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Mischling, second degree: My childhood in Nazi Germany
Ilse Koehn
Manufacturer: Greenwillow Books
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ASIN: 0688801102 |
Book Description
In early 1939, after Kristallnacht, young Inge Joseph's family in Germany is broken apart, and her desperate mother sends her alone to Brussels to live with wealthy relatives. But she soon finds herself one of a hundred Jewish children fleeing for their lives following Hitler's invasions of Belgium and France.
For a time, in 1941 and 1942, it seems as if Inge and the others have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, as they find shelter through the Swiss Red Cross in an idyllic fifteenth-century French château. Inge even finds love there. But the rumors and horrors of the Holocaust are never far away, and eventually French gendarmes surprise the children, taking them from their protectors to a nearby transit camp. In their desperate attempts to escape, Inge and her boyfriend face unexpected life-and-death decisions — wrenching decisions that will haunt Inge for the rest of her life.
This powerful, never-before-told memoir is based on Inge's own sixty-six-page manuscript, found after her death; David Gumpert has also drawn from Inge's personal letters, from the recollections of friends, relatives, and people who were with her in Europe, and from his own close relationship with his aunt.
One of the most dramatic stories of Christian rescue of Jewish children during the Holocaust, Inge is at the same time a totally frank account of the life and feelings of a teenage girl struggling to survive the Holocaust on her own — and of how the effects of that experience reverberated through her life and on into the lives of her descendants. No matter how or why one reads it, Inge is a story of survival not soon to be forgotten.
Customer Reviews:
Hard to put down!.......2007-03-20
I won't go into a synopsis since the readers before me have very detailed ones.
I checked this one out from the local library. I could not put it down. I was able to finish in 2 days. I found myself following her on her journey. The book is very well written and really involves the reader in what life may have been like for her. I am purchasing this one to keep on my shelf. Definitely worth reading and rereading.
Holocaust Story You Can't Forget.......2006-06-21
This book takes you into the life of Inge Joseph who lived threw the Holocaust, but ultimitly could not get past it.
Inge Joseph was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1925. She had an older sister and loving parents. When she was young Hitler took power and her life changed. In 1936 her father got arrested and shortly afterwards her sister then 16 went to live in America eventually living in Chicago.
Inge and her mother remained in Darmstadt with the help of her father's wealthy cousin. During this time however Inge left Darmstadt and went to live with her cousin in Belgium. After only living with him a short time he and his wife sent her to live in a hostil run by Mr. and Mrs. Frank (no relation to Anne.) After living there a while, the Nazis invaded Belgium and the Franks sent the girls to France with a group of boys from another hostil in the town they lived in.
The 100 kids went to France and stayed in a barn for a while, until the Swiss Red Cross got involved helping them with food, and finding them a castle to live in.
Life was not easy in the barn or castle, but Inge and some of her friends found love. During the time in the castle the oldest of the children were arrested and sent to a concentration camp, but managed to go back to Chateau le Haille (the castle). Several months later the person in charge decided that the oldest ones needed to escape.
After a failed escape leading to the deaths of Inge's friend and boyfriend Inge made it to Switzerland and finally to the United States to reunite with her father and sister.
Inge tried to get over her experiences, married a Austrian Jew and adopted a daughter named Julie, and also became a nurse. Unfortunitly she was not able to and became addicted to medication that caused her to die in 1983.
A very interesting story, one can't forget
A different look at the Holocaust.......2006-02-25
Most books on the Holocaust reflect the horrible trials of those murdered or sent to Concentration Camps. This is a story of a young girl sent by her family to Belgium from Germany before the war. She is tossed into the whirlwind of war and her separation from her family is greatly traumatic for her. She faces her difficult teen years as a refugee in Southern France. The North of France is occupied by the Nazis, who ultimately control the French Government, both north and south. Each year she grows closer to her 18th birthday, she is painfully aware of the French laws will allow her to be turned over to the Nazis and deported. She is not alone in her travail. This story tells of the genuine goodness of those who helped shelter her and get her and many of her friends to Switzerland. There is love, loss and decency. A really different prospective. Should be read by all.
Inge A Girl's Journey Through Nazi Europe.......2004-05-11
Much has been written about the millions who were murdered during the Nazis' Holocaust bestiality yet we know less about the effect on thousands of child survivors who suffered separation from family, deprivation and often multiple escapes during World War II. In "Inge" author Gumpert vividly portrays the anxieties and trauma of an innocent young girl under the duress of separation, escape and living on the margin. Inge discovers herself and turns from introvert to courageous escape artist, outwitting adult persecutioners. We also learn about selfless and heroic rescuers. It is fascinating to discover her interactions with peers and even the advent of teenage love during her turbulent youth.
