historians may be upset because Kershaw doesn't cover every little thing when it comes to the war, but this is the place to start and finish when it comes to Hitler from 1936-1945. The book is very well written and highly readable. If you want more info on the war, there are certainly other places to go, but if you want to know about Hitler, start with Kershaw's 1st volume and move on to this.

5 comments about Mengele: The Complete Story.

1. Excellent book.Couldn't put it down.A touchy subject that most won't write about but if no one does then we will never learn from our past.The author tackles the subject of his life,evils and in the end his loneliness.



2. 
   That's the feeling one -regretably- obtains after going thru all the pages of this book. One quarter of it is dedicated to his ignominious "works", so it's the only chance we get to know about this criminal; because the other three quarters are about the his wherabouts since the war ended.
   
   There are no first hand testimonies or interviews to peersons who knew him. It all sounds like third person stories, and this is not to question his atrocities at all: there's more than proof to have had him executed many times. I am not looking for necrophilic detail or sadistic descriptions. What I wanted is to know the man closer, his way of thinking, his circumstance, his motivations. The book deals with this very, very, superficially.
   
   The hunt can't be called exactly a hunt, not by far as interesting as the The House on Garibaldi Street (Classics of Espionage) on Eichmann, one of the most exciting books I've read of any subject.
   
   Posner's book lacks substance, grip, interest. A subject like this guy is almost hard not to make it interesting.



3. A very helpful, scholarly bio with information about Mengele's entire life. A great book for those seeking more than just an overview of Mengele. If you want to know more about Mengele's work, visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's website for "Deadly Medicine" exhibition, now at Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta this summer (2007).



4. Was hard to stay interested in this book. I found it very boring to read.



5. First of all: A damned good book! Bonechilling material!! Furthermore:
   What kind of punishment do you give a man like Mengele?
   Deathpenalty? Life in prison? The first one is over too quick and the second one is too easy. No, I think Mengele has got the best punishment he could have. He was 34 years on the run. Never had a moment of peace in his entire life after the ending of WW2. The stress it brought him, even gave him a shorter span of life. He developed a lot of stress related sickness. Always had to look over his shoulder. Did they recognize him? Was this his last day of "freedom"? If he had been sentenced for life in prison he could have reached, like Hess, a respectable age well over 80 years old. Now he died 68 years of age. Alone and forgotten in some Godforsaken place in Brazil. He sticked, untill his dead, to his beliefs about the Nazi's and the Jews. A rigid and untolereant character of a man.
   He never got the chance to fullfill a job on his intelectuel level, always lowpaid workman's labour. Never could socialise with people of his intelect. That hurt him like hell. So, in fact, life in "freedom" was in fact life in hell. Never the hell he created for the people who died through his hands or command. But even we, as normal people, couldn't give him, if he had be captured, the torments he gave all those other innocent people. For that, we are to civilised. No, I think it has been for the best that he stayed on the run. He punished himself with it. More then we ever could give to him. I feel sorry for his son Rolf. You only get one biological father in your life and he got this one.

5 comments about The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust.

1. This book was recommended by a friend, and while it came highly-rated, I hesitated to read it because I find stories about the Holocaust too upsetting. When I did pick it up, I couldn't put it down! Admittedly, I turned the pages through the first third slowly, fearing I would read something disturbing but, by the end I couldn't get enough.
   
   The book is written in Mrs. Hahn's voice and reads very much like a novel. Although she shares the most tragic details of her life with us, she does so in a way that emphasizes the compassion, warmth and kindness that she found rather than the sheer terror (although those times were also shared). It is understood that the time were worse than imaginable, but it was not presented in a way to shock the reader or cause you not to want to read on.
   
   Mrs. Hahn's story and determination were remarkable and I kept asking myself if I could have found the courage to live as she did. Just as remarkable were the brave people who helped her and risked their lives so that this one person could survive such punishment and tragedy. They are all to be commended!
   
   Don't hesitate to read this book...it's a must!



2. While the focus of the story is how one woman survived the holocaust, the title sensationalizes a small part of the story (in fact, her husband wasn't a Nazi Officer until the German's were losing the war and drafting anyone left).
   
   This is a book about one individual's survival, in large part due to some amazing luck and some good people. It is NOT a book of how the author used her fortune or took extraordinary risks to help others. Not that there's anything wrong about that. It was a time where no one should be judged for doing what they had to do to survive...and you have to admire anyone who did. Its jut different than the books on the true heroes of this time. The kindness and the weak moments is the human norm and we see both extremes in many of the principle characters, including both of the men who loved the author was well. So its a different story and any documented history of this horrible time is one we should all remember.
   
   Its not the best writing but it gets better and is easily readable. I wanted to give this 4 stars because any true story from this time is recommended reading; however its far from the best I've read. If you want to read an uplifting story about a woman who risks her luck to help others, I'd highly recommend "In My Hands" but Irena Opdyke.



3. I would give 2 and a half stars. This is a good read in that any account of human experiences is important to remind us of the evils in the world, and human resilience nevertheless. The writing, however, is too rudimentary, and one dimensional.



4. This book wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. This woman was smart, but the tale could have been told better so that there was a bit more profoundness in it.



5. Edith Hahn Beer was a law student in Austria when the Nazis moved in. In this books she relates the abuses she endured in a work camp. This novel focuses on how she spent the whole time in sort of a denial. While her family spent money to help her sisters and family leave Edith and her mother stayed, due to lack of money and the fact that edith didn't want to leave her boyfriend Pepi.
   
   When Edith realized that Pepi wasn't going to marry her or help her and her mother was missing, Edith decides to go underground. She gets a set of papers from a friend and flees to Munich. There she meets a man named Werner who is a nazi party member. He is very insistent that Edith marry him, even after Edith confesses she is jewish.
   
   Edith spends the rest of the war as a robotic nazi wife. You feel sorry for her and wonder how she could have survived the daily fear and anxiety she faced at being found out. She doesn't really talk much about Werner. She mentions his crazy outburst and supposes that his twistedness is what made him marry her. Edith managed to survive the war and got back her identity when the war ended although it lost her her husband Werner.
   
   I applaud Edith's courage and resourcefulness. It is interesting to read about a jewish person who not only lived among the nazi's during the war but actually married one! However the majority of the book does focus on her life before she married Werner. It more of how one Jewish woman survived the war and had married a nazi to do it.