A classic of Holocaust literature; the eloquent; acclaimed memoir of childhood by a Pulitzer-winning historian; now reissued with a new introduction by Claire Messud Four months before Hitler came to power; Saul Friedländer was born in Prague to a middle-class Jewish family. In 1939; seven-year-old Saul and his family were forced to flee to France; where they lived through the German Occupation; until his parents' ill-fated attempt to flee to Switzerland. They were able to hide their son in a Roman Catholic seminary before being sent to Auschwitz where they were killed. After an imposed religious conversion; young Saul began training for priesthood. The birth of Israel prompted his discovery of his Jewish past and his true identity. Friedländer brings his story movingly to life; shifting between his Israeli present and his European past with grace and restraint. His keen eye spares nothing; not even himself; as he explores the ways in which the loss of his parents; his conversion to Catholicism; and his deep-seated Jewish roots combined to shape him into the man he is today. Friedländer's retrospective view of his journey of grief and self-discovery provides readers with a rare experience: a memoir of feeling with intellectual backbone; in equal measure tender and insightful.
#1074155 in Books Pelican Publishing 2003-01-31 2003-01-31Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.14 x 1.06 x 6.40l; 1.26 #File Name: 1589800478288 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Destroying the Myth!By philipI liked this book first for it's references and second for it's observations on the myths of slavery. There was no emotional observations on a hated institution. The history of the book draws on many sources of the period and places them in proper perspective. The American Radical Republic myths dissolve as you turn each page. I would recommend this book as required reading for all levels of education. Five stars for sure due to the author's obvious knowledge of the subject. Well done.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. May the truth come out...By christ2u4lifeThis book is not just about opinions. This book is about undeniable facts. Hopefully people will read it with an open mind.5 of 7 people found the following review helpful. An attempt to take the doublespeake out of slavery.By Paul ConnorsThis book I not just a loose conglomeration of facts; but a serious academic effort to put some adult perspective into what has traditionally been a weak point in American education. Slavery was once a universal institution and the North only "got religion" and abolished it after it had no use for it except as a political baseball bat. The book will prove informative to both casual and serious readers. One point; the author makes is that slaves lived in a highly integrated way with the master's family and were often cherished and well treated friends. Today for political reasons; the only the mistreatment of slaves is acceptable. On a personal note I once mentioned to a Liberian friend that there is a tribe in Africa that got rich on the slave trade. Without the slightest pause he told me the name of the tribe (which I don't recall). Slavery mythology is now a serious part of our social dissolution; stirred and cultivated into hostility. America had better face these myths instead of taking them at political face-value. They are irreconcilable with a healthy social fabric and our national future.