The book vividly presents the gripping dangers and escapades of Inge's teenage years. Even more important, the author reveals Inge's lifelong and unsuccessful struggle to cope with the memories. One feels the author has perhaps finally provided the peace and redemption which escaped Inge during her lifetime.
As a fellow teenage refugee with Inge in 1940-41 (her first love was my best friend Walter), I knew the facts, but I am deeply moved by the compelling story told by this book.
A gripping story of a young girl dealing with the holocaust........2004-05-10
This is a book you cannot put down, not the Ann Frank type of
story but of a young girl dealing all on her own with the abandonment of her family, the uncertainty of her family's whereabouts during the war, a love affair with an uncertain
outcome, and the unhappy misery that should not befall a
15- or 16-year old. Because of the tenacity of some kind-hearted
Swiss Red Cross workers she is restored to freedom in Switzerland
and is able to start her training in her life's ambition.
But how she gets there is a cliff-hanger and shows the misery
of the Holocaust in an entirely different light. A true story,
a sad one, but also eventually uplifting.
Customer Reviews:
Hitler Youth -Truth.......2007-09-23
This book makes it clear under what pressures kids and teens grew up in the thirties and forties in Germany. The writer shows the big riff between the older and younger generations in Germany during the Hitler era. It is personal and detailed. It reaffirms many of the stories I heve heard from my parents and grandparents. A must read for every interested in keeping peace alive.
a child's perspective.......2007-07-07
this is a very well-written book. The lifeline flows in order which makes it easy for the reader to keep track of events as they occurred. This provides a very different perspective because it is from that as a child growing up on 'Hilter's mountain', as well as that of a German citizen. This provides a very good inside look at what life was like in these most terrible of times.
Answers a lot of questions.......2006-09-13
I lived in Germany in the late 1970s with a family who would have been young people during the War. I was vastly curious about their experience as "average Germans" but they were evasive and would say very little. Irmgard Hunt, who grew up just 30 miles from my foreign exchange mother during roughly the same years, gives us a portrait of what it was like for the average German citizen. Relying on her mother's diary, and interviews with family and friends, it may be some fiction, as an earlier reviewer states, but it rings true to me. You'll enjoy this book more if you know some German.
Great Story.......2006-01-20
Excellent story of WW2 from the perspective of an ordinary little girl. I loved this story because it was a whole new look at this era of world history, a view not often captured. A must read for any enthusiast of the era.
Child's view of Nazi Germany.......2005-12-13
This proves to be an interesting and somewhat insightful look from the perception of child. Irmgard Hunt spent her first 11 years of her life living in Berchtesgaden, under the shadow of Hitler's mountain retreat. She even had a honor of being on Hitler's lap and her parents must have been die-hard Nazis themselves to be allowed to live in that Bavarian village so close to their Fuhrer's own mountain home.
Hunt's recollection proves to be informative on how life was for people who lived in that village where Nazism was so strong. Many of her stories actually make great deal of sense to anyone familiar with the Third Reich and it made whole lot of sense to me especially since, the author was living in Berchtesgaden.
However, I do wondered how much of the book reflects reality. After all, she was very young when all this took place, most normal people do have a hard time remembering what they did, felt or thought when they were eight, nine or ten years old. The author may remembered very few details but I doubt if she could remembered all of it without being compromised by passing years of faded memories.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the story of an ordinary German girl growing up in one of the most nazified villages in Germany. But I would also caution these readers that you are relying on a memory of that child who is now a grown woman and asked yourself how much of your childhood you remembered with such details.
Book Description
One boy's eyewitness account of Hitler's bunker at the fall of the Third Reich.
Customer Reviews:
Good and bad.......2007-09-05
Okay the good part, it is written very clearly in an easy to read way and adds some color to a fascinating time period. The bad part, I think this writer watched "Downfall" and copied a ton of what was said and shown in there and then added a little bit of his experiences that he could remember. There is no way some 15 year old kid knew what was being said in Hitler's situation conferences, thoughts of the top tier of the NSDAP party members, who was sleeping with whom and so on. There is a lot of filler in this to get enough material for a book here.
Riveting Firsthand Account.......2007-04-01
This outstanding book has my highest recommendation. As a history, it is a riveting firsthand account of Lehmann's life as a 16-year-old in Nazi Germany at the end of World War II. He tells of his training in January 1945 with the Hitler Youth to defend Germany against Russian advances on the eastern front, of his efforts to defend his hometown, Breslau, and of the extraordinary set of circumstances that led to his becoming Adolf Hitler's last courier in the Fuhrerbunker itself! He served in the bunker to the very end.
Lehmann's recollections are honest, vivid, unvarnished, and fresh. This is no reworking of events as is so frequently found in the memoirs of politicians, generals, and assorted hangers-on to the great and powerful. I know of no other such honest and straightforward account of the personalities and activities in the bunker. With the assistance of his co-author, Tim Carroll, Lehmann's personal story is seamlessly integrated into the larger story of the fall of Berlin and the events unfolding in the bunker. That account is extremely well-written and comprehensive, and well worth the price of the book in its own right.
But this is more than just a history well-told; this is also a history lesson. Lehmann presents the story of his youth as a painfully gained case study in war and evil. His aim is to warn others, especially the young, of the mindless horrors of war and of the absolute necessity for the peaceful resolution of conflict. Near the end of the book, he sums it up by saying "My own experience of war has created in me a passionate devotion to peace. Raised in an atmosphere of hate and prejudice, I've surmounted the teachings of my youth and risen to carry the word of peace around the world."
To that end, Lehmann's book recounts his growing revulsion at the suffering and horror all around him, and his ultimate disillusionment with Nazism and its leaders. He is no Nazi apologist. His message is two-fold: Nazism was an evil for all people, including the Germans, and war is a useless tool to resolve conflict. After the war, Lehmann became estranged from his father, who remained an unrepentant Nazi, and Lehmann has devoted the remainder of life to promoting the cause of peace around the world, bringing to that cause the same passion and enthusiasm that he exhibited in defending his homeland.
For readers with an appetite to hear Lehmann's personal story in even greater detail, I heartily recommend his earlier book, Hitler's Last Courier- A Life in Transition, now out of print, which runs to 531 pages. What it may lack in presenting a broader overview of the fall of Berlin, it more than makes up for in its detailed recollections of Lehmann's personal journey from innocent youth, to Hitler's last courier, to advocate for peace. Quite a transition and quite a life!
Very interresting.......2007-02-15
What a great book, and a very quick read. I read it at Barnes and Nobles while my wife was shopping...
Brian - you should definately read this book.
Remarkable book about the end of a tyrannical dictator.......2007-02-12
Armin Lehmann lived the horrors of the Third Reich growing up in Nazi Germany. Only a child when the war started, Lehmann became a Member of the Hitler Youth, and ended up being one of the Fuhrer's last couriers. His final encounter was just hours before Hitler committed suicide. His story is told in clear descriptive terms, bringing the horror of all out war in vivid perspective. If you want to understand how normal, honorable people can be swept up in the hysteria of an evil movement, this is the book for you. The scenes of battle are realistic and graphic, not heroic and epic. Lehmann is a remarkable man with a incredible tale of a time we may wish to forget, but cannot afford to, lest it happen again.
The Fall of Berlin from a Unique Perspective.......2006-11-29
This book is so much more than what the title suggests. Of course, Mr. Lehmann gives a unique look inside the final days of the life of Adolph Hitler as he hid himself away in his bunker, but he also takes the reader through the hell that was Berlin in April, 1945. To say that the book was engrossing would be an understatement as the intensity of action combined with the sense of desperation turns this book into the type of page-turner that I just could not put down. Another of the most interesting features of this book is the fact that all these moments of intense warfare, face-to-face encounters with Hitler, and final hour-death throes of the Third Reich are being experienced by a sixteen-year-old boy who manages to show a resolution, focus, and courage well beyond his years. Mr. Lehmann gives an honest vision of what it was like to be a young soldier fighting for his country and a political system that he had been raised to believed in as well as the feeling of disillusionment when the truth of the holocaust was eventually brought to the fore. He very skillfully manages to put a human, even sympathetic face on what the rest of the world regards as one of the darkest forms of evil the world has ever witnessed.
Do yourself a favor and read this book. Highly recommended.
Book Description
"Herbst illustrates how easy it was for a German boy without strong conviction or religious hatred to climb into a position of leadership in the Nazi Jungvolk . . . indeed, how difficult it would have been for him not to end up in such a place. . . . A unique perspective on everyday life in extreme circumstances."—Wayne Hoffman, Washington Post
Customer Reviews:
GRIPPING PERSPECTIVE ON GERMANY IN 1930-40'S.......2000-04-02
I took courses in the History of Education under Dr. Herbst (1967-69)and found him to be a very engaging teacher--one of the best I had in graduate school. I knew nothing about his past, except that he was German-born, until I heard of this book. This man has a way with words! In this brief but very compact and vivid memoir, he deals with some of the great dilemmas of life--in any period--,although of course he focuses on the period 1928-1948, his first twenty years. Herbst's memoir reminds me of another memoir of a childhood that can teach us all many valuable lessons (Irving Louis Horowitz, DAYDREAMS AND NIGHTMARES). REQUIEM is profoundly gripping. A must-read (and probably re-read) to help us understand our own times . . .and our own selves.
Product Description
The book portrays the the waqrmth, humor, and daily life of a Norwegian family and the unusual exploits of a younger son who worked at a hotel housing German officers during the occupation. A wealth of historical detail does much to counter the virtually unrecognized importance of Norway in world War II. There are some intriguing conclusions: The impetuous decision to invade Norway cost Hitler the war. A Norwegian colonel, disobeying orders, changed the course of history. Norway's world monopoly on "heavy water" gave Germany a false sense of security in nuclear research: a crucial factor in its failure to develop an atomic bomb.
Customer Reviews:
A captivating issue of survival under German rule.......2005-12-10
Reckless Courage: The True Story of a Norwegian Boy Under Nazi Rule is a collection of true anecdotes and inspirational true stories about a Norwegian family during the German occupation of World War II. The story focuses upon a young errand boy who worked at a hotel housing German officers, painting a captivating issue of survival under German rule, and the appendices raise thought-provoking questions such as whether Norway was more important in World War II than historically recognized - did Hitler's invasion of Norway ultimately cost him the war? Did one Norwegian colonel, through disobeying orders, save civilization? A welcome and much- appreciated addition to World War II history and narrative shelves.
Life under occupation has relevance for today.......2005-10-21
Fuller's attention to detail makes Norwegian life in 1940 come alive -- and life was tough (the family makes do without food and necessities) and exciting (to an adolescent boy who believes in a cause). Fuller's account should be required reading for today's American teenagers, many of whom are far removed from the realities of a life under foreign occupation. Emotion is downplayed and the moral lesson subtly presented; it will make our youth (and us) think more deeply about the world situation today.
Berkeley, CA
non fiction that reads like fiction.......2005-10-10
This book is wonderful! It is hard to find non-fiction history that reads like fiction. You will not want to put it down and neither will your children! I loved it as did my 14 and 17 year olds. The book is a quick read about a young boys adventures yet at the same time it is filled with historical facts that don't weigh the story down. The reader gets a sense of life for Norweigans during the German occupation and an insight into the resistance movement through the eyes of the Haines children. Would highly recommend it for all ages and a great non fiction for a school history project.
Engaging and Educational.......2005-07-17
I loved this book, and so did my 17-year-old nephew. The stories about Gunnar Haines and his family are enthralling and often humorous--how they made do despite rationing; the Norwegian traditions; the boys' adventures, particularly Gunnar's several furtive visits to a Russian POW camp to bring food and tobacco to the prisoners. And the historical details about the war are informative and often fascinating. It is a quick read.
Neil Wollman, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, Peace Studies Institute
Manchester College
Average customer rating:
- Interesting, different, well-worth reading
- Quiet, passionate and thoughtful memoir
- Mixed Reaction To This Book
- the lucky one
- troubled feelings
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My German Question: Growing Up in Nazi Berlin
Peter Gay
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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ASIN: 0300076703 |
Amazon.com
Cultural historian Peter Gay (The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud, Freud: A Life for Our Time) applies his considerable analytic skills to his memoir of his early years as a Jew in 1930s Berlin. Light-haired, blue-eyed, and culturally assimilated, the Frohlich family, as they were then known, convinced themselves that, despite the growth spurt of the Nazi party, anti-Semitism was on the wane among the German populous. Gay recalls that his daily life was relatively unaffected by the Totalitarian regime. That is until 1933, when, according to law, he became a Jew overnight. Soon the family found their living quarters shrinking and their awareness of their plight growing (though no one could possibly conceive of what would come). Though still a boy, Gay remembers that "one of the greatest moments in my life" came when the German women's relay team dropped their baton at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Then came Kristallnacht, which crystallized the family's sublimated fears and precipitated their flight from their home. After a certain suspenseful series of necessary deceits and circuitous travels, the family began their new life in America--12-year-old Peter spoke barely a word of English. Now, decades later, Gay employs his new native tongue to uncover the psychological impulses that fed his parents' decision to stay in Berlin as long as they did and governed his own behavior as a boy. The result is credible answer to the question: How could they have stayed?
Book Description
In this poignant book, a renowned historian tells of his youth as an assimilated, antireligious Jew in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1939. Peter Gay describes his family, the life they led, and the reasons they did not emigrate sooner. In so doing he provides a curiously neglected perspective to the history of German Jewry.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting, different, well-worth reading.......2007-05-26
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!
Quiet, passionate and thoughtful memoir .......2005-07-12
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.
Mixed Reaction To This Book.......2003-12-12
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
the lucky one.......2003-08-13
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.
troubled feelings.......2001-03-14
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?
Average customer rating:
- I Loved It!
- An Important Book for Young People in the Modern Era
- Read It, You'll Love It!
- Good Book...Bad Conclusion
- Extraordinary
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Mischling, Second Degree: My Childhood in Nazi Germany
Ilse Koehn
Manufacturer: Puffin
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0140342907 |
Customer Reviews:
I Loved It!.......2001-01-18
Mischling, Second Degree is a great book! It will keep you interested from the first page to the last. The ending of this book is wonderful, and the begining is great too. If you like books on the Haulocost, you'll love this one!
An Important Book for Young People in the Modern Era.......2000-11-16
I must admit, I have not read this book for many years, in fact, not since I was in the third grade. A rather insightful teacher assigned me this book, and it has profoundly enriched my understanding of the holocaust, evil, and human nature, by allowing me to see a humanized portrait of NAZI society at a very early age. As I have been raised Jewish, I have been nearly bombarded with information about the holocaust from a Jewish perspective (not that I regret this). However, I feel that we can only come to understand such a great evil if we understand that its perpetrators were as human as its victims, motivated by the same kinds of fears, hopes, false rationalizations, etc. that in some small way motivate every human being from time to time. This book is an excellent way to introduce this humanizing element to a young reader, and it helps to make sense of a senseless event in our history.
Read It, You'll Love It!.......1999-03-23
This book is a treat! You can't read it just once; I've been re-reading it for about fifteen years! Ms. Koehn makes the point that "war is hell" simply by stating her experiences during wartime as they unfolded. And the character study of Ilse's two grandmothers, one practical and one refined, is one of the best in literature, particularly when the gruff one's true colors are revealed at the wonderful ending. Would that all autobiographies were as terrific as this one!
Good Book...Bad Conclusion.......1999-01-26
Mischling, Second Degree: My Childhood in Nazi Germany was an excellent book. There are a couple problems such as the situations inflicted on the people were not explained because the book was written by a child who did not understand or was aloud to hear what was going on. The ending was very weak because it was predictable and didn't explain what had happened to the father.
Extraordinary.......1997-10-12
I picked this book up at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum bookstore by chance a year and a half ago, not realizing that it would quickly become my favorite book ever. I've read it more times than I can count. Each time it is like talking to an old and familiar friend. I feel like I know Ilse intimately, though I have never met her. To me these are the trademarks of a masterpiece.
Average customer rating:
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Tomi: A Childhood Under the Nazis
Tomi Ungerer
Manufacturer: Roberts Rinehart Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1570981639 |
Customer Reviews:
A View of Alsace.......1999-12-07
As an American living in Alsace, France, I am interested in how WWII affected this area of hot dispute. Tomi Ungerer's memoir is informative concerning the Nazi occupation, and his ability to paint a vivid picture of Alsace, gives the reader a wonderful introduction to this unique area. His pictoral display, which ranges from his own childhood artwork to advertisements and newspaper clippings, brings that period of history to life. This book is a quick read because of his use of illustrations in telling his story. I highly recommend this book to others that want to learn more about WWII and the unique Alsatian culture.
Book Description
What was the secret to surviving the death camps? How did you keep from dying of heartbreak in a place of broken hearts and broken bodies? "Think of it as a game, Jack," an older prisoner tells him. "Play the game right and you might outlast the Nazis."
Caught up in Hitler's Final Solution to annihilate Europe's Jews, fifteen-year-old Jack is torn from his family and thrown into the nightmarish world of the concentration camps.
Despite intolerable conditions, Jack resolves not to hate his captors, and vows to see his family again. He forges friendships with other prisoners, and together they struggle to make it one more hour, one more day. But even with his strong will to live, can Jack survive the life-and-death game he is forced to play with his Nazi captors?
Award-winning author Andrea Warren has crafted an unforgettable true a story of courage, friendship, family love, and a boy becoming a man in the shadow of the Third Reich.
Customer Reviews:
Concerns about pre-teens.......2007-09-13
I haven't read the book, but my 11 year old checked it out at school. He was hooked on the story from the beginning.
However, I was surprised when he asked me "Mom, what is a homosexual?" He said that homosexuals were singled out to be victimized. He also
was upset about how children, especially those with disabilities were tortured and murdered.
I appreciate all the positive reviews here, but it really opened up a lot of issues for my son. Might be better suited to older children.
NO MENTION OF 3 MILLION POLISH CATHOLICS KILLED .......2007-06-28
The author makes a good effort to be objective, but drops the ball here and there. The biggest blunder seems to be in the summary of holocaust casualties. The author left out the fact that 3 Million Polish-Catholics were butchered by Hitler. This fact is often forgotten, and very hurtful, especially to the Poles who lost someone in the Polish holocaust or "Forgotten Holocaust.". A great book to read is Richard Lukas' "The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under nazi Occupation."
Surviving Hitler.......2007-01-31
I recently read the book Surviving Hitler by Andrea Warren. I not only thought it was one of the most fascinating books I thought it was very well written. I had been to the holocaust museum in Washing DC and I was mortified looking at everything, but this book really put me in the perspective of the boy who was close to my age. The book got better and better as it went on, and I am usually not very fond of non-fiction books. This book really makes you realize how you can survive anything that comes at you as long as you believe in yourself. You are automatically hooked and as soon as the book is over you wish there was still more to read. I would definitely recommend this book to any person, young or old, it's truly unbelievable.
I'm a Holocaust freak and I loved this book.......2006-12-19
This book is an awsome book i read the first chapter and i was hooked it is awsome.It is about a boy named jack who gets sent to a concetration camp and gets his arm tattoed witha number on it and he still has it on this arm he and his got seperatered at the train station and they died it is a very sad book but the ending makes up for the sadness. I was 9 when i read this book and loved it. THIS BOOK IS AWSOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Surviving Hitler.......2006-12-14
Imagine urinating in the same cup you eat in. Imagine feeling fleas crawling all over you and sick people coughing on you. It doesn't exactly sound pleasant but that is the lifestyle the concentration camp prisoners had to go through. The book, Surviving Hitler, is a memorable and sad memoir that focuses on The Holocaust during World War 2. The book has a moving story, and a powerful message that has truly put a different perspective in my eyes on how crule people can be and how understanding people have to be.
This book is about a boy named Jack, who is a very fortunate Jewish boy living in Europe. Jack and his family move in with his uncle who lives in a nearby town. Jack's father stayed behind to get organized and then he would meet up with them after. He had to close up his shop, sell his place, and pack up the big furniture. Unfortunately, before he could meet his family he was put into a concentration camp. Three years later Jack is working and supporting his mom and little brother while his sister, Jadiza, goes to their Aunt and Uncles house to help them with aetheir new baby. Hitler's soldiers invade the town they are living in and later group all the Jewish families into the town square to send them to concentration camps. Jack gets separated from his family and starts a whole different life in the concentration camps. He learns to survive on his own and take what he can get. It is a very rough experience for him, and you have to read the book to see the outcome.
I really enjoyed how the author put black and white photographs in this sad but true story because it really helps you imaging the living conditions back then. The structure of the book is not terribly long, making it an easy read. What I truly love about this book is that the author is always keeping you on your toes and never drags on about one topic. This book sends out a powerful message that I never truly understood until I finished he novel. It taught me to never take anything for granted and to enjoy every moment possible. Of course I forget this message a lot and I do take a lot for granted but when in doubt I always try to remember this book. Jack also gets a message out of his experience in the concentration camps. He learns to live life to its fullest and try to help as many people as he can but still be cautious of his own well being. "Three years as a teenager in the death camps he survived through courage, luck, help from others, and sheer will. Like all survivors, he has much to teach us about bravery and self reliance, and about history and the lessons of the Holocaust." Surviving Hitler is a very moving book that can really make people change some of their views of the world.
In my opinion Surviving Hitler is one of the best books I've ever read. Not only has it intrigued me to know more about the Holocaust, it has actually interested me a little more in history in general. I would defiantly recommend this book and hope that the next person who reads it loves it as much as I have.
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